By:Michelle Levesque
"Without music, life would be an error"-Friedrich Nietzsche
"Music is the art of thinking with sounds"-Jules Combarieu
With the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act, an important subject within curriculum standards was weighted with less importance as subjects such as math, science, and the language arts. The one subject that has the ability to tie those fundamentals together as well as many other areas of hidden curriculum, that subject is music. The effects can be seen close to home here in Sierra Vista where it was decided that music, along with other facets of the arts, would be cut from the elementary schools in trying to deal with the district budget crisis.
In a time when the outcome of high stakes testing determines the success of not only the student, but also the school, music should be valued rather than being one of the first subjects on the financial chopping block. Since standardized testing seems to be of the utmost importance to those in charge of shaping our education system, here are some facts that support the success music education has with student academic testing and achievement. Studies done at Universities in Texas and Georgia show students who participated in instrumental based education scored higher than their nonmusical counterparts on standardized testing. The Neurological Research Institute’s findings showed where students with music-based lessons scored 100% higher on mathematical standardized testing. Music majors have the highest acceptance to medical school, even above biochemistry majors. Music can even change the way our brains process parts of spoken language. These are just a sampling of the multiple studies that have been done to support the positive influence music has from an academic standpoint.
Aside from the boring statistics on standardized testing and academic achievement, music can be the gateway to the world, culturally and historically. Music is the universal language; it is the one thing that can be found at the root of any culture at any point in history. Music can open the doors of discussion to the location, people, celebrations, language, and history of the area of the song or genre students are studying. It can be a way for students to fluently express themselves emotionally, either by connecting to a song they hear or writing music and/or lyrics that reflect issues they deal with on a daily basis. It’s a way for people to connect in general, how many of us have friends that share the commonality of a type of music, song, or specific music artist.
What about just enjoying school or for some just a reason to attend? And the hidden curriculum that music touches upon? Improved memory, everyone has learned the lyrics to their favorite song, or remembers a lesson that was set to music. In my case, I will always know all 50 states in alphabetical order, because of music. Students have improved speech through singing, self esteem at accomplishing a skill, motor skills through rhythm, and self discipline through practice. Not to mention, creativity, passion, cognitive skill, creative thinking, and better behavior. All of which could have a blog of their own that show the affect music has on their development and how important music is to everyone’s education.
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