Singing
the Praises of the Arts
Proof at last: Music Boosts Students' Achievement!
We have exciting new data to share about the impact of music and the other arts courses! At the request of Senator Stephen Wise, chairman of the Senate K-12 Education Appropriations Committee, the Department of Education provided information about the 2007-2008 12th grade cohort: the fine arts courses taken, their graduation rate (within the cohort), SAT scores and FCAT scores.
What was unusual about the data was the consistency of the results. Students taking music and arts classes were tracked by how many arts courses they had taken over their high school careers. In every category, the students with more music or other arts courses had higher results by every measure. This proved to be true for music and for each of the other arts disciplines (visual art, theater and dance).
The consistent pattern showed
- For the general population, the more music and arts classes taken, the higher the students' achievement in all measures;
- For students on "free and reduced lunch," an indicator of socioeconomic levels, the more music and arts classes taken, the higher the students' achievement in all measures;
- For students divided by ethnicity, the more music and arts classes taken, the higher the students' achievement in all measures; and
- The more arts classed taken, the more likely a student is to graduate with the cohort group.
You may see the data and a short analysis of it by Dr. Steve Kelly, FSU, on the Web site at www.flmusiced.org(hold the cursor over "Advocacy" and click on "DOE Information").
[quoted verbatim from "The Florida Music Director", April 2009. Executive Director's Notes, by James T. Perry]
My summary of this data is this: students who participate in the arts in school achieve better test scores and are more likely to graduate with their class.
As parents of band students, I know that you already know that band students are a cut above, but it is nice to see the data support what we have known all along!
Servant of Christ,
Mr. Eric Tindle
Music Quotes
- The music masters familiarize children’s minds with rhythms and melodies, thus making them more civilized, more balanced, better adjusted in themselves, and more capable in whatever they say or do, for rhythm and harmony are essential to the whole. –Plato
- It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception. –Albert Einstein (when asked about his theory of relativity)
- I always loved music; whoso has skill in this art is of good temperament, fitted for all things. We must teach music in schools; a schoolmaster ought to have skill in music, or I would not regard him. –Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Inauguration Day
A great letter from a teacher in Orange County, CA :
“As I watched the inauguration yesterday, I was struck by something in addition to the historical significance of the event. When it comes to the highest degree of ceremony in our land, we turn to that which is often the first to be on the chopping block in tough financial times: the arts. There was singing, poetry, an ensemble of some of the most talented and accomplished instrumental solo artists in the world, discussion of the particular painting featured at the luncheon, grand marches played by a band. Because great societies are often measured by their progress in the arts, we seem to understand intrinsically that these things belong, yet we are often unwilling as a society to preserve them in our education system. For every artist who blessed the nation with their gift yesterday, there was someone who had initially recognized their talent, nurtured it, guided its technical preparation, encouraged its development. Someone introduced Yo-Yo Ma to the cello, and put Aretha Franklin on a stage. These things do not just happen by accident.
The next time you hear the suggestion to cut the arts out of the schools because it’s “nice, but not necessary,” imagine yesterday without the arts… a walk to a podium, an oath, a speech, a walk to whatever comes next… no parades, no balls. Imagine the band members who played “Hail to the Chief,” told in middle school that music would not be offered in their school any more. Imagine if Itzhak Perlman never held a violin. Imagine the featured choir given over to the directorship of someone with no vocal training because the chorus position was cut. These things are happening every day, and someday we may be faced with a quickie courthouse ceremony rather than royal pomp and circumstance befitting a presidential inauguration. Think about it.”
Eric Tindle
Band Director
Westwood Christian School
Music is for a Lifetime
