Students with no ensemble performance experience had a dropout rate of 7.4 percent. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania School District analyzed its 1997 dropout rate in terms of students’ musical experience.– Dee Dickinson, “Music and the Mind,” New Horizons for Learning, 1993 Research shows when a child listens to classical music the right hemisphere of the brain is activated, but when a child studies a musical instrument both left and right hemispheres of the brain “light up.” Significantly, the areas that become activated are the same areas that are involved in analytical and mathematical thinking.The earlier the musicians were when they started musical training, the bigger this area of the brain appears to be. An area used to analyze the pitch of a musical note is enlarged 25% in musicians compared to people who have never played an instrument. Researchers at the University of Muenster in Germany have discovered that music lessons in childhood actually enlarge parts of the brain.

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Morrison, “Does Music Make You Smarter?,” Music Educators Journal, September, 2000 On the 1999 SAT, music students continued to outperform their non-arts peers, scoring 61 points higher on the verbal portion and 42 points higher on the math portion of the exam.– “College-Age Musicians Emotionally Healthier than Non-Musician Counterparts,” Houston Chronicle, 1998 Music students demonstrate less test anxiety and performance anxiety than students who do not study music.– Carl Hartman, “Arts May Improve Students’ Grades,” The Associated Press, October, 1999 College students majoring in music achieve scores higher than students of all other majors on college reading exams.Gordon Shaw, Neurological Research, University of California at Irvine, February, 1997 A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reports that music training – specifically piano instruction – is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children’s abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science.– “The Comparative Academic Abilities of Students in Education and in Other Areas of a Multi-focus University,” Peter H. – “The Case for Music in the Schools,” Phi Delta Kappan, 1994 Also, a study of 7,500 university students revealed that music majors scored the highest reading scores among all majors including English, biology, chemistry and math. For comparison, (44 percent) of biochemistry majors were admitted. He found that 66 percent of music majors who applied to med school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. Music majors are the most likely group of college grads to be admitted to medical school.– “Music On the Mind,” Newsweek, July 24, 2000

The part of the brain responsible for planning, foresight, and coordination is substantially larger for instrumental musicians than for the general public.Gardner, Effects of Music Courses on Retention, Georgia Tech, 2000 A 2000 Georgia Tech study indicates that a student who participates in at least one college elective music course is 4.5 times more likely to stay in college than the general student population.To learn more about what you can do to build community and government support for music education, please read this informative Grassroots Advocacy Guide produced by NAMM and the National Association for Music Education. As a parent, community member or business owner, your voice must be heard to influence school budget and curriculum decisions to assure all children have access to music education.

Yet music and arts education programs are being cut or reduced in public schools. Music is basic to our development and expression. Research tells us that students active in school music programs are more successful students say that their commitment to music keeps them focused and motivated in everything they pursue. Learning music helps young people do better in school and in life.

Music math scores higher