"Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education." -Plato
Why are the arts so important
for our children? Here's Why...
"...arts programs teach a specific set of thinking skills rarely addressed elsewhere in the curriculum. ... Such skills include visual-spacial abilities, reflection, self-criticism, and the willingness to experiment and learn from mistakes. All are important to numerous careers, but are widely ignored by today's standardized tests."
"As schools cut time for the arts, they may be losing their ability to produce not just the artistic creators of the future, but innovative leaders who improve the world they inherit."
"For students living in a rapidly changing world, the arts teach vital modes of seeing, imagining, inventing and thinking."
"Those who have learned the lessons of the arts, however - how to see new patterns, how to learn from mistakes, and how to envision solutions - are the ones likely to come up with the novel answers needed most for the future."
"Clearly, listening to complex music and learning to play or sing some kinds of music affect the brain in a way that can enhance performance, particularly in the area of mathematics."
"... children receiving music training experienced positive correlations between music and academic achievement, but other important changes were also found. The changes were improvements in class participation, following directions, cooperation with the teacher, cooperation with peers, improvement in self-motivation, self-seteem, responsibility, and initiative. These changes were noted by the students themselves as well as by their teachers."
"Music is made up of patterns. When children internalize different kinds of music, they are not only building connections between the rhythm and melodic and dynamic patterns of the songs, they are making other connections as well. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how this occurs. What we do know is that music and math skills clearly go hand-in-hand, and music and memory have some special association as well. Music may even prepare the brain for all learning."
Sources:
For Our Sake: School Arts Classes Matter More Than Ever But Not for the Reasons You Think by Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland. Featured in The Boston Globe, September 2, 2007.
Baby Teacher: Nuturing Neural Networks from Birth to Age Five by Rebecca Shore. Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2002.
For Our Sake: School Arts Classes Matter More Than Ever But Not for the Reasons You Think by Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland. Featured in The Boston Globe, September 2, 2007.
Baby Teacher: Nuturing Neural Networks from Birth to Age Five by Rebecca Shore. Rowman and Littlefield Education, 2002.