Benefits of A Music Education
- A form of musical expression
- Learning music can increase self-confidence
- Studying music can increase creative thinking, teamwork skills, responsibility, organization skills
and communication skills - Practicing music can display the benefits of consistent hard work
- Music is a lifelong pursuit and can be enjoyed anytime which is an intergenerational and
international language
The Benefits Conveyed By Music Education Can Be Grouped In Four Categories
• Success in society
• Success in school
• Success in developing intelligence
• Success in life
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.
Benefit One: Success In Society
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:
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. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998
"Music is a magical gift we must nourish and cultivate in our children, especially now as
scientific evidence proves that an education in the arts makes better math and science
students, enhances spatial intelligence in newborns, and let's not forget that the arts are a
compelling solution to teen violence, certainly not the cause of it!"- Michael Greene, Recording
Academy President and CEO at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, February 2000.
• The U.S. Department of Education lists the arts as subjects that college-bound middle
and junior high school students should take, stating "Many colleges view participation in the
arts and music as a valuable experience that broadens students' understanding and
appreciation of the world around them. It is also well known and widely recognized that the
arts contribute significantly to children's intellectual development." In addition, one year of
Visual and Performing Arts is recommended for college-bound high school students. - Getting
Ready for College Early: A Handbook for Parents of Students in the Middle and Junior High
School Years, U.S. Department of Education, 1997.
• The College Board identifies the arts as one of the six basic academic subject areas
students should study 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 create jobs, increase the local tax base, boost tourism, spur growth in related
businesses (hotels, restaurants, printing, etc.) and improve the overall quality of life for our
cities and towns. On a national level, nonprofit arts institutions and organizations generate
an estimated $37 billion in economic activity and return $3.4 billion in federal income taxes to
the U.S. Treasury each year. - American Arts Alliance Fact Sheet, October 1996.
• The very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry are, nearly
without exception, practicing musicians. - Grant Venerable, "The Paradox of the Silicon Savior,"
as reported in "The Case for Sequential Music Education in the Core Curriculum of the Public
Schools," The Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, New York, 1989.
Benefit Two: Success In School
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:
• "The term 'core academic subjects' means English, reading or language arts,
mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and
geography." - No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101 (11).
• A study of 237 second grade children used piano keyboard training and newly designed
math software to demonstrate improvement in math skills. The group scored 27% higher on
proportional math and fractions tests than children that used only the math software. -
Graziano, Amy, Matthew Peterson, and Gordon Shaw, "Enhanced learning of proportional
math through music training and spatial-temporal training." Neurological Research 21 (March
1999).
• In an analysis of U.S. Department of Education data on more than 25,000 secondary
school students (NELS:88, National Education Longitudinal Survey), researchers found that
students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the
middle and high school years show "significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by
grade 12." This observation holds regardless of students' socio-economic status, and
differences in those who are involved with instrumental music vs. those who are not is more
significant over time. - Catterall, James S., Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga. "Involvement
in the Arts and Human Development: General Involvement and Intensive Involvement in Music
and Theater Arts." Los Angeles, CA: The Imagination Project at UCLA Graduate School of
Education and Information Studies, 1999.
• Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation
scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the
verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points
higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts
participation. - College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers.
Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.
Benefit Three: Success In Developing Intelligence
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 ground
breaking neurological research that show how music study can actively contribute to brain
development:
• In a study conducted by Dr. Timo Krings, pianists and non-musicians of the same age
and sex were required to perform complex sequences of finger movements. Their brains were
scanned using a technique called "functional magnetic resource imaging" (fMRI) which detects
the activity levels of brain cells. The non-musicians were able to make the movements as
correctly as the pianists, but less activity was detected in the pianists' brains. Thus, compared
to non-musicians, the brains of pianists are more efficient at making skilled movements. These
findings show that musical training can enhance brain function. - Weinberger, Norm. "The
Impact of Arts on Learning." MuSICa Research Notes 7, no. 2 (Spring 2000). Reporting on
Krings, Timo et al. "Cortical Activation Patterns during Complex Motor Tasks in Piano Players
and Control Subjects. A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study." Neuroscience Letters
278, no. 3 (2000): 189-93.
