Music's Impact:  Elementary to High School   -  Part 2


    taken from "Music Advocacy Action Kit," provided
    by The Selmer Company for School Reform sessions
    presented by Tim Lautzenheiser and Michael Kumer at
    the 1999 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago



* When handicapped children in the Clover Park School District in Tacoma, Washington, were taught basic academic skills through music, they were consistently able to learn more easily.  Music helped in teaching them perceptual skills, according to researchers Appell and
Goldberg. - Jeanne Akin, "Music Makes a Difference."  (Lafayette, California: Lafayette Arts and Science Foundation, 1987).

*  A two-year Swiss study involving 1,200 children in 50 schools showed that students involved in the music program were better at languages, learned to read more easily, showed an improved social climate, showed more enjoyment in school, and had a lower level of stress than non-music students. - E.W. Weber, M. Spychiger, & J.L. Patry, 1993.

* Dr. Lassar Golkin brought music games into schools to help teach academic skills.   Children who were unable to learn in a traditional school setting were able to learn the skills set to musical games. - Sharlene Habermeyer, "Good Music, Brighter Children." (California: Prima Publishing, 1999), 151.

*  A 1985 study by Edward Kvet showed that student absence from class to study a musical instrument does not result in lower academic achievement.  He found no academic achievement difference between sixth grade students who were excused from class for instrumental study and those who were not, matching variables of sex, race, IQ, cumulative achievement, school attended, and classroom teacher. - Spin-Offs: The Extra-Musical Advantage of a Musical Education, Cutietta, Hamann, and Walker (Elkhart, Indiana: United Musical Instruments U.S.A., Inc., 1995).

* Studies have found that elementary students who received daily music instruction had fewer absences than other students. - B.S. Hood III, "The Effect of Daily Instruction in Public
School Music and Related Experiences upon Non-musical Personal and School Attitudes of Average Achieving Third-Grade Students" (doctoral dissertation, Mississippi State University).

* There is a very high correlation between positive self- perception, high cognitive competence scores, healthy self-esteem, total interest and school involvement, and
the study of music. - O.F. Lillemyr, "Achievement Motivation as a Factor in Self-Perception," Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities.


Next week:
Music's Impact: Elementary to High School  -  Part 3