Why
Does Music Education Hold So Much
Importance?
Even if You
Don't Read Sheet Music You Should Appreciate
It
When you think of school and
education, you think of things like reading,
writing, math, science, and history. These are
important, of course, but some things in schools
that can help enhance those subjects are being cut.
Schools and school districts
across the country, from Hawaii to Maine, from
Florida to Alaska and all stops in between, have
had to severely cut back on funding for
"extra-curricular activities."
This can mean anything from
sports programs, to drama, to music and art and
beyond. And it's going to take a long-term toll on
the students who are deprived of these activities,
deprived of a more well-rounded, complete
education.
What's so important about
music education? You might not imagine how
essential until you read this story. In today's
world, with economies failing everywhere, when men
and women are being startled out of their comfort
zones and awakened to a world fraught with peril,
the importance of music education would seem
diminished, even a foolish indulgence to some.
Some schools have forgotten
about the importance of music education and what it
really does for students. Those that have musical
programs in some form or another do better in all
subjects as it is good for the mind, body, and
soul. If your school is thinking about cutting
programs to save money, you may want to stand up
and ask if there is another way to save or raise
the needed money to keep those programs
alive.
One very small thing to
consider in the education game is the break music
gives students from the grind of academic courses.
A day filled with nothing but intense study is
enough to cause anyone to crack. Those that have
music education each day have a break from this and
can unwind, relax and allow the creativity to flow.
This is helpful in keeping grades up and student
from feeling that school is nothing but a huge
stress tool. If they have something to look forward
to, it makes sense that they are going to do better
in other areas of study.
Kids can learn how the mind
processes notes or even learn to read sheet music.
This works the same parts of the brain that works
on math, patterns, and rhythm. These are all
essential for better learning in all areas. Music
is a great way to work out the brain in ways that
help it with all academic endeavors. A music class
that helps with this falls in with appreciation,
chorus, band, marching band, and other
extracurricular activites that include making and
enjoying music.
If you agree with the
important aspects of keeping the arts alive, there
are a few things you can do. For one, have your
children take advantage of whatever programs the
school offers so they can enhance their education
and spread their artistic wings.
Not all students want to take
part in music programs or learning how to read
notes, and that is okay, but if they are interested
at all, encourage them to sign up and participate.
They are going to love the programs and they are
also going to benefit in ways that they do not see.
You will know though, and that is all that counts.
You will see it in their grades and stress
levels.
Go to meetings and talk to
the school and PTA about the importance of music
education and programs if you know that some of
these may be up for getting cut to meet a school
budget. Do more research about what music does for
educational pursuits and give the best arguments
that you can come up with to save the
programs.
How can we justify spending
money on music teachers for improving the singing
voice and music supplies when we barely have enough
to pay for books on practical subjects, on supplies
to teach our children to build, fix, compute, to
give them skills by which they may keep themselves
and their own children alive?
Vocational training, work
training and practical arts have taken center
stage. In the face of economic crisis, the
importance of music education in the minds of many
is nil.
It has been said that man
(people for pc) does not live by bread alone.
Indeed, man, to be man, requires more than bread
and water to be a man. Humans have been created,
not only with a stomach and a thirst, but with a
heart and mind, both of which need nourishment of
their own.
Fail to nourish these, and
man stands to lose what is just as precious as the
life of the body: man without music stands to lose
the life of the soul. Music is food for the heart
of man.
Music, art, literature: all
the humanities train and instruct the hearts of
men. The importance of music education is
equivalent to the importance of moral education.
Both teach us how to feel,
what to feel, about ourselves and the world around
us. Music teaches us melody, rhythm, harmony, the
plots of love and of hate. Music rationalizes the
emotions, gives form to the notes that the human
heart sings with every beat.
The importance of music
education extends not only to what benefits the
individual may derive. It unites the children of a
culture to the feelings, the soul of their
forefathers, yes, even more than constitutions and
industries. It is the same as the need for
education in history, civics and
government.
Music education integrates
the children of the present with the people of the
past, with their feelings, concerns, their visions
of love, beauty and God. Should we dismiss these
because they do not usually make us
money?
We need to give our children
the spirit of hope. Even as we work beneath a
scorching sun, the music we hear in our minds or
the tune we are humming under our breaths may carry
us off to snowy mountaintops or lakes of cool, blue
waters, where the imagination cools our brows and
soothes the anger of the heart.
Music plays in our memories
when we see a mass of humanity lined up at soup
kitchens, when we see hospital waiting rooms filled
with the sick and injured, bravely muffling their
suffering.
Children are born and old
folks die. In the midst of an embattled land, music
may carry us up to the stars, to rest in angel's
arms.
In short, the importance of
music education comes down to the importance of the
human soul. Without a melody to soothe our hearts,
to inspire them, to carry us courageously into the
future, without singing and musical knowledge in
our classrooms, education is the training of circus
animals, but not the refinement of the human heart.
Seek help from other parents
that understand the benefits for children and who
feel the same way you do about saving these great
classes, events, and programs. With enough people
backing you and enough support from the community,
these programs can be saved and other funding can
be found in some cases.
The educational process of
music should not be underestimated. Americans lag
behind in mathematics more than we do in most other
subjects relative to the rest of the western world,
and the very basis of music is math. When stressing
the importance of music eduction, you're really
stressing the importance of math education as well.
It's key to understand that from the very first
when considering the importance of music
education.
Beyond the simple intuitive
benefits - such as, a child sitting in his or her
room playing the trumpet or guitar is much less
likely to go out and get into trouble than a chile
restlessly planning a nighttime excursion - there
are other, measurable benefits delineated by
numerous studies.
Are Kids Who Listen to Music
Smarter?
There is, of course, a strong
correlation between music and academic achievement.
Countries thoughout the world - be they in the
Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa or beyond - that
produce the most academically advanced teenagers
almost uniformly have aggressive, comprehensive
music education programs that begin as early as
kindergarten.
Early music education has
been shown to improve not only an understanding of
both basic and advanced mathematical concepts, but
has also proved to be an emotional stabilizer for
children learning to work within a group context.
The ability to sing, or play on key at a given
moment in concert with those around you develops
the neurological pathways necessary for
collaboration as seen in the professional
environment later in life.
Proof of this are the myriad
reports that many of the top executives and
engineers at Silicon Valley companies either still
are or had been recipients of a music education at
some point in their lives.
It may not seem to be a
straight line from learning the recorder at a
second grader to pulling down a six-figure-salary
as an adult, but there are enough data points there
to show the importance of music education in doing
exactly that.
What's more, there are data
points simply within the academic corricula that
show the importance of music education. Everything
from predicted college success to likelihood of
emotional stability under the press of exams can
show a positive impact from a musical education.
Bring the history and
enrichment of music back to school -- and back to
our kids.
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