| Not all children should be expected to study music with the
intent
of making it their life work or becoming great artists. Obviously
society would be in trouble if everyone wanted only to be a great
musician.
Where would we be without chemists, engineers, doctors, farmers,
teachers,
etc., etc.? however, every child who can hear could, if given the
opportunity, benefit in scores of ways from music.
First, there are intellectual benefits. Wendell
Harrison, writing
in the May 1983 issue of Vermont Music Educators Association News
said:
| Studies have been done for some
time now on basic
intelligence as it relates to playing a musical instrument. While
once it was said that smart kids are in the band or orchestra, for some
time now, neurologists have been finding that the kids are smart
because
they are in the band or orchestra.
Recently a series of comprehensive
skills tests
was run on 5154 fifth graders in all the Albuquerque's 75 elementary
schools
... and guess what? In every single test area kids who
were
learning to play an instrument and were participating in the school
band
or orchestra received higher marks than their classmates. Not
only
that, but the longer the school children had been in instrumental
programs,
the higher they scored!
I recently heard Dr. Frank Wilson,
a well known
neurologist, speak at a meeting of the American Music Conference in New
York City. His feeling that increased intelligence is helped by a
child playing a musical instrument is based on the fact that
approximately
80 - 90% of the brain's motor control capabilities are devoted to the
hands,
mouth, and throat. ... He feels that by developing highly refined
control
in those areas, a child is stimulating almost the entire brain, thereby
increasing its total capabilities.
|
Let's take a look specifically at what music teaches.
| Music is mathematic
in its rhythmic
aspects. Time is precisely subdivided into fractions which must
be
figured out on the spot from the musical notation. there is no
time
to work it out on paper. |
Math |
| Music teaches scientific
principles of acoustics
including sound intensity, tone quality, volume changes, melody and
harmony.
each of these is related to its aesthetic implications. through
learning
to tune and handle their instruments, children can learn about harmonic
vibrations and overtones. They learn that the tight string plays
high, the loose one plays low. They learn that the short string
is
higher than the longer one and to calculate mathematically the
relationship
between the different lengths. they learn how pipe length affects
pitch and how temperature affects the volume and hence the pitch of the
pipe. |
Science |
| Music teaches foreign
language. Terms in
French, Italian and German introduce the child to the fact that there
are
many ways of saying the same thing. Songs learned in foreign
languages
help accustom the child to the words and sounds of the language.
Text is more easily remembered when set to music. Virtually
everyone
knows the french version of "Are You Sleeping?" Music
communicates
to the world at large. It is truly the universal language.
During 1985 the whole world celebrated the tricentennial of Johann
Sebastian
Bach without regard to language, political philosophy or national
boundary. |
Communications |
| Music teaches history, Each
of the recorded
periods of human history has had a musical counterpart. The music
of each period expresses the times of which it is born. |
History |
| Music teaches geography and
understanding of
different cultures. The nature, the emotional makeup of a people
is expressed in its music. we sense specific feelings about a
nationality
as they are put forth by its composers, who often incorporate existing
folk musical idioms in their music to create a nationalistic sense. |
Geography |
| Physically, the study of music
requires muscular
coordination, agility and motor control. Muscles of the hands,
fingers,
face and diaphragm must work together with perfect timing.
Kinesthetic
senses develop as they relate to the sound that the ear hears and the
mind
interprets. |
Physical Development |
| Music is art because it is human
expression.
It is a medium through which man can express beauty. Great music
from all eras is great because it has power to humanize mankind.
It can help individuals become more feeling and sensitive. It can
take away depression. It can provide lively impetus for
action.
It can poetically describe all ranges of human emotion. It can
soothe
troubled nerves or bring light into a dark world. It can bless us
with precious humor and increase our understanding of beauty, of
compassion,
of gentleness, of goodness and of life. It can inspire men and
women
to good deeds and bring them closer to an infinite beyond this world. |
Art |
| Few things teach self-discipline
as effectively
as daily musical practice. The work is not easy, and some
determination
is required in order to reap the rewards. David P. Gardner,
president
of the University of California, stated the case succinctly in an
interview
for the August 1984 issue of B.Y.U. TODAY when he said, "I think my
capacity
to concentrate and to be self disciplined in my approach to problems
was
significantly helped by my training on the piano and pipe organ." |
Discipline |
| Musical training cultivates
musical taste.
If children are not exposed to music of the masters, there is no reason
to assume that they will choose to listen to it. What's more, it
is the music that the children make themselves that has the greatest
impact
on them. For a youngster, playing an instrument in the heart of
an
orchestra is many times more rewarding than listening to the same music
performed by someone else. Children who have a taste for a broad
range of the great music may still enjoy what is popular, but they also
know something greater. |
Appreciation |
| Music can also strengthen family
ties.
It can be a source of enjoyment of sharing, and of fun to the family
which
seeks out opportunities to play or sing together. |
and Togetherness |
Are these not sufficient reason to include the study of music in a
child's
curriculum?
 |
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