Support Music in Our Schools ...

What is true of all the arts is supremely true of music.  When a child studies music, significant elements of his or her education find focus and expression:

developing the ability to understand and use symbols in new contexts;

discovering the power, precision, and control of mathematics in unexpected ways;

finding and directing personal creativity;

exercising the diverse skills of problem-solving;

experiencing the joy of self-expression;

growing into the liberation acquired through self-discipline; and

participation in the deeply human satisfaction of shared work and the gratification of challenges met.

In addition to these characteristics fundamental to education, music shares with the other arts a resource that is of paramount importance to the education of the young:  Music is a highway for exploring the emotional and aesthetic dimensions of experience.  Indeed, here is where music and the other arts make their unique and most visible contribution.  Education with music offers exciting possibilities in two directions.  As we look to the future, educational research on the nature of intelligence and brain function give promising indication that could change the face of education.  And as we look around us in the present, we see connections between music education and changes in students that of direct and immediate benefits, not only to them, but to the educational enterprise as a whole.

The contribution music and music education can make to the entire enterprise of learning for our children stands on firm ground.  New research on intelligence and brain function point in exciting future directions that tie directly to music, while the continuing use of music as part of the curriculum is clearly associated with both academic skills and personal characteristics that are highly desirable for school progress and for developing the kind of well-educated young people we know we need for the nation’s well-being.  Music does not belong on the periphery but in the center.

– From The Report of The National Commission of Music Education

One of the many things people expect schools to do these days is inspire students to be creative.  Educators and psychologists agree.  They say that helping young minds tap their creativity is just as important as mastering math and English skills.  And, of course, all parents love to experience the joy of seeing and hearing something their child has created well.  One of the best places creativity is actively encouraged is in music class.  Kids working out a phrase in a choir, learning technical stuff like fingerings on an instrument, or even composing and arranging music on computers, music classrooms are bursting with creative energy just waiting to be explored by young minds.  Don’t let it go to waste.  Support your school music program!

                                                                                    Kix, Brooks, Brooks & Dunn

... and help the Roane Choral Society encourage and support the music programs in our schools.