• "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. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff
for lifelong attentional skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression." -
Ratey John J., MD. A User's Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001.
• A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music
training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract
reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. - Shaw, Rauscher, Levine,
Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool
children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997
Benefit Four: Success In Life
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:
• "Studying music encourages self-discipline and diligence, traits that carry over into
intellectual pursuits and that lead to effective study and work habits. An association of music
and math has, in fact, long been noted. Creating and performing music promotes self-
expression and provides self-gratification while giving pleasure to others. In medicine,
increasing published reports demonstrate that music has a healing effect on patients. For all
these reasons, it deserves strong support in our educational system, along with the other
arts, the sciences, and athletics." - Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Leading Heart Surgeon, Baylor
College of Music.
• "Music has a great power for bringing people together. With so many forces in this
world acting to drive wedges between people, it's important to preserve those things that
help us experience our common humanity." - Ted Turner, Turner Broadcasting System.
• "Music is one way for young people to connect with themselves, but it is also a bridge
for connecting with others. Through music, we can introduce children to the richness and
diversity of the human family and to the myriad rhythms of life." - Daniel A. Carp, Eastman
Kodak Company Chairman and CEO.
• "Casals says music fills him with the wonder of life and the 'incredible marvel' of being a
human. Ives says it expands his mind and challenges him to be a true individual. Bernstein
says it is enriching and ennobling. To me, that sounds like a good cause for making music and
the arts an integral part of every child's education. Studying music and the arts elevates
children's education, expands students' horizons, and teaches them to appreciate the wonder
of life." - U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, July 1999.
• Success in society
• Success in school
• Success in developing intelligence
• Success in life
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.
Benefit One: Success In Society
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:
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. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998
"Music is a magical gift we must nourish and cultivate in our children, especially now as
scientific evidence proves that an education in the arts makes better math and science
students, enhances spatial intelligence in newborns, and let's not forget that the arts are a
compelling solution to teen violence, certainly not the cause of it!"- Michael Greene, Recording
Academy President and CEO at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, February 2000.
• The U.S. Department of Education lists the arts as subjects that college-bound middle
and junior high school students should take, stating "Many colleges view participation in the
arts and music as a valuable experience that broadens students' understanding and
appreciation of the world around them. It is also well known and widely recognized that the
arts contribute significantly to children's intellectual development." In addition, one year of
Visual and Performing Arts is recommended for college-bound high school students. - Getting
Ready for College Early: A Handbook for Parents of Students in the Middle and Junior High
School Years, U.S. Department of Education, 1997.
• The College Board identifies the arts as one of the six basic academic subject areas
students should study 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 create jobs, increase the local tax base, boost tourism, spur growth in related
businesses (hotels, restaurants, printing, etc.) and improve the overall quality of life for our
cities and towns. On a national level, nonprofit arts institutions and organizations generate
an estimated $37 billion in economic activity and return $3.4 billion in federal income taxes to
the U.S. Treasury each year. - American Arts Alliance Fact Sheet, October 1996.
• The very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry are, nearly
without exception, practicing musicians. - Grant Venerable, "The Paradox of the Silicon Savior,"
as reported in "The Case for Sequential Music Education in the Core Curriculum of the Public
Schools," The Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, New York, 1989.
Benefit Two: Success In School
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:
• "The term 'core academic subjects' means English, reading or language arts,
mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and
geography." - No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101 (11).
• A study of 237 second grade children used piano keyboard training and newly designed
math software to demonstrate improvement in math skills. The group scored 27% higher on
proportional math and fractions tests than children that used only the math software. -
Graziano, Amy, Matthew Peterson, and Gordon Shaw, "Enhanced learning of proportional
math through music training and spatial-temporal training." Neurological Research 21 (March
1999).
