Page 1 of 30, showing 20 records out of 595 total, starting on record 1, ending on 20

Music: A Vehicle for Teaching Skills

Added: Mar 4, 2010 - View

“Music is the vessel we use to teach skills to our students.”

Individuals with Higher Education Report Higher Performance Attendance

Added: Mar 4, 2010 - View

Table showing the percentage of Americans who report attending performing events in all categories is much higher for individuals with higher education experience; this is a much better indicator than personal income.

Decline in Adult Music Participation

Added: Mar 4, 2010 - View

Table showing that percentage of adults performing or creating jazz has declined from 1.7% in 1992 to 1.4% in 2008; percentage of those performing classical music has declined from 4.2% to 3.1% in same time frame; decline for choir participation is 6.3% to 5.2% in the same time frame. Percentage of adults playing a musical instrument in 2008 is 12.7%.

Decline in Music Education Among 18-24 Year-Olds

Added: Mar 4, 2010 - View

Since 1982, the share of 18-24-year-olds who report having had any music education in their lives (now 38 percent) has dropped by more than a third.

Improvising: Lifelong Music Participation

Added: Mar 3, 2010 - View

“If you teach people how to improvise, they can play music the rest of their lives.”

In High Performing Middle Schools Students Participate in Music

Added: Mar 3, 2010 - View

[In high performing middle schools studied,] a high proportion of students participate at the school in:one or more extracurricular activities;course elective (music, drama, art, dance); orcourse electives (exploratory wheel or mini-courses).

Beautiful Music, Beautiful People

Added: Mar 3, 2010 - View

“In the short term, my goal is making beautiful music. In the long term, my goal is making beautiful people.”

Music Keeps Us Human in the Age of Technology

Added: Mar 1, 2010 - View

“As a musician and teacher I have direct experience of how music can enliven our lives, develop the capacity for creativity and the possibility of self-expression and sharing our soul forces. Music keeps us human in an age of increasing technology and detachment from each other. An arts community allows us to appreciate one another. Every human should have the opportunity to listen to and express oneself through music.”- Anonymous, New Jersey

Music and Our Evolution

Added: Mar 1, 2010 - View

“As a private music teacher and someone who works in a music store, I see every day how music adds meaning and enjoyment to people's lives, from children through senior citizens. There are many pressures on budgets these days but people are still taking lessons and buying instruments, and this means music is of special value to people. “Music in the schools reaches many children who don't have access to private lessons or music-making at home. Music more and more appears to be a integral part of being human and even of our evolutionary development and it should be as important in the schools as any academic subject.”Anonymous, Washington

Students with ADHD and Music

Added: Mar 1, 2010 - View

“My son has ADHD, and has participated in the band starting in his 6th grade year. He is now a junior and has been on the honor roll since the 6th grade. I believe with all my heart that music has made that possible in part. Please don't take this from him.”Lisa H., South Carolina

Music: The Intersection of the Temporal and the Infinite

Added: Mar 1, 2010 - View

“Why music education? Music brings us to the intersection of all things temporal and infinite, an expansive place filled with possibilities and hope, a place where potential through creativity and collaboration is realized.”- Andrew S., New Jersey

What Life Would Be Like Without Music

Added: Feb 22, 2010 - View

“Imagine what our lives would be like without music. No music on radio or television, no stereos, no iPods, no CDs, no music at square dances, dance halls, weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, Confirmation or Sweet 16 parties. No soundtracks for movies.“Try to imagine Star Wars, ET or Superman without music. No bands, no orchestras, no choirs, no music at Christmas, no music at churches or temples, no rock or pop concerts, no operas, no ballets, no symphonies, no Broadway musicals, and on and on.“What an incredible and invaluable role music plays in all of our lives. It is such a precious gift to mankind. It has been called a 'universal language.' In all of our diversity, it is a reflection of the silent call of our souls. How sad that we want to deprive our children of this treasure.“Music education is not a luxury, it's a necessity.”

Music Expresses the Inexpressible

Added: Feb 22, 2010 - View

"Music expresses the inexpressible. It helps to fill our basic needs. It goes beyond intellect, allowing us to understand things with our hearts that we can't with our minds. It is through artistic expression that we discover who we are."Music can move us to an almost idyllic state, or to a deep sense of melancholy. It can lift our spirits when all else fails. If you want to know about a country or a people, listen to its music. We sing and play it, we dance to its beat; it reminds us of our first love, couples have 'their song,' it is an integral part of our holidays and celebrations. It comforts us during times of loss; it inspires us when our spirits are low; it gives us solace when we are separated from those we love — it is invaluable and indispensable."

Music Education Can Improve Auditory Skills in Children with Disabilities

Added: Feb 22, 2010 - View

"Researchers in the Kraus lab [at Northwestern University] provided the first concrete evidence that playing a musical instrument significantly enhances the brainstem's sensitivity to speech sounds. The findings are consistent with other studies they have conducted revealing that anomalies in brainstem sound encoding in some learning disabled children can be improved with auditory training."

Music Education and Brainstem Sensitivity to Speech

Added: Feb 22, 2010 - View

"Playing an instrument may help youngsters better process speech in noisy classrooms and more accurately interpret the nuances of language that are conveyed by subtle changes in the human voice...Cash-strapped school districts are making a mistake when they cut music from the K-12 curriculum." -Nina Kraus, Hugh Knowles Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology and Communication Sciences at Northwestern University and director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory in Northwestern's School of Communication

More of the American public is creating their own art

Added: Feb 16, 2010 - View

The creation of new artistic work is critical to a successful arts ecology. Creativity is generally vigorous at the individual level, driven by entry into the field by individual artists and new organizations. We believe that this is only the “tip of the iceberg” for other kinds of activities that are harder to measure, such as music recording, photography, weekend rock bands, and increased amateur artistic endeavors. The percentage of the American public personally creating art (e.g., ceramics, music making, and drawing) is growing slightly ahead of the growth rate of the U.S. population, up from 18.5 to 19.5 percent between 2003 and 2008.

