Getting Involved

          For all of you who are simpathetic to the cause of music proliferation, and are trying to help put a stopper to the shutting down of musical programs across the country, there are many different ways that you can get involved and begin to help “Save the Music”. On VH1′s “Save the Music” homepage they have a list of ”25 Things You Can Do” to become active in advocating. The list consists of everything from making donations, to throwing a fundraiser, to speaking up in your community about the importance of music education programs. Through the last few weeks, as I have made it a personal goal to make as large of impact in furthering this cause as I possibly could, I have found that the most effective way of helping is to encourage young children in their musical endeavors, while at the same time raising awareness within your particular local community about the problem at hand, and how it should be reversed. By informing others in your community about the importance of a musical education in a child’s life, we can hope to influence the support that is needed to keep these programs expanding. Get involved, and be a part of a large commuinity of musicians and educators that are trying to “Save the Music”.

         For the last two years, I have worked extensively with children with disabilities at summer camps and therapy sessions. Many of these children have disabilities like autism, down syndrome, extreme ADHD, and Asperger’s syndrome. The goal is to improve the lives of these children by providing constant attention and enthusiasm, as well as a structured daily routine that enables them to strive for better cognitive control of their specific disability. Activities are usually catered to help each individual child with their problems. 

         One of the most powerful tools that seems to have a positive effect on the lives of all of the children is music therapy. Most times we will give the children a percussive intrument and instruct them to play along with us as we play a simple beat. Dancing to lively music is also utilized many times at the start of everyday to motivate the children to wake up and begin their day with a positive attitude. The heightened interest whenever a musical activity begins is always extremely apparent, as the kids tend to focus better, and often exceed our expectations of what they are capable of doing. My experience in this only furthers Weinbergers argument from the previous post that music is an intrinsic part of everyone. Even children who have difficulty performing the simplest tasks in life can relate to and learn how to perform simple musical tasks. Without much previous instruction, children are still able to understand the concepts of rhythm and harmony. They like certain music more than others, and react to music in much the same way that we do. Music truly is universal and a part of biological make-up.

“The Music in Our Minds”

        Today I went looking for new research regarding my purpose and found an absolutely fabulous article titled “The Music in Our Minds“. Written by Norman Weinberger,  a founding member of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory and Professor for the Department of Psycho- biology at the University of California, the article does a tremendous job explaining why music is beneficial for brain development in everyway. What sets this article apart from the others I have come across is Weinberger’s ability to draw rational conclusions based on known facts rather than relying on studies and statistics to make his points.  

      One of his key arguments details how music is an intrinsic and biological part of every one of us. He argues that most individuals view music as something that is socially constructed, but presents four arguments as to why it is quite the contrary. Citing the abilities of other animals as well as human infants to comprehend and react to music, music’s cross-cultural and universal appeal, and the functional architecture of the brain, the professors argument concludes that music is a catalyst for brain development much the same way language is because it is built into the very biological foundations of our minds. 

       This is not Weinberger’s only argument but it was the one that I found most intriguing. If any of you have 10 minutes of free time in the next few days I would suggest reading through it.

Guitars Not Guns

Today I was told by a close friend about a great program that is doing extraordinary work within the D.C. metropolitan area. Guitars Not Guns is a non profit organization dedicated to helping combat gang violence, substance abuse, and crime by introducing music to kids in the inner city as well as kids born into a low economic status. Due to their strong belief in music’s ability to improve upon the life of a developing child in many of the ways that have been previously mentioned in this blog over the last couple weeks, Guitar Not Guns puts all of their efforts into creating an environment where students can learn to play the guitar free of cost. I am currently contacting the organization to try and volunteer at a local site around my area. If there are any musicians out there you should think about doing the same. Check out there website, they really are changing lives.

Instilling a Sense of Purpose

             One of the most fundamentally signficant ways that music can benefit a developing child, adolscent, or young adult is by instilling a sense of purpose into their day to day routines. This was brought to my attention yesterday as I went in to see my old music teacher from high school. He was preparing them for their concert that is taking place tonight. Each student was concentrating, displaying the countless hours of practice that they had put into learning and putting the finishing touches on the masterpieces they were playing. As the rehearsal winded down about 30 minutes after my arrival, I began to catch up with my old music teacher. When I brought up the fact that I was pursuing the advocation of music education through this blog, he offered his own opinion on the topic, telling me that every year he watches each of his kids develop necessary skills that prepare them for life through their studies as musicians. He talked of hardwork, dedication, perservearance, and the ability to express ones emotions productively. He talked about his firm belief that developing children and adolscents need some sort of passion or activity that provides structure and engages and challenges them to become a better individual. After hearing him say these things I thought back to my own development and how music engaged and challenged me, helping me to acquire the traits listed above. As a student of his I always was in awe of my guitar teachers abilities as a musician, with experience playing in multiple state and national orchestras his gift of playing beautiful music is amazing, but what is even more amazing is his gift to change the lives of hundreds of children every year by providing support and teaching them many of the life lessons that are too often not learned. We could use more Mr. Slocumb’s in this world.

The Truth Lies in the Numbers

        Recently there has been a plethora of research done on music’s effects on the brain, especially in regard to children and their development. Multiple experiments have shown that musical study develops cognitive ability, basic math and literacy skills, and self esteem. Children involved in music are found to have higher average SAT scores, better school attendance, and less involvement with gang activities and substance abuse. The Mozart Effect which has become a popular experiment conducted on this topic, consists of the idea that listening to classical music can improve and speed up brain development. The study has indicated that while it is difficult to measure long term effects of classical music on brain development, short term effects are certainly noticeable. Test subjects given the same exam yielded a higher median score among those that listened to Mozart in the few weeks prior to taking it .

             After finding this research and contemplating it for a while, it was easy for me to logically draw a few parallels between musical education and academic education. As previously mentioned, many studies have shown that individuals participating in a music education program have higher levels of literacy than their peers who do not. If you think about it, students learn to “read” music from left to right, much the same way that a book is read. They must interpret a certain set of symbols and derive the intended meaning from them. The two concepts are extremely similar, making it far from coincidence that practice in one will improve performance in the other. Not only does music allow children to practice this skill of interpreting symbols that is so necessary to a variety of academic disciplines, but it accomplishes it in a way that is enjoyable, and less redundant than many of the programs that are centered on improving literacy. This is one of many reasons that music education programs must be preserved if we are to maintain the quality of education that is offered to our children.

          Hey everybody. I am starting this blog with the sole purpose of advocating for the pursuement of increased awareness in regards to the benefits music offers in the development of children, teens, and young adults. I am an accomplished musician myself, having played guitar, bass, drums, and piano for many years. Having witnessed first hand, on multiple occasions, the positive effect that music can play in an individual’s life and development, it is vitally important to support the proliferation of musical education programs for those of all ages both in our local communities and on a more national scale through Congressional legislation. 

        Many non-profit organizations, led by VH1′s Save the Music Foundation are working hard, striving to improve upon and create music education programs in elementary, middle, and high schools across the nation. Since it was founded in 1997, the foundation has donated 37 million dollars in new instruments to over 1400 public schools across the nation. When the Save the Music Foundation was founded, it was in response to a large decline in public school funding for musical programs all over the United States. Throughout the last 30 years, America’s support of these programs had eroded to what many in the muscial community saw as an unacceptable level. A study done by the Music for All Foundation in 2004 showed that in the four years from 1999 to 2003, there was a 50 percent decline in students enrolled in musical programs in the state California. Over the same period there was also a 26.7 percent drop in the number of music teachers employed by the state. 

         California’s recent decrease in music education mirrors what has been sweeping the country for the last few decades. We as a society cannot let this continue. In the next few weeks this blog will detail in full not only why we should be concerned with this reality, but how we can prevent it from continuing.

       

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