It is said that the state of mankind improves through music; music not only trains but educates individuals and makes them fit for a life of community. Music is spiritual and mental food, an edifying and educational power. In comparison with sports (the motion of bodies), music (the motion of sounds) belongs to a higher sphere. In extreme cases, one encounters the tenet that music actually elevates man into a higher realm, transforming him into a new form of the human species. ~ Albrecht Riethmüller, “Music Beyond Ethics,” Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, p. 170, Volume 65, Issue 3, 2008.

Music training leads to greater gains in auditory and motor function when begun in young childhood; by adolescence, the plasticity that characterizes childhood has begun to decline. Nevertheless, our results establish that music training impacts the auditory system even when it is begun in adolescence, suggesting that a modest amount of training begun later in life can affect neural function. ~ Adam T. Tierney, Jennifer Krizman, Nina Kraus, “Music training alters the course of adolescent auditory development,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015.

Young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year, compared to children who do not receive musical training. ~ Arete Music Academy. “Statistical benefits of music in education.” Arete Music Academy. Accessed July 17, 2014

Much like expert technical skills, mastery in arts and humanities is closely correlated to a greater understanding of language components. ~ Trei, Lisa. “Musical training helps language processing, studies show.” Stanford News. Accessed February 24, 2015

U.S. Department of Education data on more than 25,000 secondary school students found that students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show “significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12.” ~ U.S. Department of Education NELLS88 Database

“At this time when you are making critical and far-reaching budget and program decisions…I write to bring to your attention the importance of the arts as a core academic subject and part of a complete education for all students. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act defines the arts as a core subject, and the arts play a significant role in children’s development and learning process. The arts can help students become tenacious, team-oriented problem solvers who are confident and able to think creatively.” ~ Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, Letter to Schools and Community Leaders, 2009.

Music enhances fine motor skills, or the ability to use small, acute muscle movements to write, use a computer, and perform other physical tasks. ~ Forgeard, 2008; Hyde, 2009; Schlaug et al. 2005, “The Effects of Musical Training on Structural Brain Development A Longitudinal Study,” The Neurosciences and Music III: Disorders and Plasticity: Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1169: 182–186 (2009).

A study of 8 to 11-year-olds found that, those who had extra-curricular music classes, developed higher verbal IQ, and visual abilities, in comparison to those with no musical training. ~ Forgeard et al., “Practicing a Musical Instrument in Childhood is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Reasoning,” PLOS One, 2008.

Teens described their music teachers as encouraging, motivating and acting as both role models and friends that can be trusted for listening and giving advice. ~ Shehan Campbell, Patricia. Adolescents’ Expressed Meanings of Music In and Out of School

Students at schools with excellent music programs had higher English test scores across the country than students in schools with low-quality music programs; this was also true when considering mathematics. ~ Journal for Research in Music Education, June 2007; Dr. Christopher Johnson, Jenny Memmott

The College Board identifies the arts as one of the six basic academic subject areas students should study in order 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

Nearly half of parents and teachers support integrating music into the professional development of all educators ~ NAMM Foundation and Grunwald Associates LLC (2015). Striking a Chord: The Public’s Hopes and Beliefs for K–12 Music Education in the United States: 2015.

Musically trained children performed better in a memory test that is correlated with general intelligence skills such as literacy, verbal memory, visuospatial processing, mathematics, and IQ. ~ Dr. Laurel Trainor, Prof. of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behavior at McMaster University, 2006