| Did
you know that music can help children in their studies? Well,
several studies have concluded that it can! Here are some quotes
from various articles on the subject.
1. On the basis of observations and experiments with newborns,
neuroscientists now know that infants are born with neural
mechanisms devoted exclusively to music. Studies show that
early and ongoing musical training helps organize and develop
children's brains. -"The Musical Mind," Susan Black,
The American School Board Journal, January 1997.
2. Two research projects have found that music training--specifically
piano instruction--can dramatically enhance children's spatial-temporal
reasoning skills, the skills crucial for greater success in
subjects like math and science. - Neurological Research, February
1997; Rauscher and Shaw, and Neurological Research, March
1999; Shaw, Graziano, and Peterson.
3. School leaders affirm that the single most critical factor
in sustaining arts education in their schools is the active
involvement of influential segments of the community in shaping
and implementing the policies and programs of the district.
- Gaining The Arts Advantage: Lessons From School Districts
That Value Arts Education; President's Committee on the Arts
and the Humanities and Arts Education Partnership, 1999.
4. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate
majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66 percent
of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted,
the highest percentage of any group. Forty-four percent of
biochemistry majors were admitted. As reported in "The
Case for Music in the Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, February
1994.
5. Students who study music and the arts score higher on
the verbal and math portions of the SAT than students with
no coursework or experience in the arts. - Profiles of SAT
and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, 1998.
6. A 1997 Gallup Survey on Americans' attitudes towards music
revealed that 89% of respondents believe music helps a child's
overall development and 93% agree that music is part of a
well-rounded education. - Americans' Attitudes Towards Music,
The Gallup Organization, 1997.
7. The very best engineers and technical designers in the
Silicon Valley are, nearly without exception, practicing musicians.
- Grant Venerable, "The Paradox of the Silicon Savior,"
as reported in "The Case for Sequential Music Education
in the Core Curriculum of the Public Schools," The Center
for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, New York, 1989.
8. The publication Academic Preparation for College: What
Students Need To Know and Be Able To Do states that "preparation
in the arts will be valuable to college entrants whatever
their intended field of study." - The College Board,
New York, 1983 [still in use].
9. An education in the arts readily engages a wide variety
of learning styles and increases learning potential for students.
Schools who have integrated music and the arts into the curriculum
have seen an increase in test scores and student attendance
and a decrease in drop-out rates. - "The Arts and Student
Achievement: Ideas for Schools and Communities," background
paper for the Goals 2000 Satellite Town Meeting, ArtsEdge.
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