Katherine: Conservative in Training

Monday, January 16, 2006

Of Musical Importance . . .

For my social science class, I had to type a letter to a state official. I chose to type to an assemblyman of my state about the importance of keeping music as part of the state’s school curriculum.

I wish to say that schools need music in their curriculum. Although we have music standards, many schools do not have the proper funding for this program. I suggest that a way be found to give schools the funding needed for a decent music program.

Music teaches science, math, history, physical education, foreign language, and art all at the same time. Music teaches science through the basics of acoustics. It teaches math because it is based on rhythmic subdivisions of time done in split seconds. Music teaches history because the song being played usually transcends the time period in which it was written. Music requires coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lips, cheeks, and facial muscles as well as the control of your diaphragm, back, and stomach and chest muscles just to make sure each note comes out clearly and in pitch, thus covering physical education. Musical terms are usually in Italian- such as Forte, meaning loud and Piano, meaning soft- or other foreign languages and music itself is in its own foreign language of symbols, representing ideas. Music teaches art most of all, allowing a human to take simple notes on a page and transform them into emotions, feelings, and life that cannot be found in any other human capability.

After months of hard work, a student will finally perform and when they receive the audience’s approval, it increases their self-confidence greatly. When a student participates in an ensemble or a band, they learn teamwork and make lifelong friendships that they will appreciate later in life. Music brings down the rate of drug and alcohol use in secondary students on a lifelong time frame as well as a current time frame. Memories are improved and violence is less abundant when music is added to student life.

237 second grade students participated in a study that used piano keyboard training and newly designed math software to demonstrate improvement in math. The test students who used the keyboard training and the math software scored almost 30% higher in proportional math and fractions than the students who only used the math software, proving that music brings up test scores. These are some facts about music and I hope that the State Legislate considers these facts when deciding the educational budget for our state in 2006 and future years.

I sincerely thank you for your time and thought concerning my proposal. I suggest that the importance of music in schools is studied further in hopes of improving the low test scores our state currently “boasts�. Again, I thank you for your time and the consideration of my proposal. I hope to receive a response from you as well as a signature. Pease keep our state running smoothly.

Thank you,

Katherine

PS: For more information about the importance of music in schools, check out the following websites:

Children’s Musical Workshop

Education magazine: The Importance of Music Education

Bolivar R-I School District: How important is music to your child’s education?

What People Say About the Importance of Music in Our Schools

American Music Conference: AMERICANS OVERWHELMINGLY WANT
MUSIC EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

Of course, many other sites exist, but these are a few that I thought that you would find interesting and convincing.