What Is It About Music?
The need to make music is a fundamentally human characteristic. According to Daniel Levitin, a musician, neuroscientist and author of “This is Your Brain on Music,” our brains are hardwired for musical expression just as they are hardwired to search for food and sex. In other words, making music fulfills a primitive and basic need. It satisfies us emotionally, intellectually and physiologically.
We use the inherent appeal of music to engage, involve and stimulate workshop attendees. Making music as part of a group creates a feeling of community and a mutually shared experience. Music has its own structure and rules, providing opportunities for participants to relate in many different ways. Teamwork is strengthened because the more the group members co-operate, the better they are able to create a song.
Music Enhances Functioning
Many researchers and commentators have cited the importance of music as a tool for improving the level of a person’s functioning. Here are two examples:
“When I hear people asking ‘How do we fix the education system?’ I tell them we need to do the opposite of what is happening, cutting budgets by cutting music programs… Nothing could be stupider than removing the ability for the left and right brains to function (together). Ask a CEO what they are looking for in an employee and they say they need people who understand teamwork, people who are disciplined, people who understand the big picture. You know what they need? They need musicians.”
—Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor and a musician, addressing the MENC, National Association of Music Education, Centennial Congress in Orlando, Florida, June 2007 |
“The advantage of the arts is that they link cognitive growth to social and emotional development. Students care more deeply about what they study, they see the links between subjects and their lives, their thinking capacities grow, they work more diligently, and they learn from each other.”
—Nick Rabkin, Executive Director of the Center for Arts Policy, Columbia College Chicago; Robin Redmond, associate director of CAP. “The Art of Education Success,” Washington Post, January 8, 2005. |
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