There are many benefits to music in the curriculum. According to the
website "Classics for Kids" their top 12 list goes like this:
Twelve Benefits of Music Education
1. Early musical training helps develop brain areas involved in language and
reasoning. It is thought that brain development continues for many years
after birth. Recent studies have clearly indicated that musical training
physically develops the part of the left side of the brain known to be
involved with processing language, and can actually wire the brain's
circuits in specific ways. Linking familiar songs to new information can
also help imprint information on young minds.
2. There is also a causal link between music and spatial intelligence (the
ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of
things). This kind of intelligence, by which one can visualize various
elements that should go together, is critical to the sort of thinking
necessary for everything from solving advanced mathematics problems to being
able to pack a book-bag with everything that will be needed for the day.
3. Students of the arts learn to think creatively and to solve problems by
imagining various solutions, rejecting outdated rules and assumptions.
Questions about the arts do not have only one right answer.
4. Recent studies show that students who study the arts are more successful
on standardized tests such as the SAT. They also achieve higher grades in
high school.
5. A study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other
cultures and teaches them to be empathetic towards the people of these
cultures. This development of compassion and empathy, as opposed to
development of greed and a "me first" attitude, provides a bridge across
cultural chasms that leads to respect of other races at an early age.
6. Students of music learn craftsmanship as they study how details are put
together painstakingly and what constitutes good, as opposed to mediocre,
work. These standards, when applied to a student's own work, demand a new
level of excellence and require students to stretch their inner resources.
7. In music, a mistake is a mistake; the instrument is in tune or not, the
notes are well played or not, the entrance is made or not. It is only by
much hard work that a successful performance is possible. Through music
study, students learn the value of sustained effort to achieve excellence
and the concrete rewards of hard work.
8. Music study enhances teamwork skills and discipline. In order for an
orchestra to sound good, all players must work together harmoniously towards
a single goal, the performance, and must commit to learning music, attending
rehearsals, and practicing.
9. Music provides children with a means of self-expression. Now that there
is relative security in the basics of existence, the challenge is to make
life meaningful and to reach for a higher stage of development. Everyone
needs to be in touch at some time in his life with his core, with what he is
and what he feels. Self-esteem is a by-product of this self-expression.
10. Music study develops skills that are necessary in the workplace. It
focuses on "doing," as opposed to observing, and teaches students how to
perform, literally, anywhere in the world. Employers are looking for multi-
dimensional workers with the sort of flexible and supple intellects that
music education helps to create as described above. In the music classroom,
students can also learn to better communicate and cooperate with one
another.
11. Music performance teaches young people to conquer fear and to take
risks. A little anxiety is a good thing, and something that will occur often
in life. Dealing with it early and often makes it less of a problem later.
Risk-taking is essential if a child is to fully develop his or her potential.
12. An arts education exposes children to the incomparable.