Why Study Music?   

“You are the music, while the music lasts.”   T.S. Elliot

Countless studies have shown that people who study music thrive in other aspects of life.  Yet a report from the Center for Education Policy has shown that regardless of the fact that the No Child Left Behind Act lists the arts as among the core academic subjects, many school districts have since reduced instructional time for music and the arts.

Some additional research, from the National Association of Music Education:

•“A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that musical training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science.” — Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997

•“The very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry 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

•“The Nation’s top business executives agree that arts education programs can help

        repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the

        21st Century.”

            -“The Changing Workplace is Changing Our View of Education.” Business Week, October 1996.

•“Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported

        the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco,

        illicit drugs).”

            — Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998