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Why Music? Top Ten List for Parents:
1. In a 2000 survey, 73 percent of respondents agree that teens who participate in music are less likely to have discipline problems.
- Americans Love Making Music – And Value Music Education More Highly Than Ever, American Music Conference, 2000.
2. Students who can perform complex rhythms can also make faster and more precise corrections in many academic and physical situations, according to the Center for Timing, Coordination, and Motor Skills.
- Rhythm seen as key to music’s evolutionary role in human intellectual development, Center for Timing, Coordination, and Motor Skills, 2000.
3. A ten-year study indicates that students who study music achieve higher test scores, regardless of socioeconomic background.
- Dr. James Catterall, UCLA.
4. A 1997 study of elementary students in an arts-based program concluded that students’ math test scores rose as their time in arts education classes increased.
- “Arts Exposure and Class Performance,” Phi Delta Kappan, October, 1998.
5. First-grade students who had daily music instruction scored higher on creativity tests than a control group without music instruction.
- K.L. Wolff, The Effects of General Music Education on the Academeic Achievement, Perceptual-Motor Development, Creative Thinking, and School Attendance of First-Grade Children, 1992.
6. In a Scottish study, one group of elementary students received musical training, while another other group received an equal amount of discussion skills training. After six (6) months, the students in the music group achieved a significant increase in reading test scores, while the reading test scores of the discussion skills group did not change.
- Sheila Douglas and Peter Willatts, Journal of Research in Reading, 1994.
7. According to a 1991 study, students in schools with arts-focused curriculums reported significantly more positive perceptions about their academic abilities than students in a comparison group.
- Pamela Aschbacher and Joan Herman, The Humanitas Program Evaluation, 1991.
8. Students who are rhythmically skilled also tend to better plan, sequence, and coordinate actions in their daily lives.
- “Cassily Column,” TCAMS Professional Resource Center, 2000.
9. In a 1999 Columbia University study, students in the arts are found to be more cooperative with teachers and peers, more self-confident, and better able to express their ideas. These benefits exist across socioeconomic levels.
- The Arts Education Partnership, 1999.
10. College admissions officers continue to cite participation in music as an important factor in making admissions decisions. They claim that music participation demonstrates time management, creativity, expression, and open-mindedness.
- Carl Hartman, “Arts May Improve Students’ Grades,” The Associated Press, October, 1999.
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Why Music? Top Ten List for Students:
1. A 2000 Georgia Tech study indicates that a student who participates in at least one college elective music course is 4.5 times more likely to stay in college than the general student population.
- Dr. Denise C. Gardner, Effects of Music Courses on Retention, Georgia Tech, 2000.
2. On the 1999 SAT, music students continued to outperform their non-arts peers, scoring 61 points higher on the verbal portion and 42 points higher on the math portion of the exam.
- Steven M. Demorest and Steven J. Morrison, “Does Music Make You Smarter?,” Music Educators Journal, September, 2000.
3. Students who participate in All-State ensembles consistently score over 200 points higher on the SAT than non-music students. This figure indicates that students can pursue excellence in music while also excelling academically.
- Texas Music Educators Association, 1988-1996.
4. Students with good rhythmic performance ability can more easily detect and differentiate between patterns in math, music, science, and the visual arts.
- “Rhythm seen as key to man’s evolutionary development,” TCAMS Professional Resource Center, 2000.
5. Students in arts programs are more likely to try new things, and they can better express their own ideas to friends, teachers, and parents.
- Champions of Change, the President’s Council on the Arts and Humanities, 1999.
6. College students majoring in music achieve scores higher than students of all other majors on college reading exams.
- Carl Hartman, “Arts May Improve Students’ Grades,” The Associated Press, October, 1999.
7. Music students demonstrate less test anxiety and performance anxiety than students who do not study music.
- “College-Age Musicians Emotionally Healthier than Non-Musician Counterparts,” Houston Chronicle,
1998.
8. The average scores achieved by music students on the 1999 SAT increased for every year of musical study. This same trend was found in SAT scores of previous years.
- Steven M. Demorest and Steven J. Morrison, “Does Music Make You Smarter?,” Music Educators Journal, September, 2000.
9. A majority of the engineers and technical designers in Silicon Valley are also practicing musicians.
- The Case for Sequential Music Education in the Core Curriculum of the Public Schools, Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, 1997.
10. Nine out of ten people with music experience are extremely pleased and satisfied that they took part in music.
- “Music Ed Survey,” Giles Communications, 2000.
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Why Music? Top Ten List for Schools:
1. A group of second grade students in inner-city Los Angeles received piano training twice a week, and they used specialized computer software that related the piano lessons to math concepts. On standardized math tests, fifty (50) percent of the second graders scored as well as fifth grade students in affluent Orange County, California. The scores of the entire second grade group were equal to the scores of fourth grade students in Orange County.
- “Music On the Mind,” Newsweek, July 24, 2000
2. In a 2000 Gallup Poll, seventy-five (75) percent of respondents believe music helps students do better in other subjects, such as math and science.
- Gallup Poll Shows Strong Support for Putting Music in Every School’s Curriculum, Giles Communications, 2000.
3. Second and third grade students who were taught fractions through musical rhythms scored one hundred (100) percent higher on fractions tests than those who learned in the conventional manner.
- “Rhythm Students Learn Fractions More Easily,” Neurological Research, March 15, 1999
4. Students involved in arts programs had significantly higher class attendance rates than a comparison group.
- Pamela Aschbacher and Joan Herman, The Humanitas Program Evaluation, 1991.
5. Classroom teachers in Rhode Island noted improved behavior and attitudes among a test group of students given intensive arts training.
- “Music Training Helps Underachievers,” Nature, May 26, 1996
6. More than nine out of ten people believe that schools should offer musical instruction as part of their regular curriculum.
- Americans Love Making Music – And Value Music Education More Highly Than Ever, American Music Conference, 2000.
7. Teachers in schools with strong arts programs report greater professional interest, motivation, self-development, and increased innovation in the classroom.
- Champions of Change federal study, 1999.
8. States should mandate music education for all students, according to seventy-eight (78) percent of respondents in a 2000 survey.
- Attitudes, NAMM (International Music Products Association), 2000.
9. Ninth grade students in a Chicago arts program achieved reading scores that were a full grade level higher than students not in the program. All other variables, including race, gender, and socioeconomic status, were equal in this study.
- CAPE Study, President’s Council on the Arts and Humanities, 2000.
10. When faced with a problem to solve, students in music and the arts produce more possible solutions, and their solutions are more creative, according to a nationwide study.
- N. M. Weinberger, “Arts Education Enhances ‘Real Life’ Personal Skills,” MuSICA Research Notes, Spring 2000.
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Why Music? Top Ten List for Everyone:
1. Ninety-five (95) percent of people responding to a 2000 Gallup Poll believe that music is part of a well-rounded education.
- Gallup Poll Shows Strong Support for Putting Music in Every School’s Curriculum, Giles Communications, 2000.
2. Practicing musicians demonstrate 25 percent more brain activity than non-musicians when listening to musical sounds.
- Exposure to Music Is Instrumental to the Brain, University of Muenster.
3. In a 1998 study, retirees who participated in group keyboard lessons reported decreased anxiety, decreased depression, and decreased loneliness when compared to a control group.
- Scientific Study Indicates That Making Music Makes the Elderly Healthier, American Music Conference, 1998.
4. People who participate in the arts live longer than others, according to a Swedish study.
- British Medical Journal, 1996.
5. At-risk children participating in an arts program that includes music show significant increases in self-concept, as measured by the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale.
- Project ARISE: Meeting the needs of disadvantaged students through the arts, Auburn University, 1992.
6. Martin Gardiner of Brown University tracked the criminal records of Rhode Island residents from birth through age 30, and he concluded the more a resident was involved in music, the lower the person’s arrest record.
- “Music Linked to Reduced Criminality,” Musica Research Notes, Winter 2000.
7. The part of the brain responsible for planning, foresight, and coordination is substantially larger for musicians than for the general public.
- “Music On the Mind,” Newsweek, July 24, 2000.
8. Students who participate in school music ensembles have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs among any group in our society.
- H. Con. Res 266, United States Senate, June 13, 2000.
9. In a French study, the use of melodies was shown to stimulate speech recovery in stroke victims.
- Neurology, December, 1996.
10. Taking a music elective course is a better indicator that a student will stay in college than high SAT scores or high GPA.
- Dr. Denise C. Gardner, Effect of Music Courses On Retention, Georgia Tech, 2000.
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Source material from Attitude Concepts For Today,
Tim Lautzenheiser