A Tragic Decrescendo: Why We Need More Music Education To Progress
At 7pm every evening during the height of the pandemic, New York City would spring to life with small concerts all over the city to celebrate our nation’s front line workers. Day in, day out, we were all in isolation, but 7pm in NYC was a moment of unification under music. All of those in the concrete jungle heard this call for community. Across the rooftops the music echoed beyond the isolation, dancing through the silence, lifting the long faces of New York and filling a deepening hole. Yet, ironically, despite the obvious power of music, programs that facilitate the development of young people everywhere are disappearing.
For decades, music education across the US has been dying a slow death. The National Assessment of Educational Programs of Arts remarked that public school students’ access to the musical arts has been in steady decline since 1997, a victim of budget cuts “amid an ongoing emphasis on core subjects like reading and maths and test scores as the measure of student success” (Freedberg; The Trinity Voice). An article by National Public Radio (NPR) affirms that government cuts in public school spending, particularly in less wealthy communities, have strained music departments (Turner, et al.). Government initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 and its successor, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, underscores mathematics, science, and reading, further restricting students’ access to music education (Lee). As a result, many schools that struggled in English and mathematics on standardised tests eventually cut music programs to bring more focus to these subjects; “at the end of the day you can call it education, but it is a business” (Leal). A business that doesn’t value the benefits of music education, or its positive impacts on all disciplines.
A sales representative once taught me that value is the relationship between price and quality. The price of sustaining the freedom to do as one wishes is a hefty one, especially when it comes to the arts. Quality is in the eye of the beholder, based on past experience, knowledge and definitions of worth along with meaning. Unfortunately, the United States, its government and education system does not equate music with a quality education. Despite the research, despite the facts, the United States chooses to allocate more funding for its military rather than to secure the educational success of its next generation (National Priorities Project).
But to what loss?
Research from several sources suggests that increased funding for music programming correlates directly to an increase in test scores, and even further, graduation rates (Brown; “Music Education Statistics”). Data from The College Board reveals that students without music education scored about 100 points lower on their SAT’s (The College Board). Music enhances the process of learning through nourishing systems, such as our integrated sensory, attention, cognitive, emotional and motor capacities, which are shown to be “the driving forces behind all other learning” (“Music Education Statistics”). Several studies found changes in brain images of children (students) who underwent 15 months of weekly music instruction and practice. These students improved upon their sound discrimination and fine motor tasks which correlated with brain imaging which found changes to the networks in the brains of those students (Brown). Further research supports this notion. Musicians require focused, disciplined and repeated practice. The American Scientist suggested that in this way, musical experience early in life imparts lifelong neuroplasticity. In a study conducted by the American Scientist, musicians’ brains more quickly and accurately encoded certain ingredients of speech sounds than those of non-musicians. They had stronger memory and attentional skills than did non-musicians, even as subjects bordered their 70’s (Kraus and White-Schwoch).
It is important to point out that these benefits on the individual level often go on to benefit those on a communal level. With music education, “students connect to each other better-greater camaraderie, fewer fights, less racism and reduced use of hurtful sarcasm” (“Music Education Statistics”). In other words, music plays a critical role in empowering individuals and strengthening community (Love).
Music connects our inner and outer worlds. It is an external expression of an internal experience; “‘mapping’ psychosomatic processes onto cultural ones (and vice versa)… music can evoke and refer to, give life to, our corporeal [spiritual] existence”’(Hoffer 1–14; Love 76). As a personal experience, music sheds light on perspectives otherwise dismissed and devalued (Hoffer 1–14; Love 76). The deeper range of expression in music reveals a range of private experiences of injustice through its varying pitches, volumes, tempos and phrasing (Love). In this way, this medium of expression provides a strong foundation and unique space for people, particularly undervalued persons, to validate their presence. The voice of undervalued persons in music “not only [influences] the political system, but also [helps to] sustain a vital civil society” (Love 72). In doing so, these varied expressions resonate in political culture and shape democratic cultures (Love). In order to contribute as equal members of society, individuals require empowerment, defined as autonomy, which may be provided to them through music (Jernigan). In other words, “the arts are a means of helping man exist” (Hoffer).
Robert E. Allen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Corporation stated that “a grounding in the arts will help our children to see; to bring a uniquely human perspective to science and technology. In short, it will help them as they grow smarter to also grow wiser” (“Music Education Statistics”). Mary Luehrisen, executive director of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation, states that “a music-rich experience for children of singing, listening and moving is really bringing a very serious benefit to children as they progress into more formal learning” (Brown). As Dr. Joy Galliford, Ph.D., the founder, Director of Development, and Instructor for South Florida Music said, “music is one of the least expensive, easiest, fun ways to increase a child’s overall development, socio-emotional status and their mental well-being” (The Trinity Voice).
