Is Music Education Good for Students?
Music is very powerful and moving. It plays a big role in today’s generation. There are many artists that have changed people’s view on life just because of the songs they write such as: Beyonce or Ed Sheeran. Overall, it can make a good impact on student’s lives. Music programs in schools are always in danger today because of the expenses of instruments, competitions, equipment, etc.
What the school board doesn’t know is how it actually helps the students improve in school. Having music education does benefit a student’s life and education. Student’s who have a music class at a young ager are more likely to excel in school because of the discipline and the musical that they learn. Studies show that students that have music education in their lives have a larger vocabulary and more advanced reading skills than the students that don’t have a music class (“Statistical benefits of music in education”). Children that study in music, or play an instrument, at a young age tend to have higher test scores, work better in teams, have enhanced critical thinking, stay in school, and pursue further in education (“Statistical benefirts of music in education”). Schools that have music programs have higher graduation and attendence rates.
The National Association of Music Education (“Music Makes the Grade”) states that schools with music education have about a 90.2% graduation rate and about a 93.9% attendance rate. The acerage graduate estimate from schools that have no music education is about 72.9% and about an 84.9% attendance rate.
Music also helps student’s brain work harder and develop faster. Students havign success in school and in society depend on many abilities which can be increased with musical instruction. A Stanford study was conducted and it showed tat music can engage parts of the brain that incolces paying attention, making predictions, nad building memory skills. A study that was led by Ellen Winner, a professor os psychology at Boston College, found changes in the brain of a child that had 15 months of weekly music education and instuction (Brown, “The Benefits of Music Education”). THe images of the brain showed that the child had improved sound discrimination and more fine motor tasks.
The imaging also showed the changes to the networks associated with those abilities in the brain. Students help the brain become more organized and deal with numerous activities by training to change tempo in music, learning how to sight sing and read music, tone, style, phrasing and learning new rhythm patterns. The benefits of a student having music education is psycological and physical. Daniel A. Carp states, “Music is one way for young people to connect with themselves, but it is also a bridge for connectiing with other.
Through music, we can introduce children to the richness and diversity of the human family and to the myriad rhythms of life”. This shows that it can help students with social skills making them better communicators. Surprisingly, music making can make the elderly healthier. Dr. Fredrick Tims, from AMC Music News, conducted a study on the elderly and stateds that there was decreases in anxiety, depression and loneliness when taking keyboard lessons.
These factors are critical in coping with stess, stimulationg the immune system, and improve health. Music is one of the things that brings people together, it’s important to have this in society to help us experience each ohter common humanity. After all, music is about communication and creativity which helps students enrich their lives, become successful, and see the world in a different perspective. Being a musician is not as easy it may seem, it takes time and practice to get the hang of rhythm, tmepos, and reading music. Therefore, music education has a lot of benefits in helping students succeed in life and school.
