Better academic results
Music education has been proven to improve academic capability and test scores. A PBS report from 2012 found that students in elementary schools with superior music education programs scored around 22 percent higher in English and 20 percent higher in math on standardized tests, compared with schools with low-quality music programs.
Music programs also raise graduation rates. Schools with music programs average about a 90.2 percent graduation rate and a 93.9 percent attendance rate, while schools without them typically see 72.9 percent and 84.9 percent.
How music changes the brain
Learning music helps the brain better interpret human language and can make a second language easier to learn; studies have found that studying music helps rewire the brain’s circuits and develop the left side that processes language.
Music study also teaches the logic behind fractions without students thinking of it mathematically. Modern music is typically written in 4/4 time — four beats to a measure, a quarter note worth one beat — so counting and playing rhythm teaches students to divide bars into beats in a practical, enjoyable way.
As Dr. Eric Rasmussen puts it: “There’s some good neuroscience research that children involved in music have larger growth of neural activity than people not in music training. When you’re a musician and you’re playing an instrument, you have to be using more of your brain.”
Beyond academics
Music helps with self-esteem, stress relief and creativity. It is a skill that must be worked on and can then be shared with others at a similar level, and eventually with an audience in a school band or other group. Playing music gives students a constructive way to vent and helps them articulate emotions they may not be able to express otherwise.
Answering the objections
Calling music a distraction is wrong — saying music distracts a student from another class would be like saying English homework distracts from math homework. Schools often say music is too expensive while still funding sports. Budgets always force cuts, but cutting music should not be an option.
If music were part of the core curriculum, graduation and attendance rates would rise and students would graduate with higher brain function. Music programs continue to be cut across the country when instead they should be added. It is imperative that our nation begins to emphasize music in our schools.
Sources
- pbs.org/parents/thrive/the-benefits-of-music-education
- learningliftoff.com/ten-benefits-of-music-education-for-students
See how we work with districts on our school programs page.
