Introduction
Music is a very powerful subject – it has been used since Greek times for healing, communication, relaxation, and enjoyment. Even before birth we are aware of our mother’s heartbeat and during childhood we relax by singing a lullaby. Every day everyone hears some kind of musical tone or rhythm and it can even be found in nature, such as the way birds communicate through song-like speech.
Music is such a powerful force that it creates deep emotions in humans: it is played at weddings for happiness, in horror movies and during war for fear and at home for happiness, and so it lends itself to relaxation, stress relief and health therapy. And the connection between music, body and soul has even been shown to improve physical and mental health.
Skills such as teamwork, communication, self-esteem, creative thinking, calmer attitudes, imagination, discipline, study skills, and invention are learned and enhanced through the study of music and by focusing on the fact that young children are mostly very receptive to tone and rhythm – one of the main ways a child learns their language – that we can empower children with music education to help them with benefits ranging from success in society and in life.
“We believe that the skills that the arts teach – creative thinking, problem solving, risk taking, teamwork, and communications – are precisely the tools that tomorrow’s workforce will need. If we don’t encourage students to master these skills to through quality arts instruction today, how can we expect them to be successful in their highly competitive business careers tomorrow? “
-Richard Gurin
CEO, Binney and Smith, Crayola Crayon Maker
Music is part of our society and of all communities; every human culture uses music to carry out its ideas and ideals. A study of the arts provides children with an inside view of other cultures and teaches them to empathize with the people of these cultures. This development of compassion and empathy, as opposed to the development of greed and a selfish attitude, provides bridges between different cultures that lead to respect for other races at an early age.
Music has great value to our economy: it creates jobs, increases the tax base, fuels tourism, and stimulates growth in related businesses. The study of music develops skills that are necessary in the workplace, such as teamwork and discipline skills; During musical performances, all members must work together to create the sounds they wish to achieve and this regular practice is also required. Music favors work and “doing” rather than observation, and this is the ethic that employers seek.
Because of music’s ability to relax, calm, and heal, and its optimal platform for emotions, engaging with music helps to forge brighter attitudes: more optimism about the future, less television and non-productive activities, low energy consumption. alcohol, tobacco and illegal activities. drugs and desire to develop individual skills.
Music requires study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills, and as they are learned and developed, they expand the student’s abilities in other academic areas and help them become better learners. – Students with coursework / experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 more points in verbal and 41 more points in math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher in verbal and 44 points higher in math than students without artistic participation. – National report of final year students going to the university: profile of the examinees of the SAT program. Princeton, NJ: The College
Entrance Exam Board, 2001.
The discipline of music, particularly through participation in ensembles, helps students learn to work effectively in the school setting without resorting to violent or inappropriate behavior. According to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource Center, students who can be classified as “disruptive” (based on factors such as frequent absences, trouble times, in-school suspensions, disciplinary reasons given, arrests and dropouts) total 12.14 percent of the total school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students who participate in music classes meet the same criteria as “disruptive.” – Based on NELS data: 88 (National Longitudinal Study of Education), second follow-up, 1992.
Many studies have been done on the effects of music on the brain. Scientists say that children who are exposed to music or those who play an instrument do better in school than those who do not. Recent research suggests that exposure to music can benefit a child’s reading age, IQ, and the development of certain parts of a child’s brain.
Some measures of a child’s intelligence can be shown to increase with music instruction: a connection between music and spatial intelligence (the ability to accurately perceive the world and form mental images of things) helps people visualize and imagine solutions. This helps people to solve problems creatively and is central to the kind of thinking required to solve math problems and even general daily tasks.
“The musician is constantly adjusting decisions about tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling, training the brain to be incredibly good at organizing and performing numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great impact. reward for lifelong attention. skills, intelligence and capacity for self-knowledge and expression “. – Ratey John J., MD. A user’s guide to the brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001.
Along with mental development, the study of music can support the physical development of the brain; Music training has been suggested to physically develop the parts of the brain known to be involved in language processing and reasoning, and it can actually connect brain circuits in specific ways. Memory can be enhanced by linking familiar songs to objects, in the same way that images can be linked: memories and emotions from the past can be triggered by audio.
Why the arts in education? Why education? The purpose of education is not simply to inform, but to enrich and enlighten, to provide information about life as it has been led and how it can be conducted. Curriculum is better suited for that task than arts education. “
-David Kearns
Now President and Retired CEO of Xerox Corporation
Ideally, we want our children to experience “success” throughout life. The benefits can be psychological, spiritual and physical and with the challenge of making life meaningful and fulfilling and to reach a higher state of development by participating in music, we develop self-expression which in turn leads to self-esteem, which ultimately instance helps us to be successful in these. challenges.
“Casals says music fills him with the wonder of life and the ‘incredible wonder’ of being human. Ives says it expands his mind and challenges him to be a true individual. Bernstein says it is enriching and ennobling. For me, that sounds like a good cause for making music 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 wonders of life. ” .
– US Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, July 1999.
conclusion
Music is a powerful tool and, as you can see, it can dramatically improve and enrich everyone. It makes sense to push for music education and allow younger generations to reap these wonderful benefits: increased intelligence through greater creative thinking, problem solving and physically stronger brains, a greater perception of life that includes better attitudes, strong desires for achieve and perform and a higher self. esteem, better developed discipline, study skills, concentration, communication and team skills that transfer from education to career and a better understanding of communities and society