In our divided and broken world, music is able to unite us as a global community. It brings people together to heal, mend divides and build new bridges. Music validates people’s experiences. It empowers them and their community. It provides a better start in life, a strong foundation for educational success, and a positive outlet for expression. Music is critical to human development, as individuals, as communities, as a nation.
It is our international responsibility to preserve these opportunities for the generations to come. Contact your local government. Organise a benefit concert or host a silent auction. Donate to SaveTheMusic Foundation.
So, will you stand with me in the case for music?
Works Cited
Brown, Laura L. “The Benefits of Music Education | Parenting Tips & Advice.” PBS KIDS for Parents, 7 May 2012, www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/the-benefits-of-music-education.
Children’s Music Workshop. “Music Education Statistics.” Children’s Music Workshop, 13 Mar. 2017, www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/factsandstatistics/.
The College Board. “Arts Students Outperform Non-Arts Students on SAT.” Americans for the Arts, 2012, www.americansforthearts.org/sites/default/files/pdf/get_involved/advocacy/research/2013/artsed_sat13.pdf.
Columbia University. “How to Secure Funding for Music Education for Public Schools.” Teachers College, Columbia University, 13 July 2021, musiconlinehybrid.tc.columbia.edu/articles/how-to-secure-funding-for-music-education-for-public-schools/.
Freedberg, Louis. “COMMENTARY: Addressing the Crisis in Arts and Music Education in California.” EdSource, 12 Jan. 2022, edsource.org/2022/addressing-the-crisis-in-arts-and-music-education-in-california/664798.
Gouzouasis, Peter. “Music Students Score Better in Math, Science, English Than Nonmusical Peers.” Https://www.apa.org, American Psychological Association, 24 June 2019, www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/06/music-students-score-better#:~:text=%E2%80%9CStudents%20who%20participated%20in%20music,vocal%20music%2C%E2%80%9D%20he%20said.
Hoffer, Charles R. The Understanding of Music. 1985.
Jernigan, Cara. “Women’s Empowerment Through Music.” Incadence — Telehealth Music Therapy, 22 Sept. 2021, www.incadence.org/post/womens-empowerment-through-music.
Kraus, Nina, and Travis White-Schwoch. “The Argument for Music Education.” American Scientist, 7 July 2021, www.americanscientist.org/article/the-argument-for-music-education.
Leal, Sheldon R. “Demise Of The Music Industry & Music Education.” Medium, 3 Oct. 2019, medium.com/@shelrochaleal/the-demise-of-the-music-industry-music-education-e2a3fd5d1c37.
Lee, Andrew M. “What Is No Child Left Behind (NCLB)?” Understood — For Learning and Thinking Differences, www.understood.org/en/articles/no-child-left-behind-nclb-what-you-need-to-know.
— -. “What Is the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)?” Understood — For Learning and Thinking Differences, www.understood.org/en/articles/every-student-succeeds-act-essa-what-you-need-to-know.
Love, Nancy S. ““Singing for Our Lives”: Women’s Music and Democratic Politics.” Hypatia, vol. 17, no. 4, 2002, pp. 71–94.
McDonald, Jen. “Funding for Schools’ Art Programs Ending?” Kettle Moraine School District, May 2016, www.kmsd.edu/site/default.aspx?DomainID=312&FlexDataID=3316&ModuleInstanceID=1237&PageID=383&PageType=3&RenderLoc=0&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108.
National Priorities Project. “Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go.” National Priorities Project, www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/.
Quadrant Research. “The Sound of Silence: The Unprecedented Decline of Music Education in California Public Schools, A Statistical Review.” Americans for the Arts, Music for All Foundation, 15 May 2019, www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/reports-and-data/legislation-policy/naappd/the-sound-of-silence-the-unprecedented-decline-of-music-education-in-california-public-schools-a#:~:text=Student%20participation%20in%20music%20declined,26.7%25%20(1%2C053%20teachers).
The Trinity Voice. “The Decrescendo of Music Education.” The Trinity Voice, 29 Mar. 2021, thetrinityvoice.com/lifestyles/2021/03/29/the-decrescendo-of-music-education/.
Turner, Cory, et al. “Why America’s Schools Have A Money Problem.” National Public Radio.org, 18 Apr. 2016, www.npr.org/2016/04/18/474256366/why-americas-schools-have-a-money-problem.
University of Bergen. “Music in Crisis — Crisis in Music.” University of Bergen, 4 June 2021, www.uib.no/en/rs/grieg/141445/music-crisis-%E2%80%93-crisis-music.
