Music In Education

Why Music Is Important To Having A Complete Education

With school budget cuts, and no music instruments, more and more people are beginning to realize the benefits of having music in education. Providing music as part of education helps develop intelligence that leads to greater success in school and in life. Everyone from VH1 Save The Music to The National Association For Music Education agree that, "Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts." These two companies are doing everything they can to get out the information about music, and the importance of resorting music education as part of the core curriculum.

The first benefit of giving a child an instrument is the success in society. "Researchers have found that children involved with music education are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college, and are less likely to be involved with gangs and substance abuse," says VH1. Music is apart of everyday culture in America. It is used for "ideas and ideals," (MENC) and the values are accounted for in a number of places. "Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs)."-Texas Commission on drug and alcohol abuse report. VH1 has also done research, and found that a "students involvement in their school music program is crucial to a complete education. Musical Study, develops critical thinking and self discipline skill, improves a child's early cognitive development, basic math and reading abilities, self-esteem, SAT scores, ability to work in teams, spatial reasoning skills, and school attendance."

Another benefit of music education is the "success in school." Having success in school directly leads to having success in society. If you learn the disciplines of music, I believe it will transfer over to other areas of your life such as school. For me, learning to play guitar, and the discipline of having to practice critical thinking, has really helped me in my study habits. MENC and the College-Bound Seniors National Report also say that "Student with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT." "57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math." Physician and Biologist Lewis Thomas studied medical school applicant and found "that 66 percent of music majors who applied were admitted to medical school, the highest percentage of any group." This is just some of the proof that having success in school directly links to music education, and will help in the success of society.

In the success in developing intelligence there have been many studies done to show the development of the brain, when a person is in music education, and shows the benefits from this. "Success in school and in society depends on an array of abilities. What is new and especially compelling, however, is a combination of tightly-controlled behavioral studies and groundbreaking neurological research that show how music study can actively contribute to brain development." Sargent, J., Zuck,E., Tenial, S, and Macdonall, B, all researchers at the University of Montreal, "used many brain imaging techniques to investigate brain activity during musical tasks and found that sight-reading musical scores and playing music both activate regions in all four of the cortex's lobes, and that parts of the cerebellum are also activated during those tasks." This just goes to show that music education "makes kids smarter" (MENC) and will pay off all through life for anyone involved in music.

All of want success in life and not just for us, but for kids as well. "Participation in music, often as not based on grounding in music education during the formative years, brings countless benefits to each individual throughout life. The benefits may be psychological or spiritual,