Music has been a part of my life for quite some time. I have memories of my mother playing the piano arrangements of songs from Phantom of the Opera while I danced around the basement of our house in North Dakota with my sister. I was pretty young at the time - only about five or six, probably - but I still remember those precious days when my mom would consent to sit down at the piano and play for us. I still remember how my father, who had been in men’s choir through high school and college, would sing me to sleep when I was sad about moving from North Dakota to Montana after first grade, or if I woke up after a nightmare and couldn’t get back to sleep when I was even younger than that. Even now, if I am anxious or worried about something, I can just play a Chopin nocturne or Brahms sonata and I calm down pretty quickly. Music education is essential to students, as it provides many social and mental benefits (and physical, if the music in question is a marching band).
My elementary school music class, though fairly simple and probably pretty underfunded, was usually a high point of my day. For one, if I was in music class, I wasn’t in gym class (the bane of every elementary school kid’s existence at my school), and it also provided me with time to relax and not think about fractions or comma rules for half an hour or so. Upon reaching middle school, we were given/forced to make a choice between music classes: band, orchestra, or “that class where you can goof off because no one cares” (also known as choir). My orchestra class provided me with a group of people who shared some of my interests, a group away from the drama and expectations of the middle school environment where I could be myself and not what people were expecting me to be. There were only two cellos in my orchestra, and we quickly became best friends. I know other members of the orchestra formed similar friendships. The camaraderie among the members in the orchestra easily escalated into friendships and a sense of belonging, things that are incredibly important during the teenage development years - a concrete island of stability and familiarity amid the seas of confusion and change.
Music classes also provide a solid connection during fragile transitions, such as the transition from middle school to high school. This connection is especially important when moving to another city - or halfway across the country, as I did. The high school in Helena, Montana had about 1,000 students and was considered large in the area. Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois, had about 3,200 when I arrived. I was moving into a school about three times as large as I had ever seen before - and completely full of strangers. The wide variety of backgrounds and cultures at OPRF was a shock to my mono-cultured (white) mindset - diversity that occasionally proved to be very disorienting. However, orchestra was familiar, a “lifeline” of sorts, and eventually I began to find my footing and some friends in the string orchestra.
It isn’t just the social benefits of being part of a friendly group that makes music education so important - there are educational benefits, as well. Studies have shown that students in music classes have better cognitive development and higher test scores. A US Department of Education study found that, regardless of the socioeconomic status of students, those consistently involved in instrumental music during middle and high school show higher mathematics proficiency by grade twelve. Music education helps with memory recall and helps students develop greater language capacity. Dr. Kyle Pruett, a founder of the Performing Arts Medicine Association, asserted that music education improves spatial-temporal skills in children. A study from Ellen Winner (psychology professor at Boston College) and Gottfried Schlaug (neurology professor at Harvard Medical School) found music instruction improved sound discrimination and fine motor skills. While it is important to not overemphasize these benefits and assume music education will turn a student into a genius overnight, the individual benefits gained from it are useful for many things later in life, such as getting through college and finding a job (especially if that job happens to be related to orchestra, such as a cellist in a pit orchestra).
Music education is a social and educational necessity in schools, especially in middle and high schools. I have heard people in marching band say that it is “a way of life” instead of just a hobby, and I can say the same for orchestra. Connections made through something as simple (or complex, depending on the composer) as music last for a long time. My second piano teacher called music “the universal language”, and she had a good point. Music can be understood by everyone, from any culture and speaking any language. Music provides a basis for much of the culture of societies in the past and in the present, and it is something everyone can enjoy wherever they are.
You make such good points! Music education has been proven to be incredibly important, but when funding is low, for most schools, the arts are the first programs to go. Many educators and educational institutes need to remember that an education doesn't just mean math and reading- it encompasses arts, sports, and so much more.
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