Success! The final numbers are not in but I can tentatively say that I went from approximately 65% retention from 8th to 9th grade to approximately 96% retention from 8th to 9th!
Selection from an article from our Band Program Newsletter:
Pride, Tradition, Excellence: I cannot think of three more appropriate words that describe the our Music Department. I have had the privilege of working with the students at CMS for the past four years, and have seen the band program take tremendous strides. In just four short years the CMS band program alone has grown from 120 to 160 students. This is an exciting year for us as our seventh and eighth grade students will be participating in an adjudication festival at Carnegie Mellon University in May. I think the success that we have found here at CMS lies in a very supportive administration, hard-working students, and the focus of our band program. I try to center my purpose on teaching my students through music the skills necessary to succeed in the workplace in the 21st century, the understanding of what it takes to achieve excellence, and the knowledge of music required to be a lifelong participant in the arts.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has developed a vision for 21st century student success in the new global economy. These skills represent the necessary student out-comes for the 21st century. Examples include “Learning and Innovation” and “Life and Career Skills” just to name a couple. These skills are what separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in the 21st century and those who are not. They include creativity and innovation , critical thinking and problem solving, as well as communication and collaboration. Today’s life and work environments require far more than thinking skills and content knowledge. The ability to navigate the complex life and work environments in the globally competitive information age requires students to pay rigorous attention to developing adequate life and career skills, such as flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, social and cross-cultural skills, productivity and accountability, and leadership and responsibility. Therefore, the benefits of making music…can last a lifetime!
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quality vs quantity… if music has been shown to…
1. Researchers at the University of California and the Niigata Brain Research Institute in Japan have found an area of the brain that is activated only when reading musical scores.-”Musical Brain – Special Brain Area Found for Reading Music Scores,” NeuroReport, 1998.
2. On the 1999 SAT, music students continued to outperform their non-arts peers, scoring 61 points higher on the verbal portion and 42 points higher on the math portion of the exam.-Steven M. Demorest and Steven J. Morrison, “Does Music Make You Smarter?,” Music Educators Journal, September, 2000.
3. The average scores achieved by music students on the 1999 SAT increased for every year of musical study. This same trend was found in SAT scores of previous years.-Steven M. Demorest and Steven J. Morrison, “Does Music Make You Smarter?,” Music Educators Journal, September, 2000.
4. A ten-year study indicates that students who study music achieve higher test scores, regardless of socioeconomic background. -Dr. James Catterall, UCLA
5. In a 1999 Columbia University Study, students in the arts are found to be more cooperative with teachers and peers, more self-confident, and better able to express their ideas. These benefits exist across socioeconomic levels. -The Arts Education Partnership, 1999.
6. Practicing musicians demonstrate 25% more brain activity than non-musicians when listening to musical sounds. -Exposure to Music is Instrumental to the Brain, University of Muenster.
7. At-risk children participating in an arts program that includes music show significant increases in self-concept, as measured by the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale. -Project ARISE: Meeting the needs of disadvantaged students throughout the arts, Auburn University, 1992.
9. One in three of today’s school-aged children will hold an arts-related job at some time in his or her career. -Education Commission on the States.
10. “Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul.”-Plato
…then I will continue to push for every child to have the opportunity to take part in a performance ensemble at every grade level because I truly believe that music can impact kids more than any other subject.
