Facts and Stats about Music & Music Education

* Classical Music's Traditional Audience Is Graying. By the year 2030, approximately half of our nation's population will be over 65 years of age. Music educators have the power to make Classical music matter again to young people. (Source: Chamber Music, February 1998; a publication of Chamber Music America)

* Music Students Are Scoring. Music students are outperforming non- music students on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). College-bound seniors with course work or experience in music performance scored 52 points higher on the verbal portion and 37 points higher on the math portion of the SAT than students with no course work or experience in the arts. (Source: The College Board, September 1997)

* Music Is Beating Computers at Enhancing Early Childhood Development. Music training, specifically piano instruction, is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science. Learning music at an early age causes long-term enhancement of spatial- temporal reasoning. (Source: Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine,1997)

* Music Enhances Linguistic Skills. Music -- specifically song -- is one of the best training grounds for babies learning to recognize the tones that add up to spoken language. (Source: Sandra Trehub, University of Toronto,1997)

* America Is A Country Full Of Music-Makers.113 million, or 53%, of Americans over the age of 12 are current or former music makers. (Source: 1997 "American Attitudes Towards Music" poll conducted by the Gallup Organization)

* Americans Say Schools Should Offer Instrumental Music Instruction as part of the regular curriculum. 88% of respondents indicated this in a 1997 "American Attitudes Towards Music" Gallup poll. (Source: Music Trades, September 1997)

* Scientists, Therapists Agree: Music Heals More Than Just The Spirit. Music benefits older adults. Active music-making positively affects the biology and behavior of Alzheimer's patients. (Source: Music Making and Wellness Project, a study conducted at the University of Miami)

* The Window Of Opportunity For Studying Music is between the ages of three and ten. This is the time when we are the most receptive to and able to process music. It is much harder to learn an instrument as an adult. (Source: Newsweek, February 19,1996)

* Studying Music Strengthens Students' Academic Performance. Rhode Island studies have indicated that sequential, skill-building instruction in art and music integrated with the rest of the curriculum can greatly improve children's performance in reading and math. (Source: "Learning improved by Arts Training" by Martin Gardiner, Alan Fox, Faith Knowles, and Donna Jeffrey, Nature, May 23,1996)

* Music and Spatial Task Performance: A Causal Relationship. Music lessons, and even simply listening to music, can enhance spatial reasoning performance, a critical higher-brain function necessary to perform complex tasks including mathematics. (Source: Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine,1994)

* The Mozart Effect surfaced about four years ago when research uncovered that adults who listened to music of complexity for ten minutes or so experienced temporary increases in their spatial IQ scores. (Source: Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine,1993-1994)

* Music Is One of Our Greatest Economic Exports. "The arts are an economic plus -- second only to aerospace as our most lucrative national export." (Source: Michael Greene of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences)

* Music Teacher Expertise is a Critical Factor in Student Learning. Research indicates that teachers of all subjects -- including music -- who are more experienced and educated are more effective in the classroom. Consequently, students learn more from them. (Source: Paying for Public Education: New Evidence on How and Why Money Matters, by Ronald Ferguson, 1991)

-- This article was obtained at the 1998 MENC National Conference in Pheonix. The author is unknown. It is posted as I received it and is not used for any financial gain. --