In 2009 when I began playing cello in my middle school orchestra, I never knew that my life would now be changed forever. I began to see an improvement in my grades, my attitude, and my complete outlook on life as a student. As my orchestral life continued, I discovered that I wanted to be a strings teacher and change children’s lives just as my teacher had done for me. Music classes are absolutely a necessity for children; they help establish happiness that leads to good behavior, improved brain function, and higher academic potential. Those three components are pertinent for a child’s success in school even outside of music class. Realizing facts like these is extremely important to the future of music classes because in the past decade, music classes have suffered budget cuts and have been increasingly eliminated from school curriculum. Supporting music education is more important now than ever before. Since the recent election of Donald Trump in January 2017, the future for the arts and music education is looking grim. Of the many budget cuts that he is planning to make, music education is on that list; Donald Trump wants to cut funding for the arts and humanities. This budget cut will drastically change life in school for many children and will be detrimental to the future of music education. Music education strongly and positively impacts children’s learning potential by strengthening cognitive abilities, memory, and overall success of the student. Music improves brain function and health, IQ, test scores, and math and reading abilities. Without music education, an emotional and creative outlet with such positive mental benefits will no long be available to children; this will be drastically detrimental to children’s school experience and quality of life while in school. 

Happy children are successful children. In school where there are many places for stress, anger, restlessness, and unhappiness to creep in, it is essential for children to have access to an outlet for emotional expression. Music education provides children with that outlet. California state assembly member, Tom Ammiano, has noticed that students who do not have the ability in school to “sit down and create something” have “stilted development” and have the potential to “become outliers” in society (Gauthier). When given the opportunity to be creative and release stress, students are more likely to not isolate themselves or become those “outliers” in society. Specifically, in psychological studies, it has been found that music education “creates relations between self and others,” can “increase willingness to cooperate,” and “increases emotional empathy” (Eerola). The increase in willingness to cooperate and emotional empathy that music creates helps create a strong community between students who would not necessarily live in complete harmony elsewhere. This strong relationship between students creates a harmonious place for the students and causes them to behave better than in a normal classroom setting. In an environment where students can cooperate and understand each other, there is a deeper connection amongst them, creating a happier, stress-free environment that allows more successful, meaningful learning. Consequently, when children are happy in school, they do not tend to act out and they are more well-behaved in class. 

Behavior is a key component to children’s success in school. Children who are continually misbehaved improve their behavior after being involved in a music class. Peter C. Sroka, an edutainor, once noted in an interview that “children that have had trouble daily at school and have [behavioral] outbursts” had complete attitude adjustments after being involved with musical productions (Gauthier). Sroka believes that music improves kid’s behavior because it makes them feel “validated in school” (Gauthier). In my own high school, I have noticed the behavioral benefits music can have on a seemingly “up-to-no-good” student. Just as Peter C. Sroka stated, these children are in search for validation and music classes are places where students can find this validation they crave. They search for the feeling of being good at something and being accepted into the music community; this search makes them more well-behaved and motivates them to strive for excellence. An article titled “How the Arts Benefit Your Child Academically and Behaviorally” expands on Sroka’s idea that children are better behaved due to music education. Author of the article, Grace Chen, examines a study that was conducted in Missouri in 2010 to find a direct relationship between the arts and disciplinary infractions. The study concluded that in the schools where there were high percentages of students enrolled in music classes, there were fewer reported behavioral incidents. Conversely, in schools that had lower percentages of children in music classes, there were almost double the number of disciplinary infractions (Chen). Similarly, a meta-analysis was conducted by the Arts Education Partnership that showed the relationship between students in fine arts courses and their “improved understanding of social relationships and complex emotional issues” (Chen). Children who are enrolled in music courses are reported to be more well-behaved and attentive than students who are not involved with music education. 

