Music and Students' Futures

Schools are finding that music education develops skills applicable to professional environments of the 21st century including perception of relationships, skills in finding multiple solutions to problems, attention to nuance, adaptability, decision-making abilities, and visualization of goals and outcomes. (1,2,4,5)

Aside from retaining a lifelong appreciation of music, a high percentage of college students and young professionals pursuing non-musical careers credit the disciplines learned in musical study for their achievements and success. (3,6)

References

  1. Eisner, E. (2000). Ten Lessons the Arts Teach. Learning and the Arts: Crossing Boundaries, Amdur Spitz & Associates
  2. Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts that Value Arts Education, President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities and the Arts Education Partnership, (1999).
  3. Venerable, Grant. “The Paradox of the Silicon Savior”. In The Case for Sequential Music Education in the Core Curriculum of the Public Schools. New York: The Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, 1989.
  4. Thomas, Lewis. “The Case for Music in Our Schools”, Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994
  5. Les Susi, “Music Education — Just What The Doctor Ordered”, Instrumentalist, July 1990
  6. Rabkin, N., & Hedberg, E. (2011). Arts education in America: What the declines mean for arts participation. (Research report ##52). Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts.