Music Education - Do We Really Need It?

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School FundingState and Federal Mandates

The current dilemma in public schools

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Music Education -

Is it really that important in light of diminishing resources?

Great Reasons for Music Education:

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Music raises math scores!

Music develops discipline.

Music develops focus.

Being in music groups develops responsibility and leadership!

Those are great reasons, but…

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If the primary purpose of music in the curriculum is to enhance non-musical learning, we are probably wasting resources that could be used more efficiently elsewhere to produce the same or better results.

So what makes music so important to the education of a child?

Three fundamental bases for Music Education

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1) Biological Basis

2) Sociological Basis

3) Anthropological Basis

Biological Basis for Music Education

The biological basis for music education can be summarized as the purposeful cultivation of the musical capacity in every student.

Premise 1: All humans have an innate cognitive capacity for music

Premise 2: Cultivating that cognitive capacity has beneficial outcomes desirable for all students

Biological Basis for Music EducationMRI research reveals neurological structures for music processing.

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Levitin & Tirovoloas, 2009, p. 212

Biological Basis for Music Education

The chart below identifies the brain regions activated by various music elements.

Once considered a “right-brain” function, current research findings demonstrate

that music is whole-brain.

Purwins et al, 2003, p. 155

Biological Basis for Music Education

Levitin and Tirovolas, 2009, p. 226

“We now know that musical operations involve disparate regions of the

brain, including all lobes of the brain, and both cortical and sub cortical

structures. In particular, the roles of the cerebellum [movement

coordination, balance and equilibrium] and amygdala [emotional

responses/memory] are becoming increasingly appreciated. The components

of music, including pitch, rhythm, contour, and timbre, are subserved by

distinct and separable neural processing units. Music processing shares

some circuitry with spoken language processing yet also involves distinct

neural circuits.”

Biological Basis for Music Education

Using MRI technology, Christian Gaser and Gottfried Schlaug observed

enlargement of regions of brain gray matter in amateur and

professional musicians, when compared with non-musicians. The

greatest enlargement was found in the tissue of professional

musicians.

[Gray matter routes sensory or motor stimulus to interneurons of the

central nervous system.]

Biological Basis for Music Education

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Gaser & Schlaug, 2003, p. 9243

Biological Basis for Music Education

Why is music education important biologically?

1. Humans have innate cognitive structures (both shared and distinct) to process music.

2. Music is a “Brain Gymnasium,” beneficial for all students. Even on the amateur level, music can increase the mass of brain gray matter.

Sociological Basis for Music Education

Sociologically, music education provides authentic, stimulating and valid experiences through performance, composition and listening.

Premise 1: Music is a fundamental part of society.

Premise 2: Music connects students to society.

Premise 3: Music education prepares gifted and talented music students for a career in music.

Sociological Basis for Music Education

Family/Tribe/Clan Village/Town/City

State/Nation/Ethnicity

Every student is part of multiple societal groups. Music contributors to the identity, tradition and cohesion of these groups.

Music preserves and perpetuates societal groups. Example 1 Example 2

Sociological Basis for Music Education

Music education provides students a myriad of opportunities to participate

in, and perpetuate the valued traditions of their society in “important,

authentic, substantive, meaningful, artistic experience that connect

them with their culture” (Duke, 2001, p.36).

Music education introduces students to the pluralism of contemporary

society by guiding discovery and performing music of multiple societal

groups. Music is a “real-world” sociological laboratory.

Sociological Basis for Music Education

Music education prepares talented and gifted music students for careers in the global economy. Teaching, composing and performing are the traditional fields. But new opportunities are expanding in music production, music therapy, and electronic media.

By the year 2011, 30% of music retail revenue will be the delivery of music to mobile phones (Jones, 2007, para 1).

Music students are finding greater flexibility in designing undergraduate double major programs that include music, but prepare them for advanced studies in other major fields as well. Case Western Reserve and Columbia University now offer programs that prepare musicians for graduate study in chemistry, psychology, law, medicine and engineering. (Columbia University Department of Music, 2007; Case Western Department of Music, 2009.)

