Music Advocacy Facts and Statistics
The U.S. Department of Education recommends the arts to college-bound middle and junior high school students asserting “ Many colleges view participation in the arts and music as valuable experience that broaden students’ understanding and appreciation of the world around them. In addition, it plays a part in children’s intellectual development.
Source: Getting Ready for College Early: A Handbook for Parents of Students in the Middle and Junior High School Years, U.S. Department of Education, 1997)
The arts are one of the six subject areas in which the College Board recognizes as essential in order to thrive in college.
(Source: Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do, 1983 [still in use], The College Board, New York )
Lewis Thomas, physician and biologist, found that music majors comprise the highest percentage of accepted medical students at 66%.
(Source: As reported in “The Case for Music in the Schools,” Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994.)
Arts Education aids students in skills needed in the workplace: flexibility, the ability to solve problems and communicate; the ability to learn new skills, to be creative and innovative, and to strive for excellence.
(Source: Joseph M. Calahan, Director of Corporate Communications, Xerox. Corporation)
Music is Beating Computers at Enhancing Early Childhood Development.Music training, specifically piano instruction, is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children’s abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science. Learning music at an early age causes long-term enhancement of spatial-temporal reasoning.
(Source: Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1997)
Music Education Statistics Quotes
Students who participate in school band or orchestra have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs among any group in our society.
~ H. Con. Res. 266, United States Senate, June 13, 2000
High School music students have been shown to hold higher grade point averages (GPA) than non-musicians in the same school.
~ National Educational Longitudinal Study 0f 1988
Music enhances the process of learning. The systems they nourish, which include our integrated sensory, attention, cognitive, emotional and motor capacities, are shown to be the driving forces behind all other learning.
~ Konrad, R.R., Empathy, Arts and Social Studies, 2000
A study of 7,500 university students revealed that music majors scored the highest reading scores among all majors including English, chemistry, biology and math.
~ The Case for Music in the Schools, Phi Delta Kappa, 1994
Students who are exposed to music-based lessons scored a full 100% higher on fractions tests than those who learned in the conventional manner.
~ Neurological Research, March 15, 1999
The College Entrance Examination Board found that students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math than students with not arts participation.
~ College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001
The foremost technical designers and engineers in Silicon Valley are almost all practicing musicians.
~ Dee Dickinson, Music and the Mind, 1993