Critical ages for music learning

Added: Feb 11, 2010 - View

When are the most critical times for music instruction? Edwin Gordon’s studies help pinpoint these critical times.Ages 5 to 9In one study, school children were given music aptitude tests every year from ages 5 to 9. The results varied according to the availability of music instruction:1)  In schools where there was little or no music in the curriculum,Between age 5 and 6—scores declined dramaticallyBetween age 7 and 8 and 9—scores declined slightly 2)  In schools where music instruction began at age 7,Between age 5 and 6—scores declined dramaticallyBetween age 6 and 7—scores declined somewhat lessBetween age 7 and 8 and 9 (the years with music instruction)—scores went up slightly Because of the dramatic change between ages 5 and 6 and the slight changes after age 7, average scores at age 9 were significantly lower than they were at age 5.3)  In schools that provided an excellent music program beginning at age 5,Between age 5 and 6—scores went up dramaticallyBetween age 6 to 7—scores went up somewhat lessBetween age 7 and 8 and 9—scores went up slightly Ages 9 to 18Gordon found markedly different results with this age-group. Music aptitude scores remained unchanged regardless of music instruction. In general, the music aptitude of students who played instruments, sang in chorus, or studied music in other ways remained unchanged at both age 9 and age 18. The same was true for students with no music education during this period.Gordon says, “By the time a child reaches approximately age 9, his or her level of music aptitude can no longer be affected by the music environment, even by a music environment of extremely high quality” (A Music Learning Theory for Newborn and Young Children, 1997, p. 10).

Music aptitude is lost if not stimulated

Added: Feb 11, 2010 - View

When it comes to music aptitude, an early and appropriate music environment is key. The sooner children are immersed in a rich music environment, the more music aptitude they retain.Howard Gardner writes, “the density of synapses in the human brain increases sharply in the first months of life, reaches a maximum at the ages of 1 to 2 (roughly 50% above the adult mean density), declines between the ages of 2 and 16, and remains relatively constant until the age of 72” (Frames of Mind, 1983, pp. 44-45).Gardner adds, “The development process involves the pruning, or atrophying of the excessive connections which do not appear to be necessary.” What isn’t used or nurtured is lost.Edwin E. Gordon concurs. In A Music Learning Theory for Newborn and Young Children (1997, p. 2), he points outResearchers believe cognition takes place in the brain’s cortex.The cortex has neurons that are interconnected by axons and dendrites, which are stimulated by synaptic activity.Children’s cortexes have an overabundance of cells to make these connections.Unless these cells are used to make connections during critical periods of brain development, they’re lost forever.Unless these cells are used to make connections for each of the senses at appropriate times, the cells will enhance only the senses that do use them.The neglected sense will be limited throughout life.

Demand for arts education is up

Added: Feb 10, 2010 - View

Research by James Catterall at UCLA and others has demonstrated that students who are engaged in the arts perform better academically—higher grade point averages and standardized test scores, lower drop-out rates—a finding that cuts across all socio-economic strata. Yet, studies by the Center for Education Policy and the Council for Better Education have both shown a decrease in the amount of arts education taking place in the nation’s schools, with cuts ranging from 25 to 33 percent. While much attention is focused on the travails of arts education, there is surprisingly little national data to measure how America’s students are learning about the arts. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, produced by the U.S. Department of Education, addresses the arts only sporadically. All of the anecdotal information about local and state arts education funding for levels K-12 has not been assembled into a single national statistic. By contrast, more information is available about student interests and choices as they enter college and when they graduate. This education measure uses five such indicators.There is a clear increase in demand among college-bound high school seniors—the 1.5 million students who take the SAT 1 Reasoning Tests. Data from The College Board, which administers the test, show an unmistakable upward trend in the percentage taking four years of arts and music classes while in high school, and even an increase in the percentage who intend to pursue an arts-related degree in college. Many of them have lived up to that expectation, too, with a steady growth in the number of arts degrees conferred annually:The percentage of all SAT test takers with 4 years of arts and/or music increased from 15.4 to 20.2 percent, between 1998 and 2009.Between 1998 and 2007, there was annual growth in the number of college arts degrees conferred annually (75,000 to 120,000) as well as growth in the share of arts degrees as a percentage of all degrees conferred (3.9 to 4.1 percent).The percentage of SAT test takers intending to pursue a college degree in the arts increased from 6.4 to 7.1 percent (1998-2008).Students taking four years of courses in art and music have higher SAT scores than those of students taking fewer years.

Arts organizations continue to create new work

Added: Feb 10, 2010 - View

The major performing arts disciplines continue to be exciting settings for the development and presentation of new work. Data on premieres by American theatre companies, symphony orchestras, operas, Broadway producers, and filmmakers are available from their trade associations: the Broadway League, League of American Orchestras, Motion Picture Association of America, Opera America, and Theatre Communications Group. These service organizations do valuable work in gathering information on their members’ activities and summarizing it for the public. They show over 1,100 new movies, plays, operas and symphonies premiered each year, a number that has grown annually since 2004. Premieres are often commissioned and planned years before the public sees them, so current economic problems are probably affecting the number of such new works that were planned in 2008 and 2009 for release in 2010 and beyond.