Twelve Benefits
of Music Education
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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various solutions, rejecting outdated rules and assumptions.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.