Education Commons^™

Music Education, Aesthetics, And The Measure Of Academic Achievement, Karl Madden, David Orenstein, Alexei Oulanov, Yelena Novitskaya, Ida Bazan, Thomas Ostrowski, Min Hyung Ahn

Publications and Research

Grades and test scores are the traditional measurement of academic achievement. Quantitative improvements on standardized scores in Math/Science/Language are highly-coveted outcomes for meeting accreditation standards required for institutional program funding. Music and the Fine Arts, difficult to assess by traditional academic achievement measurement, and often devalued as so-called “luxury” subjects, struggle for necessary funding. Showing measureable collateral value to other academic subjects—such as math—in order to justify music program funding is dubious. To objectify the purpose of music education in terms of its influence on other subjects is to overlook aesthetic value. The scholarly literature recognizes an historical tendency to …

The Case For Instrumental Music Education: The Academic, Physical, And Social Benefits For Students, Kayla M. Peard

Honors College

Music is an integral part of our lives. There are countless examples of how learning music affects intelligence in students, but that is not music’s only benefit. Music is an academic discipline available in schools in which students’ simultaneously develop cognitive abilities, physical abilities, and social skills. This is particularly evident in the instrumental music classroom.

Through the studying of instrumental music and playing in ensembles, students learn countless lifelong skills that help them develop into intelligent, creative leaders. The cognitive abilities of the students grow and expand the longer they study music. Furthermore, it has been proven that their …