Music Education: Time has come for it to measure up, not fall flat

Photo courtesy of: The Guardian

Music education can be traced back to when the United States of America were just the 13 colonies. In these days the training was to prepare singers for Protestant church services, but in the 1830s, Boston decided to include music as a curricular subject in public schools because of its moral (relationship with religion), physical (singing exercised the lungs) and intellectual (aids in memory, comparison and attention) nature. Since the start of its early history, music education has been valued as a higher level of learning, but in contemporary times it still faces being neglected by government funds and getting cut altogether when a school's budget is reduced.

Jason Chuong, a music teacher in the inner-city school district of Philadelphia - a city notorious for a collapsing public school system which just last year lost another $1.1 billion for the city's K-12 budget - recently wrote a post for the HuffPost Education blog with a mission. Chuong calls for music education in the United States to cease to be "expendable" and instead be viewed as "essential."

Photo courtesy of: The Guardian

Chuong cites many positive attributes that students gain from music education, such as an having an ongoing commitment in their lives. Through rehearsals, practicing at home and assignments, the students work through a process and get the satisfaction of a product (a performance). He also cites that through music education students' confidence and work ethic are boosted; students gain leadership skills and a sense of pride and ownership in their work. To Chuong, music education is the embodiment of the true goal of education: helping students develop life skills that transcend the classroom.

Dr. Nina Kraus from Northwestern University agrees with Chuong's strong emphasis on the importance of music education and her research takes his theory further, accrediting learning how to play an instrument with other valuable skills such as hearing in noise, improvement of the auditory working memory and ability to distinguish sound patterns, all of which connect to both music education and reading ability.

Kraus's study is based on the OPERA Hypothesis: There is an Overlap in the auditory system for speech and music, the Precision is required for music processing is greater than that needed for speech processing, Emotion induces plasticity, and Repetition and Attention tune the auditory system.

Photo courtesy of: Longwood University

Kraus discovered that musicians who had played their instruments for a period of time had better proficiency in skills such as hearing in noise and were better able to keep rhythm. Both these skills, amongst others, have been found to have positive correlations with reading ability. For example, testing for a child's ability to tap along with a beat can also give insight to the child's reading ability. The more rhythm a child possess (the better they are able to tap along with a beat), the more synchronized his or her neural patterns are and there is a higher likelihood that he or she is a good reader. According to Kraus, many of the skills gained through music education translate to higher reading abilities.

In England, the government has began funding a program in the hopes of discontinuing the lack-luster music education system that has plagued the public schools. On average, most pupils still reach the age of 14 without understanding the basics of music, such as scales, chords and melody, unless they have been taught an instrument outside of public education.

Photo courtesy of: Youth for Understanding organization

More than 100 "hubs" have been set up by the Arts Council of English, each serving numerous public schools. These hubs - with the goal of giving every child the chance to learn an instrument - select the best teachers and ensure that the quality of provision is standardized.

These hubs have only been in operation for a few months, and while some suggest their start has been rocky there are already positive improvements being made in schools where the hubs are working properly. One spokesman said that the music hobs are once "again placing [music education] at the heart of school life."

The system of music education and education in the arts in general throughout public schools in the United States and worldwide historically has been grim, but with the recent studies on the links between music education and higher performances in other subjects and increased confidence and work ethic in students, governments and school boards alike are beginning to take notice. The arts and music programs at public schools - especially those in urban areas - are slowly gaining the attention (and percent of the budget) that they rightfully deserve.



References:

Chuong, Jason. "Drumming to Success: Why Teaching Music Matters." The Huffington Post. N.p., 22 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-chuong/drumming-to-success-why-t_b_4312191.html>.

Hing, Julianne. "Dispatch From Philadelphia: The Brutal End of Public Education." Colorlines: News for Action. Race Forward, 13 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013

Kraus, Nina. "Music and Language: Reading, Rhythm and Neural Synchrony." Neuroscience Seminar. Loyola University Chicago, Chicago. 5 Nov. 2013. Lecture.

Siddique, Haroon. "Shakeup in Children's Music Education Has Failed to Bring Significant Benefits." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.