Music Education Facts and Figures
“Every student in the nation should have an education in the arts.”
| Success
in Society
| Success
in Education
| Success
in Developing Intelligence
| Success
in Life | |
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 Education
Success in society, of course, is predicated on success in education. Skills learned through the discipline of music transfer to study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills useful in every part of the curriculum.
| “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.
| According
to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource Center, students who
can be classified as “disruptive” (based on factors such as frequent
skipping of classes, times in trouble, in-school suspensions, disciplinary
reasons given, arrests, and drop-outs) total 12.14 percent of the total
school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students involved in
music classes meet the same criteria as “disruptive.” — Based on data
from the NELS:88 (National Education Longitudinal Study), second follow-up,
1992.
| Data
from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 showed that music
participants received more academic honors and awards than non-music
students, and that the percentage of music participants receiving As, As/Bs,
and Bs was higher than the percentage of non- participants receiving those
grades. — NELS:88 First Follow-up, 1990, National Center for Education
Statistics, Washington DC
| Physician
and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical
school applicants. He found that 66% of music majors who applied to medical
school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. 44% of
biochemistry majors were admitted. — As reported in "The Case for
Music in the Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994
| 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. — D.L.
Hamann and L.M. Walker, "Music teachers as role models for
African-American students," Journal of Research in Music Education, 41,
1993
| Students
who participated in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools
in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking
skills. — National Arts Education Research Center, New York University,
1990 | |
Benefit three: Success in Developing Intelligence
Success in learning and in society depends on an array of abilities. We can demonstrate that some measures of a child’s intelligence are indeed increased with music instruction. 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:
| 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
| Students
in two Rhode Island elementary schools who were given an enriched,
sequential, skill-building music program showed marked improvement in
reading and math skills. Students in the enriched program who had started
out behind the control group caught up to statistical equality in reading,
and pulled ahead in math. — Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles, as
reported in Nature, May 23, 1996
| Researchers
at the University of Montreal used various 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. — Sergent, J., Zuck, E., Tenial, S., and MacDonall, B.
(1992). Distributed neural network underlying musical sight reading and
keyboard performance. Science, 257, 106-109.
| Researchers
in Leipzig found that brain scans of musicians showed larger planum
temporale (a brain region related to some reading skills) than those of
non-musicians. They also found that the musicians had a thicker corpus
callosum (the bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two halves of the
brain) than those of non-musicians, especially for those who had begun their
training before the age of seven. — Schlaug, G., Jancke, L., Huang, Y.,
and Steinmetz, H. (1994). In vivo morphometry of interhem ispheric assymetry
and connectivity in musicians. In I. Deliege (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3d
international conference for music perception and cognition (pp. 417-418).
Liege, Belgium.
| A
University of California (Irvine) study showed that after eight months of
keyboard lessons, preschoolers showed a 46% boost in their spatial reasoning
IQ. — Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Ky and Wright, "Music and Spatial Task
Performance: A Causal Relationship," University of California, Irvine,
1994
| Researchers
found that children given piano lessons significantly improved in their
spatial- temporal IQ scores (important for some types of mathematical
reasoning) compared to children who received computer lessons, casual
singing, or no lessons. — Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L., Levine, L.J.,
Wright, E.L., Dennis, W.R., and Newcomb, R. (1997) Music training causes
long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial temporal reasoning.
Neurological Research, 19, 1-8.
| A
McGill University study found that pattern recognition and mental
representation scores improved significantly for students given piano
instruction over a three-year period. They also found that self-esteem and
musical skills measures improved for the students given piano instruction.
— Costa-Giomi, E. (1998, April). The McGill Piano Project: Effects of
three years of piano instruction on children's cognitive abilities, academic
achievement, and self-esteem. Paper presented at the meeting of the Music
Educators National Conference, Phoenix, AZ.
| Researchers
found that lessons on songbells (a standard classroom instrument) led to
significant improvement of spatial-temporal scores for three- and
four-year-olds. — Gromko, J.E., and Poorman, A.S. (1998) The effect of
music training on preschooler's spatial-temporal task performance. Journal
of Research in Music Education, 46, 173-181.
| In
the Kindergarten classes of the school district of Kettle Moraine,
Wisconsin, children who were given music instruction scored 48 percent
higher on spatial-temporal skill tests than those who did not receive music
training. — Rauscher, F.H., and Zupan, M.A. (1999). Classroom keyboard
instruction improves kindergarten children's spatial-temporal performance: A
field study. Manuscript in press, Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
| |
Each of us wants our children — and the children of all those around us — to achieve success in education, 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
nation’s top business executives agree that arts education programs can
help repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for
the 21st
century.”— “The Changing Workplace is Changing Our View of
Education.” Business Week, October 1996.
| “Music
making makes the elderly healthier.... There were significant decreases in
anxiety, depression, and loneliness following keyboard lessons. These are
factors that are critical in coping with stress, stimulating the immune
system, and in improved health. Results also show significant increases in
human growth hormones following the same group keyboard lessons. (Human
growth hormone is implicated in aches and pains.)” — Dr. Frederick Tims,
reported in AMC Music News, June 2, 1999
| “Music
education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world
around them — a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human
involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with
a complete education that includes music.” — Gerald Ford, former
President, United States of America
| “During
the Gulf War, the few opportunities I had for relaxation I always listened
to music, and it brought to me great peace of mind. I have shared my love of
music with people throughout this world, while listening to the drums and
special instruments of the Far East, Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, and
the Far North — and all of this started with the music appreciation course
that I was taught in a third-grade elementary class in Princeton, New
Jersey. What a tragedy it would be if we lived in a world where music was
not taught to children.” — H. Norman Schwarzkopf, General, U.S. Army,
retired
| “Music
is about communication, creativity, and cooperation, and, by studying music
in school, students have the opportunity to build on these skills, enrich
their lives, and experience the world from a new perspective.” — Bill
Clinton, former President, United States of America | |