• In an analysis of U.S. Department of Education data on more than 25,000 secondary
school students (NELS:88, National Education Longitudinal Survey), researchers found that
students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the
middle and high school years show "significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by
grade 12." This observation holds regardless of students' socio-economic status, and
differences in those who are involved with instrumental music vs. those who are not is more
significant over time. - Catterall, James S., Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga. "Involvement
in the Arts and Human Development: General Involvement and Intensive Involvement in Music
and Theater Arts." Los Angeles, CA: The Imagination Project at UCLA Graduate School of
Education and Information Studies, 1999.
• Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation
scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the
verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points
higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts
participation. - College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers.
Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.
Benefit Three: Success In Developing Intelligence
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 ground
breaking neurological research that show how music study can actively contribute to brain
development:
• In a study conducted by Dr. Timo Krings, pianists and non-musicians of the same age
and sex were required to perform complex sequences of finger movements. Their brains were
scanned using a technique called "functional magnetic resource imaging" (fMRI) which detects
the activity levels of brain cells. The non-musicians were able to make the movements as
correctly as the pianists, but less activity was detected in the pianists' brains. Thus, compared
to non-musicians, the brains of pianists are more efficient at making skilled movements. These
findings show that musical training can enhance brain function. - Weinberger, Norm. "The
Impact of Arts on Learning." MuSICa Research Notes 7, no. 2 (Spring 2000). Reporting on
Krings, Timo et al. "Cortical Activation Patterns during Complex Motor Tasks in Piano Players
and Control Subjects. A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study." Neuroscience Letters
278, no. 3 (2000): 189-93.
• "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. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff
for lifelong attentional skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression." -
Ratey John J., MD. A User's Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001.
• A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music
training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract
reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. - Shaw, Rauscher, Levine,
Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool
children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997
Benefit Four: Success In Life
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:
• "Studying music encourages self-discipline and diligence, traits that carry over into
intellectual pursuits and that lead to effective study and work habits. An association of music
and math has, in fact, long been noted. Creating and performing music promotes self-
expression and provides self-gratification while giving pleasure to others. In medicine,
increasing published reports demonstrate that music has a healing effect on patients. For all
these reasons, it deserves strong support in our educational system, along with the other
arts, the sciences, and athletics." - Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Leading Heart Surgeon, Baylor
College of Music.
• "Music has a great power for bringing people together. With so many forces in this
world acting to drive wedges between people, it's important to preserve those things that
help us experience our common humanity." - Ted Turner, Turner Broadcasting System.
• "Music is one way for young people to connect with themselves, but it is also a bridge
for connecting with others. Through music, we can introduce children to the richness and
diversity of the human family and to the myriad rhythms of life." - Daniel A. Carp, Eastman
Kodak Company Chairman and CEO.
• "Casals says music fills him with the wonder of life and the 'incredible marvel' of being a
human. Ives says it expands his mind and challenges him to be a true individual. Bernstein
says it is enriching and ennobling. To me, that sounds like a good cause for making music and
the arts an integral part of every child's education. Studying music and the arts elevates
children's education, expands students' horizons, and teaches them to appreciate the wonder
of life." - U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, July 1999.
The Benefits of Studying Music with Music Notes Academy Instructors
|
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Music Notes Academy, LLC Learn Today, Play Tomorrow™ PO Box 8035 Bridgewater, NJ 08807-8035 Music Notes Academy Office: 908.393.1418 Director's Mobile: 908.938.0366 Website By Brandon Kurzawa for Music Notes Academy, LLC Contact Webmaster Reproduction of website content is strictly prohibited, contact Music Notes Academy for reprint permission. Copyright © 2009 Music Notes Academy, LLC. All Rights Reserved. |
Music Notes Academy Office: (908) 393.1418 Director's Mobile: (908) 938.0366
| Est. 2000 |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  |
| Benefits |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Private music lessons offer students many benefits. Weekly individual
music lessons is a unique learning experience where instructional
approaches are tailored to each individual student. Private lessons
compliment public and private school music programs and students
can excel within those programs by having quality private instruction.
music lessons is a unique learning experience where instructional
approaches are tailored to each individual student. Private lessons
compliment public and private school music programs and students
can excel within those programs by having quality private instruction.
