It really doesn’t matter what grade you’re in: elementary school to college, we all see the same headlines: budget cuts here and budget cuts there. And the one subject that is always on the chopping block? The music program.
In all honesty, the people who want to cut these programs don’t understand the relevance of music and the important role it plays in so many people’s lives. While they believe there is some importance to it, they don’t think it is a fundamental core subject all students should be studying. Especially in today’s society, there is so much emphasis put onto math and science, that most music programs are getting the short end of the stick.
I understand that subjects such as science and math are crucial in order to advance through the higher education system. However, it would be wrong to leave out the fact that music has been an essential part of everyone’s learning career.
Reason 1: Music can expose people to many different cultures
There are a variety of music genres in this world: country, jazz, hip hop, classical, folk song…the list goes on and on. Music has the ability to open everyone’s eyes to all genres and have them grow an appreciation for the diversity. Whether it is a culture of a different place, or even a culture of a different time, music has the ability to unite people of all different backgrounds. You can travel the world through the power of music.
Reason 2: Music can increase memory capacity
When you play an instrument, you are using many different parts of your brain at once. Your cognitive motor skills, hearing, and memory grow stronger as you continue to practice daily. In addition, your hand-eye coordination skills enhance. Researchers conducted a study where a group of three and four year olds were split into two groups. One group started to take weekly piano lessons, while the other group didn’t have any musical lessons at all. Both groups still went about their daily preschool schedule. The study showed that students who had the piano lessons improved their spatial temporal skills by 34% more than the other students. Researchers also found this to be long-lasting through life.
Reason 3: Music can help with academics
Music can help students manage and organize their time when it comes to juggling academics, sports, music lessons, or other extra curricular activities. In addition, music is thought to help students do better in subjects like math and English. In music, students are constantly counting notes in order to keep a steady beat in the song. Studies have shown that students who play an instrument will score higher on math exams. In addition, with reading comprehension, music provides a sense of tonality, finesse, and cognitive performance to apply to reading and English-based comprehension. For people worried that playing an instrument or participating in choir will distract students from performing well in other areas, they would be incorrect. Music has been shown not to interfere with other areas of academic performance (as shown in the chart below).
Reason 4: Music is a huge stress reliever
As college students, music is practically a necessity. When we’re driving somewhere, the radio is always on. When we go to a party, the music has to be blasting or else we consider the party to be a dud. When there’s music, people just let loose and let go of any stress that might be bothering them. It has been shown that listening to music we like helps decrease the amount of stress hormones our body produces. That’s incredibly important as students are reporting record-high levels of stress in recent years. Music has the power to relieve our pain and miseries, even if it’s just for a bit.
Reason 5: Music is a universal language
Music has the ability to let people communicate with others, not through words but through the music itself. How others react and connect with it can create a common ground between people. Music is essentially a universal language because it is understood by all. It doesn’t need words to speak to an audience. Its melody, tempo, and the mood it gives off are what speaks to people. Sometimes, the power of music is greater than the power of words.