In a 1995
study in Hamilton, Ohio, string students who participated in pullout lessons
averaged higher scores than the non-pullout students in all areas of the
Ohio Proficiency Test. Sixty-eight (68) percent of the string students achieved
satisfactory ratings on all sections of the test, compared to fifty-eight
(58) percent of the non-pullout students.
- Michael D. Wallick, A Comparison Study of the ohio
Proficiency Test Results Between Fourth String Pullout Students and Those
of matched Ability, Ohio State University, 1995.
According
to a 2000 survey, eighty t-one (81) percent of people responding believe
that participating school music corresponds with better grades and test
scores. This is an increase of fourteen (14) percent over the 1997 results
for the same question.
- Attitudes, NAMM (International Music Products Association), 2000.
More music
teachers are role models for minority students than teachers of any other
subject. Thirty-six (36) percent of surveyed minority students identified
music teachers as their role models, compared to twenty-eight (28) percent
for English teachers, eleven (11) percent for elementary teachers, and severn
(7) percent for physical education teachers.
- "Music
teachers as role models for African-American students," Journal
of Research in Music Education, 1993.
Only thirty
t-one (31) percent of teenagers and adults in a 2000 survey who do not play
an instrument feel they are too old to start learning.
- Americans Love Making Music - And Value Music Education
More Highly Than Ever, American Music Conference, 2000.
Researchers
at the University of California and the Niigata Brain Research Institute
in Japan have found an area of the brain that is activated only when reading
music scores.
- "Musical Brain - Special Brain Area Found for Reading
Music Scores," Nevermore, 1998.
In the 1998
federal study Gaining the Arts Advantage, music teachers in many
of the strongest arts programs nationwide are encouraged by their schools
to perform in their communities and to improve their own performing skills.
- Gaining the Arts Advantage, The President's Council on the Arts
and humanities, 1998.
Ninety-two
(92) percent of people who play and instrument say they were glad they learned
to do so, according to a 2000 Gallup Poll.
-
Gallup Poll Shows Strong Support for Putting Music in Every School's Curriculum,
Giles Communications, 2000.
In academic
situations, students in music programs are less likely to draw unfounded
conclusions.
- Champions of Change, Federal study, 1999.
The scores
of elementary instrumental music students on standardized math tests increased
with each year they participated in the instrumental program.
- "Music Training Helps Underachievers," Nature, May
26, 1996