Essay on Should Music be made Compulsory in schools

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Music should be made compulsory in schools.

“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them — a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement” (Gerald Ford)

Melody is all around us. Let it be chirruping of birds, swooshing of wind, honking of horns, or melodious voice of Celine Dion. Music has existed since humans have lived. Merriam Webster describes music as “the science, or art of ordering tones, or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity, and continuity” (Merriam Webster). While the roots of music are impossible to trace, all the customs, and the traditions pay their heritage to music.“Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances.” (Maya Angelou)Music doesn’t only consist of vocals, or chords but also instruments like banjo, guitar, violin, flute, and etc. Music curriculum consists of uncountable things; Music Curriculum states that “it comprises of listening, and responding, performing, and composing activities.” (“Music Curriculum” 2). There is much more to music than just being a source of pleasure.What makes music an integral part of the global village? It is not merely the rhythm but the benefits music has. However, they tend to forget that the world is weaved with the strings of sounds intertwined to form a neuro-scientific world of music which has no escape.At an individual level, it serves as pre-requisites for a more successful life. Adding music to the curriculum may increase the workload but the benefits with a large margin overweigh the cons.Having made music a part of curriculum in primary schools for young children, it would yield our coming generations with numerous benefits including enhanced creative, cognitive, and intellectual skills by curing certain mental disorders, creating cultural linkages, and enlarging the brain size. Hence, music should be made mandatory in schools.

One of the major reasons why music studies should be mandatory in primary classes is that it enhances the brain’s ability to function in an efficient manner in context to intellectual skills, and better memory. The better the resonance with strings, the better the resonance with neurons. A glance over music’s history would yield us with outcome that neuro-scientific effects of music have always been under dialogue. A human brain is segregated into two hemispheres; each hemisphere is allotted with a different function linked by “Corpus Callosum” which has 200 million neurons. The larger is the “Corpus Callosum”, the better. “Anita Collins suggests that when our students play their instruments, they are working on their fine motor skills… musicians adapt to these challenges by creating a larger corpus callosum” (“Your Brain on Music: The Corpus Callosum”).Hence, students who are into music will have enlarged “Corpus Callosm” which will improve their problem solving skills, and sharpen their memory which will make them better learners.University of California recently came up with a recent research that states that music helps ripen brain,not only the cognitive skills but also chromatic imagery, improved auditory abilities, and spatial abilities. As music composition is all about memorization of chords, it improves the memory retaining ability of brain. “Second graders who were given music lessons scored 27% higher on proportional math, and fractions tests than those children who did not receive any musical instruction” (“Why should Music be a necessary part of a School”). “Mozart effect” also refers to increased cerebral activities by stating “improvement in performing mental tasks the require spatial- temporal reasoning” (“Mozart Effect”). If music is made mandatory in primary school, it would lead to better memory retention, and improved academic results.By virtue of this skewed representation of the benefits of music on brain, an easy conclusion can be drawn that music being made mandatory in primary schools would only yield us with benefits.

As deeply rooted in history, music has worked as a cure for not only mental, and physical illness but also certain disorders which inhibits one’s brain functionality.Research shows that if music is made mandatory at a young age, it would work as a medicine for stutter, and inculcate self-confidence in children, and a living example of this is Shawn Mendes. Shawn Mendes, a well-known singer, talks about how he used to stutter in childhood, and how stuttering limited his opportunities, and pushed him to inferiority complex. However, he shows gratitude to Enimen because after listening, and singing his songs, he overcame stutter. (“Ed Sheeran Surprises Young Fan, Talks about Overcoming Childhood Stutter.”). Furthermore, he goes onto say that music cured him, and made him who he is today, epitome of creativity.  Not only this, learning, and listening music cures autism which restricts social interaction, and communication skills which leads to inhibition of creativity. “This means that a therapist can use a song, or instrument to support cognitive activity so that we can build self-awareness, and improve relationships with others. Music encourages communicative behavior, and can encourage interaction with others, which is something that autistic children have great difficulty with” (“The Benefits of Music Therapy for Autistic Children”) Furthermore, music works as antidote for children with AHDH. Research shows that victim of ADHD slow down the same cortices which is fastened up by music. Imagine if music can make children with AHDH better learns then what an immensely amazing affect will it have on people whose cortices work normally. “Music is rhythm, rhythm is structure, and structure is soothing to an ADHD brain struggling to regulate itself to stay on a linear path.” (“Music Therapy: Sound Medicine for ADHD”) By the results of for mentioned research, we can easily conclude that making music specifically a core course would help children be cured from number of disorders which are not easy to identify, and elevate the creativity skills of one’s brains by providing free therapy. Hence, music gives us another elemental reason to be compulsory in schools.

