Mrs. Burns’Music Class

WHY WHY MUSIC?MUSIC?

Objectives

• Benefits of Music Education

• Music Education Advocacy

• What Parents can do to Encourage their Children in Music

• How Music Connects with Core Subject Areas-Research and Ideas that are used in the Music Classroom

• Elementary Music Education in Tacoma Public Schools

IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC EDUCATION

Music Education Helps Develop:•Hand-Eye Coordination•Memory Skills•Concentration•Problem Solving Skills•Teamwork•Self-Confidence/Self Esteem•Standards of Excellence•Time Management Skills

4 Categories of Benefits for Music Education

1. Success in Society2. Success in School3. Success in Developing

Intelligence4. Success in Life

1. Success in Society

• Every human culture uses music to communicate ideas and ideals

• The arts are identified as one of the six basic academic subject areas students should study to succeed in college– Academic Preparation for

College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do, 1983 [still in use], The College Board, New York

• The arts create jobs, increase local tax base, spur growth in businesses (hotels, restaurants), and improve the quality of life for our cities and towns– American Arts Alliance

Fact Sheet, October 1996

2. Success in School• Students with music performance

or appreciation experience scored higher on the SAT than those not involved. How much higher?• 53 points higher on verbal and

39 points higher on math for those involved in music performance

• 61 points higher on the verbal and 42 points higher on the math for those involved in music appreciation

– 1999 College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers, The College Entrance Examination Board, Princeton, New Jersey

• Students participating in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking skills

– National Arts Education Research Center, New York University, 1990

3. Success in Developing Intelligence-Research Results

• Music training is superior to computer instruction in enhancing children’s abstract reasoning skills, those necessary for learning math and science

– Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis, and Newcomb

• Two Rhode Island schools gave an enriched, sequential, skill-building music program which showed marked improvements in reading and math skills. Students in this program who had started out behind the control group caught up to statistical equality in reading, and pulled ahead in math

– Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey, and Knowles

Success in Developing Intelligence-Research

Results Continued• A study at the University

of California (Irvine) showed that after eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers showed a 46% boost in their spatial reasoning IQ

– Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Ky, and Wright

• Children given piano lessons significantly improved in their spatial-temporal IQ scores (important for some types of math reasoning) compared to children who received computer lessons, casual singing, or no lessons

– Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L., Levine, L.J., Wright, E.L., Dennis, W.R., and Newcomb, R.

Success in Developing Intelligence-Research

Results Continued• An Auburn University study

found significant increases in overall self-concept of at-risk children participating in an arts program that included music, movement, dramatics, and art, as measured by the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale

– N.H. Barry, Project ARISE: Meeting the needs of disadvantaged students through the arts

• A study at McGill University found that pattern recognition and mental representation scores improved significantly for students given piano instruction over a three-year period. They also found that self-esteem and musical skills measures improved for those students

– Costa-Giomi, E.

4. Success in Life• Opens doors that

help children transition from school into the world around them-world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement– Gerald Ford, former

President, United States of America

• By studying music in school, students have the opportunity to build on skills such as communication, creativity, and cooperation. They enrich their lives by building on these skills and seeing the world from different perspectives– Michael E. DeBakey, M.D.,

Leading Heart Surgeon, Baylor College of Medicine.

What Can Parents Do? Listen to music with your child from little on up-nursery

rhymes, folk songs, children’s songs Sing and play music with your child Go to concerts or watch concerts on television Encourage your child to participate in musical activities

at school, church, and home Listen and show enthusiasm for your child’s musical

achievements Attend your child’s school/church music programs Be active in your child’s everyday life Engage in musical activities with your child on the

internet. (I have listed some on my classroom website.)

How Music Connects to the Core Subject Areas

Research &Ideas Used in the Research &Ideas Used in the Music Music

ClassroomClassroom

MUSIC IS

Music and Math• Spatial/temporal relationships in music

exist as pitch and rhythm patterns• The cognitive skills used to process

music are used in math as well• When singing on pitch: “Do” is less

than “re”, and “re” is less than “mi”. As students develop these skills, it can help students understand math concepts such as number lines

» Gardiner, 1996

Music and Math

• 2nd and 3rd graders were taught fractions using concept of rhythmic notation-relationships between different note values

•Peers received traditional fraction instruction

•Students taught fractions using music concept scored 100% higher on fractions tests than those who learned using the traditional method

» Rauscher, 1999

Music and Math• Students use

addition and subtraction skills when working with measures.

• Students are able to divide and subdivide beats (fractional parts).

• Musical notation-notes and rhythms-are sets of graphs which can be mapped (grids)

• Notes written are arranged in orderly sets (grouping)

• Studying intervals gives voice to specific integer patterns

Music and Science• Science and Sound (3Science and Sound (3rdrd Grade study Grade study

this)this)• Experiments on sound waves and vibrations-Experiments on sound waves and vibrations-

using a rubber band plucked between two using a rubber band plucked between two fingers to show vibration.fingers to show vibration.

• See salt move on a surface when sound is See salt move on a surface when sound is made: Put plastic tightly over a coffee can made: Put plastic tightly over a coffee can and secure with a rubber band. Place salt on and secure with a rubber band. Place salt on the plastic. Tap a smaller can with a ruler to the plastic. Tap a smaller can with a ruler to see the salt move. The salt moves because see the salt move. The salt moves because the plastic is vibrating due to the sound the plastic is vibrating due to the sound waves hitting it!waves hitting it!