However, some people who oppose the arts tend to believe that children in music classes are not as well-behaved as the statistics claim. Nadia Abramson believes that “the arts distract students” and causes them to be misbehaved and not pay attention in core classes. On the contrary, Tom Ammiano believes that music “makes the students a lot more well-rounded” (Gauthier). Furthermore, music classes do not distract children, but they create an outlet for them to get their distractions, such as stress, anger, or sadness, out of the way and causes them to be more focused in core classes. The strain that core curricula has on students is enormous and it weighs heavily on children’s brains, sanity, and attention span. Many children get distracted and act out in class because they have no way to let out their distractions elsewhere – no creative outlet. After being in music class, kids have a clear mind and have dealt with all their frustration and distractions and come back to core classes feeling refreshed and ready to learn. Music classes have this effect on children because music is the least harsh on the brain; it is fun and enjoyable, helps students feel better, and relieves stress. Across the board, high school and middle school students that are in a music class such as band, orchestra, or chorus, are more well-behaved than students who are not in music class. A reason for this is the sense of confidence and belonging that music gives children; since they already feel accepted in the music community, they do not feel the need to reach out and beg for the attention of others by acting out. Another reason behind this is the strong foundation music gives children. Music is everyone-oriented, it is inclusive, and it creates one big family that gives students a huge support system and gives them the want to strive to better themselves whether it be academic or behavioral improvement. 

It has been established that music improves children’s attitudes and makes them more well-behaved, but does music have an actual physical effect on their brains? The answer is yes! Using brain graphs and pictures of the brain before and after children are involved in music classes, scientists can observe the physical changes of the brain. A few of these changes can be found in brain plasticity, activation of attention, and memory pathways. From a young age, “singing, drawing, and playing engage children in a multisensory experience that wires the brain for success” (Curtis & Fallin). There are many studies that show that “intensive musical instruction strengthens auditory and motor neuro systems” (Curtis & Fallin). The neuro systems that Curtis and Fallin mention are expanded when musical information is experienced repeatedly. Each time a child experiences new musical information, “the brain’s neural network expands through the growth of dendrites sprouting from nerve cells in the brain” (Curtis & Fallin). Therefore, music expands the brain’s neural network, makes it more complex, and strengthens the brain’s pathways. Activation of attention can be observed in the brain by analyzing the hemispheres of the brain to determine which area is active. The “left brain” is where linguistic and mathematical reasoning is exhibited while the “right brain” is where novel and creative content is explored. In a study conducted by researchers at Stanford University, participants were asked to listen to music and the scientists graphed their brain activity and both hemispheres of the brain were active during this musical experience (Curtis & Fallin). Furthering this concept, Anita Collins created a Ted Talk where she explored the mental benefits of music education. Collins’ research shows that “music has been found to increase the volume and activity in the brain’s Corpus Callosum – the bridge between the two hemispheres.” Collins concludes that the strong bridge between left and right brain cause musicians to be able to “effectively and creatively solve problems in both academic and social settings.” Lastly, memory pathways are stimulated through musical instruction. Memory pathways can be strengthened through repetition which is constantly used in a musical setting through rehearsals, drilling scales, and tuning the instruments. Repetition in music is used frequently and the “expected outcome is improved recall and increased retention of information” (Curtis & Fallin). Due to this use of repetition, “musicians exhibit enhances in memory functions, creating, storing, and retrieving memories more quickly and efficiently” (Collins). 

Music classes also contribute strongly to the construction of academic potential in students. Many case studies have shown that music classes improve children’s test scores in core classes. Author of the blog post “Let’s Get Rid of Art Education in School,” Danny Gregory, disagrees with these studies by suggesting that music classes “are a gut, an opportunity for adolescents to screw around.” Music classes are much more to students than a chance to “screw around.” Students that are involved in music show higher graduation rates (especially in lower-income students) and greater amounts of inspiration and creativity (Metla). Not only does music encourage kids to be creative and stay in school, but it also contributes to their success and performance in school. Valeriya Metla, a journalist for the Huffington Post, discusses that children who are involved in music classes for four of more years scored an average of 91 points of higher on the SAT than students who were not in a music program. Coincidentally, Danny Gregory also mentions those “91 points” with a very “So what?” attitude. These 91 points could be of extreme importance to some children; these 91 points could be the difference between an 1109 and a 1200 on the SAT – the difference between a large college scholarship or not being able to afford to go to college. Metla also observes that music education helps “improve the overall performance of students, including in the core academic subjects that are often emphasized by standardized testing.” Therefore, not only are children scoring well on the SAT, but they are bringing that success back into the normal, core curriculum classroom. A study performed by James S. Catarall, a professor from the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information, showed the general success and performance of arts-involved students. With a database of 25,000 students, Catarall found that “sustained involvement in the arts correlates with success in other subjects” (Fiske). 

In a new-age world where teachers are being challenged to exhibit cross-curricular lesson plans, music teachers really must step up to the plate and become creative while lesson planning to teach multiple academic disciplines simultaneously. Especially in elementary schools, music teachers constantly work reading into their music lessons because at this point in childhood, it is crucial for the students to begin reading fluently. What better way to teach reading than with music? “Music and reading share three primary learning processes: auditory, symbolic representation, and coding” (Hall & Robinson). One easy way music teachers can teach reading is with phonic awareness; this can be taught with comparing syllables of words with quarter notes, eighth notes, and triplets with a melody behind it to make the learning experience more fun. Singing syllables with music “provides multiple opportunities to reinforce phonics” making it an enjoyable, substantial learning experience (Hall & Robinson). Not only does music contribute to reading, but it also contributes to stronger spelling skills. The Transfercenter for Neuroscience and Learning in Germany conducted a study with 194 boys in third grade – both with and without musical training – and the boys who previously had musical training “showed better performance in spelling” and their findings “suggest an association between music education and general cognitive ability as well as a specific language link” (Hille, et al.) For some students with special learning needs, music can not only help them advance in their language skills, but can enable them to persevere. Mayela Carrasco, a student with dyslexia, confessed that “when [she] was in middle school, [she] didn’t really know how to read that well. Arts education has really helped inspire [her] to keep doing those things that were a lot harder for [her]” (Gauthier). Although music may not have directly helped her with reading due to her dyslexia, it helped her persevere and inspire her to work hard; this alone increased her academic potential by giving her inspiration to keep trying. For most children, the improvement they exhibit is astounding. In The Keller Independent School District, “students in the arts outperformed their peers by a wide margin: 14% were more proficient in English, 20% were more proficient in math, and 16% were more proficient in both science and social studies” (Gauthier). These statistics prove the strong, direct correlation between academic success and children who are involved in music and arts classes. 

“Some people think music education is a privilege, but I think it’s essential to being human – Jewel” (@NAfME). It is already common knowledge that music is a part of everyone’s normal, everyday lives and is universally enjoyed, but why is it necessary for it to be taught in school? As the above quote mentions, music makes children into whole human beings. It not only makes children more well-rounded, but it also helps them succeed academically. Students can achieve because music makes children happy. This happiness leads to good behavior and less distractions caused by stress and the everyday heartbreak of being a middle-schooler. When children are less distracted, they can soak up more information throughout the day. Therefore, the students enrolled in music classes have higher amounts of academic potential. Not only does this show in grades and behavior, but it also physically shows in their brains! Music expands children’s brains and makes the neuro passages in their brains stronger. On top of all that, music is also just fun and kids enjoy it. Who says school can’t be fun too? These important reasons are why communities need to bind together and create a strong support system for your local school’s music education classes. 2017 is a trying time for music and the arts due to the recent election of Donald Trump and his proposal to eliminate the arts or completely cutting the funding for the arts. Music is beneficial for children in so many ways. Please support the arts communities in your local schools and keep the arts alive and music flowing.