Another essential benefit of music is that it connects one to history, and culture; it also inculcates in one the sense of self confidence, and provides an escape from tiresome academic routine. It aids an individual to develop social skills. As music is more of combined art, it would help students to connect better with colleagues, and communicate in a better manner. Hence, such kind of social interaction would encourage healthy relationship with peers. As music requires one to perform at front of masses, it plays a pivotal role in boosting self-confidence, and self-esteem that would eventually lead to bolster their creativity. Addition of music lectures would also provide a refreshing break to students which would help them to work more efficiently. Listening, and performing different kinds of music adds to one’s knowledge about different cultures, and traditions of the world, and creates a bridge between contemporary world, and the era that this world has almost forgotten. Music competitions require one to visit different places that again works as a cultural exchange program. Opportunities like these provide a platform to enhance one’s leadership skills as well. This is how music education aids an individual to enhance their creativity by sharpening their social skills, and boosting their self-confidence. Music Education gives us a number of reasons of why it should be mandatory.

A prevalentcriticism of making music mandatory in school is that not all the students have caliber for music. It is just not their thing, and then making music compulsory for them in schools will be nothing more than a troublesome compulsion to deal with. Furthermore, it will only add onto the pressure on individuals, and elevate the degree of workload for them.Moreover, musical instruments are not easy to afford, and it will put extra pressure on school’s finances. “Many music programs pose huge budget concerns for schools.” (“Negatives of Music in School”). As far as the argument of workload is concerned, it will make students more prone to working under high pressure that will prepare them for their practical lives ahead. In addition to this, students will get a chance to develop a new skill, and manage their time in a more efficient way. Experiments, and results also say that “Schools with music programs have an estimated 90.2% graduation rate, and 93.9% attendance rate compared to schools without music education, which average 72.9% graduation, and 84.9% attendance. Schools that have music programs have an attendance rate of 93.3% compared to 84.9% in schools without music programs.” (“Music Education Statistics”).

Precisely speaking, music is much more than asound played in events. It is much more than a pleasing tune to one’s ears. It is a cure, a steroid for one’s brain, and cognitive skills. A lot of people are unaware of numerous benefits which music has, and that is why one does not pay heat to its importance. Speaking of music as a medicine, it cures several brain disorders including Autism, AHDH, and stutter disability. In the light of research done, it can be easily concluded that brain fuels our IQ, memory, cognitive, and intellectual skills. Having said that, music being made mandatory will yield our society with benefits by producing children with enlarged brain, better memory retention span, higher IQ, and sharpened intellectual skills. Henceforth, music should be made mandatory in schools.

Work cited page

a  “Music.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/music.

“Your Brain on Music: The Corpus Callosum.” Piano Central Studios, 5 Aug. (Date), www.pianocentralstudios.com/your-brain-on-music-the-corpus-callosum/

Academy, Shankar Mahadevan. “SMA Article: Why Should Music Be a Necessary Part of a School.” SMA Article: Why Should Music Be a Necessary Part of a School1, www.shankarmahadevanacademy.com/blog/Why-should-Music-be-a-necessary-part-of-a-School/.

(Asad. “Why Should Art, and Music Be Mandatory in School.” Prezi.com, 7 May (Date), prezi.com/9dmd53-x1ppi/why-should-art-and-music-be-mandatory-in-school/.)

“Mozart Effect.” The Free Dictionary, Farlex, medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Mozart+effect.

Menendez, Alicia. “Ed Sheeran Surprises Young Fan, Talks about Overcoming Childhood Stutter.” YouTube, YouTube, 16 June (Date), www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8yrdAfVeZo.

The Benefits Of Music Therapy For Autistic Children,https://nursejournal.org/, (Date) NurseJournal.org |. “The Benefits Of Music Therapy For Autistic Children.” (Date) NurseJournal.org, 18 Sept. (Date), nursejournal.org/community/the-benefits-of-music-therapy-for-autistic-children/.

https://nursejournal.org/, (Date) NurseJournal.org |. “The Benefits Of Music Therapy For Autistic Children.” (Date) NurseJournal.org, 18 Sept. (Date), nursejournal.org/community/the-benefits-of-music-therapy-for-autistic-children/.

Rodgers, Anni Layne. “Music Therapy: Sound Medicine for ADHD.” ADDitude, ADDitude, 19 Dec. (Date), www.additudemag.com/music-therapy-for-adhd-how-rhythm-builds-focus/.

McDaniel, John. “Negatives of Music in School.” Synonym, 4 Apr. (Date), classroom.synonym.com/negatives-music-school-8136295.html.

“Music Education Statistics.” Children’s Music Workshop, www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/factsandstatistics/.