Music and Science• Instruments and Science

•Size and Pitch:– Large instruments have low sounds– Small instruments have high

sounds– Using Boomwhackers (plastic tubes that

are pitched to certain notes), you can build a pyramid to visually show the students that to support the pyramid, the large tube must be on the bottom (and it makes the lowest sound). The smallest tube must be on the top of the pyramid (it makes the highest sound)

– Orff instruments—length of bars determine pitch

Music and Science• Other interesting ideas:

• Glasses filled with different amounts of water-have the students put them in order from the lowest to the highest (the lowest will be the one with the least amount of water; the highest will be the one with the most water-the instrument is actually the air column created by the space not filled up with water: smaller air space = more water = higher sound larger air space = less water = lower sound

• There are numerous songs and movement activities that have a science focus to them.

• Frequency=pitch (relationship between pitches, Pythagorean theorum, etc.), intensity=dynamics, amplitude=wave length, ETC.

Music and…..Music and…..

Music and Social Music and Social StudiesStudies

• Happens often when teaching/learning songs about:

• Countries• Continents• States• Game songs from

other cultures• Folk dances from

around the world

• While learning these songs, we also learn:

• Games• Dances• Instruments-both

American and foreign• Rhythms• Songs in native

languages• History of American

music and world music and correlating the two during same time periods

Music and…..

Music and Reading• Both music and

reading rely on the discrimination of sounds from each other

• When learning to read, we learn how to relate letters to their spoken sounds

• Phonemic stage of learning to read is promoted by good pitch discrimination skills (learning association between visual parts of words and their spoken sounds)

Music and Reading Research

• Experimental group received Kodaly training five days per week for 40 minutes during a seven-month period

• Control group received no special music training

• Experimental group’s reading scores were significantly higher (88th percentile) than the control group’s (72nd percentile)

• Hurwitz, Wolff, Bortnick, and Kokas

THE ARTS & LEARNING

• Music and the arts are constantly connected to the core subjects of education

• By nature, we naturally INTEGRATE the arts as we LEARN.

• The ARTS add connection to learning.

Your child receives…

–Music two times per week for 30 minutes each

Students:• Learn how to sing• Learn how to

read music• Learn how to play

instruments• Learn musical

games• Learn dances• Learn important

musical terms

• Perform for others• Create rhythms,

melodies, and dances• Listen to music from

many cultures and time periods

• Make instruments• Show musical

expression• And much, much

more!

To Sum Up, Music Is…………

• Science~it is exact, specific, and demands acoustics. Music scores are graphs which indicate frequencies, volume changes, melody, harmony, and intensities all at once with exact control of time

• Mathematical~it is rhythmically based on subdivisions of time into fractions

• Foreign Language~terms are often in Italian, German, or French. Notation is a set of symbols used to represent ideas that everyone, regardless of language can understand

Music Is

• History~ reflects the times, country, and origin of it’s creation

• Physical Education~ coordination of eyes, hands, fingers, lips, voice, facial, and diaphragm muscles in response to the sounds heard and interpreted

• Art~ Use all of the technical aspects of music to create emotion and beauty

To Continue Improving the Music Program, We Could

Use..• Keyboard Donations—we have a few,

but not enough to have students share during a class period, and MORE SPACE!

• Parents, Parents, Parents!~You are the foundation of our program~Without your support, our program could not succeed!

• Community Support~Our community needs to be aware of our program, it’s successes, and it’s needs.

ResourcesArts Improve Reading and Math. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2002 from

http://www.bcmusiccoalition.org/resources/artsimprovereadmath.html

 

Campbell, D. (1996). Introduction to the Musical Brain. Saint Louis: MMB Music,

Inc.

 

Campbell, D. (2001). The Mozart Effect. New York: HarperCollins Publishers

 

Campbell, D. (2000). The Mozart Effect for Children. New York: HarperCollins

Publishers

 

Henriksson, L. Why Arts Education Matters. Retrieved February 2, 2002, from

http://www.bcmusiccoalition.org/resources/whyartsedmatters.html

Resources cont.

Hopkins, G. (1999, March 15). Making the Case for Music Education. Education

World. Retrieved December 1, 2001, from

http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr123.shtml

 

Music and Your Child. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2002 from

http://www.coalitionformusiced.ca/yourchild.htm

 

Music and Literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2002 from

http://www.fresno.k12.ca.us/divdept/music/Literacy.htm

 

Music Education Facts and Figures. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2002 from

http://www.menc.org/information/advocate/facts.html

Resources cont.

Weinberger, N. (n.d.). Music and the Brain. Retrieved February 16, 2002 from

http://www.bcmusiccoalition.org/resources/musicbrain.html

 

Weinberger, N. (1994). Music and Cognitive Achievement in Children. MuSICA

Research Notes, V1, I2. Retrieved April 28, 2002 from MuSICA Research notes

database.

 

Why Music? (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2002 from

http://www.musiceducationonline.org/links/why.html

 

Why Music Matters (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2002 from

http://www.bcmusiccoalition.org/resources/why_mus_matters.html