Sociological Basis for Music Education

Sociologically, every student involved in music education has the opportunity to:

• Celebrate and participate in society in a valuable and authentic experience.

• Listen and move; compose, sing and play music of multiple societies.

• Develop a skill with which they may participate in, and appreciate society.

• Prepare for careers in music in the global marketplace.

Anthropological Basis for Music Education

Anthropologically, Music Education preserves, perpetuates and instills appreciation for the unique creativity, culture, and history of humans.

Music has been shown to extend far into pre-history. The oldest known instrument (35,000 year old bird-bone flute) was discovered in a German cave in 2008. (McGroary, 2009, n.p.)

Cuneiforms of the Neolithic era demonstrate that Near Eastern cultures were using scales and harmonies in music. (Kilmer, 1998.)

Rock gongs were being used in the Neolithic era in Southern India. (Boivin, Brumm, Lewis, Robinson, & Korisettar, 2007, p. 272)

Anthropological Basis for Music Education

Not only does music span human history, it is pan-cultural. There is no people group on earth that does not “do music.” From the most remote pre-literate peoples to the technologically advanced, humans create, listen to and participate in music.

Anthropologically, when students do music, they are getting back to their roots - they are being human. They are also experiencing the wonderful panorama of human culture in all its richness and variety.

Anthropologically, Music Education develops an awareness and appreciation for the unique creativity of humans.

What does this philosophy look like?

1. Music (the Arts) as a core subject - International Baccalaureate Model

2. Music permeates the school setting through passive and active listening across the curriculum and school assemblies

3. Cross-curricular music (arts) experiences

4. General and advanced music opportunities for all grade levels (Oakwood JH Jazz Band, HS Women’s Ensemble, HS String Quartet, AP Theory)

5. Honors credit for advanced study available for upper level music courses

6. High school music major track for future professional musicians/music majors/minors

7. Providing significant, authentic music experiences for the musically talented/gifted

8. Adequate staffing, rehearsal and performance facilities to meet student needs

9. Achieving the National Standards for Music, k-12

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Music Education - Do We Really Need It?

Yes! Music exercises the brain - the whole brain.

Yes! Music connects us to our society and to the society of others.

Yes! Music is a viable career choice for the musically gifted and talented.

Yes! Music celebrates the creativity and cultural history of humanity!

Works Cited

Boivin, N. I., Brumm, A. D., Lewis, H.E., Robinson, D. A., & Korisettar, R. A. (2007). Sensual, material, and technological understanding: exploring prehistoric soundscapes in south India. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 13(2), 267-294.

Department of Music. Case Western Reserve University. Retrieved July3, 2009 from http://music.case.edu/prospective/ba/today.php#other.

Department of Music. Pre-Med Concentration submitted by EthnoAdmin on July 26, 2007 - 3:57pm. Columbia University. Retrieved July 3, 2009 from http://music.columbia.edu/programs/undergrad/cc/premed

Duke, R. A. (2001). The Other Mozart Effect: An Open Letter to Music Educators. Missouri School Music, 55(4), 36-40.

Gaser, C. & Schlaug, G. (2003). Brain Structures Differ between Musicians and Non-Musicians. The Journal of Neuroscience, October 8, 2003, 23(27), 9240-9245.

Jones, K.C. (2007, December 4). Mobile Music A $11 Billion Industry By 2011. InformationWeek, para 1. Retrieved from http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204700372

Kilmer, A. (1998). The musical instruments from Ur and ancient Mesopotamian music. Expedition, 40(2), 12-19.

Levitin, D. J., & Tirovolas, K. (2009). Current Advances in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Music. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1156(1), 211-231.

McGroarty, P. (2009). Prehistoric flute in Germany is oldest known. Associated Press, June 25, 2009. Retrieved July 4, 2009 from http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_GERMANY_PREHISTORIC_FLUTE?SITE=FLDAY&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT on July 4, 2009

Purwins, H., Herrera, P., Grachten, M., Hazan, A., Marxer, R., & Serra, X. (2008). Computational models of music perception and cognition I: The perceptual and cognitive processing chain. Physics of Life Reviews, 5(3), 151-168.