Because it is advantageous
Academically . . .
Scientific studies indicate that music
participation helps train the brain for higher forms of thinking. Children perform better
in other subjects by improving reading, spelling, and math skills. Experts note that a
year’s musical training can increase a child’s IQ by as much as ten points! SAT
scores show that students with experience in music scored fifteen to thirty points above
the mean. Schools that were showing low academic accomplishments improved dramatically
when music was added to the curriculum. Results of extensive research done at the
University of California - Irvine reported that piano or singing lessons affected the
spatial reasoning skills of nineteen preschoolers tested over an eight-month period. The
researchers found that the preschoolers’ ability to work mazes, draw geometric
figures and copy patterns of two-color blocks dramatically improved. Their theory is that
similar patters of neuron firing characterize all higher order thinking. When children
exercise cortical neurons by listening to classical music, they are also strengthening
brain circuits used for math, thus enhancing their use in complex reasoning tasks. Paul
Harvey said that without music in education, America risks graduating young people who are
"right-brain-damaged".
