The Importance of Music Education at Bolivar High School, Bolivar, MO

On a national level, music students of all ages generate an estimated $37 billion in economic activity and return $3.4 billion in federal income taxes to the U.S. Treasury each year through performances, record sales and related activities (An average band instrument costs less than $30 a month to rent). The combined net worth of the nation's Forbes 400 wealthiest list climbed to $1 trillion this year-most are musically trained (little known statistic-there are no band directors on this list). Musicians are more likely to graduate from college and own a home. Students with a music degree are more likely to get into medical school. Musicians live longer, healthier lives. Music students are shown in surveys to have higher self-esteem. Studies show that music students score higher in math (41 pts. higher on the SAT), science, and reading than non-music students. The very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry are, nearly without exception, practicing musicians. A study of 811 high school students indicated that the proportion of minority students with a music teacher role-model was significantly larger than for any other discipline. 36% of these students identified music teachers as their role models, as opposed to 28% English teachers, 11% elementary teachers, 7% physical education/sports teachers, 1% principals (poor Mr. Lowery). Most teachers will have students in class for 1 year - a band director will have your son or daughter in class an average of 7 years. Students in band share a network of above average friends with a common success oriented goal throughout their Junior High and Senior High School years while participating in band. A recent report to congress by the Juvenile Mentoring Program indicates that "Provision of a mentor offers youth a protective factor to counter some of the many risks they face in their daily lives.". Students who participate in band show the lowest lifetime and current use of controlled substances according to a Texas report. A national study says that parents spend 38.5 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children every day. A band director will have positive verbal, psychological and motivational contact with our child an average of 1 to 2 hours a day and an average of 25 hours a day every Saturday in September and October. According to Plato, music has the power to “adjust and channel the collective consciousness of massive groups of people.” Socrates said, "Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful." (The Republic of Plato, translated by Benjamin Jowett. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1888, page 88)

“Source: MENC—The National Association for Music Education "Benefits of Music Education" Brochure, Spring 2002". For further questions, contact info@menc.org.

“Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts.” This is the opening statement of “The Value and Quality of Arts Education: A Statement of Principles,” a document from the nation’s ten most important educational organizations, including the American Association of School Administrators, the National Education Association, the National Parent Teacher Association, and the National School Boards Association.

The basic statement is unlikely to be challenged by anyone involved in education. In the sometimes harsh reality of limited time and funding for instruction, however, the inclusion of the arts in every student’s education can sometimes be relegated to a distant wish rather than an exciting reality.

It doesn’t have to be that way! All that’s needed is a clear message sent to all those who must make the hard choices involved in running a school or school system. The basic message is that music programs in the schools help our kids and communities in real and substantial ways. You can use the following facts about the benefits of music education, based on a growing body of convincing research, to move decision-makers to make the right choices.

When presented with the many and manifest benefits of music education, officials at all levels should universally support a full, balanced, sequential course of music instruction taught by qualified teachers. And every student will have an education in the arts.

Perhaps the basic reason that every child must have an education in music is that music is a part of the fabric of our society. The intrinsic value of music for each individual is widely recognized in the many cultures that make up American life — indeed, every human culture uses music to carry forward its ideas and ideals. The importance of music to our economy is without doubt. And the value of music in shaping individual abilities and character are attested in a number of places:

Success in society, of course, is predicated on success in school. Any music teacher or parent of a music student can call to mind anecdotes about effectiveness of music study in helping children become better students. Skills learned through the discipline of music, these stories commonly point out, transfer to study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills useful in every part of the curriculum. Another common variety of story emphasizes the way that the discipline of music study — particularly through participation in ensembles — helps students learn to work effectively in the school environment without resorting to violent or inappropriate behavior. And there are a number of hard facts that we can report about the ways that music study is correlated with success in school:

Success in school and in society depends on an array of abilities. Without joining the intense ongoing debate about the nature of intelligence as a basic ability, we can demonstrate that some measures of a child’s intelligence are indeed increased with music instruction. Once again, this burgeoning range of data supports a long-established base of anecdotal knowledge to the effect that music education makes kids smarter. 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:

Each of us wants our children — and the children of all those around us — to achieve success in school, success in employment, and success in the social structures through which we move. But we also want our children to experience “success” on a broader scale. Participation in music, often as not based on a grounding in music education during the formative school years, brings countless benefits to each individual throughout life. The benefits may be psychological or spiritual, and they may be physical as well:

Music is designated a (core academic subject( in the 'No Child Left Behind Act.'
No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101 (11 )

The College Board identifies the arts as one of the six basic academic subjects students need in order to succeed in college.
Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do, 1983 [still in use], The College Board, New York

"The arts make better math and science students, enhance spatial intelligence in newborns, and...are a compelling solution to teen violence."
Michael Greene, Recording Academy President and CEO at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, February 2000

In 2001, students participating in music scored higher on the SATs than students with no arts participation.
Scores for students in music performance classes were 57 points higher (Verbal) and 41 points higher (Math).
Scores for students in music appreciation classes were 63 points higher (Verbal) and 44 points higher (Math).
College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001

"The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling--training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. "
Ratey John J., MD. A User's Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001