In a 2000
survey, 73 percent of respondents agree that teens who play an instrument
are less likely to have discipline problems.
-
Americans Love Making Music - And Value Music Education More Highly Than
Ever, American Music Conference, 2000.
Students who
can perform complex rhythms can also make faster and more precise corrections
in many academic and physical situations, according to the Center for Timing
Coordination, and Motor Skills.
-
Rhythm seen as key to music's evolutionary role in human intellectual development,
Center for Timing, Coordination, and Motor Skills, 2000.
A ten-year
study indicates that students who study music achieve higher test scores,
regardless of socioeconomic background.
- Dr.
James Catterall, UCLA.
A 1997 study
of elementary students in an arts-based program concluded that students'
math test scores rose as their time in arts education classes increased.
- "Arts
Exposure and Class Performance," Phi Delta kappan, October, 1998.
First-grade
students who had daily music instruction scored higher on creativity tests
than a control group without music instruction.
- K.L. Wolff, The Effects of General Music Education
on the Academeic Achievement, Perceptual-Motor Development, Creative Thinking,
and Schools Attendance of First-Grade Children, 1992.
In a Scottish
study, one group of elementary students received musical training, while
another other group received an equal amount of discussion skills training.
After six (6) months, the music group achieved a significant increase in
reading test scores, while the reading test scores of the discussion skills
group did not change.
- Sheila Douglas and Peter Willatts, Journal of Research
in Reading, 1994.
According
to a 1991 study, students in schools with arts-focused curriculums reported
significantly more positive perceptions about their academic abilities than
students in a comparison group.
- Pamela
Aschbacher and Joan Herman, The Humanists Program Evaluation, 1991.
Students who
are rhythmically skilled also tend to better plan, sequence, and coordinate
actions in their daily lives.
- Cassily Column," TCAMS Professional Resource Center,
2000.
In a 1999
Columbia university study, students in the arts are found to be more cooperative
with teachers and peers, more self-confident, and better able to express
their ideas. These benefits exist across socioeconomic levels.
- The Arts Education Partnership, 1999.