As funding for programming continues to stretch or and more tightly in many schools, difficult decisions must be made about offering music in addition to the core curriculum. The research cited below argues for keeping music instruction in our schools. Perhaps, in the long run, the cost will be greater if music disappears from the elementary curriculum than if, somehow, schools can find a way to keep music instruction alive.

Music lessons have been shown to improve a child’s performance in school. After eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers tested showed a 46% boost in their spatial IQ, which is crucial for higher brain functions such as complex mathematics. (Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine)

Students with coursework or experience in music performance scored 51 points higher on the verbal portion of the SAT and 39 points higher on the math portion of the SAT than students with no coursework or experience in the arts. (Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, compiled by the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), 1995)

Dubbed the "Mozart Effect," Mozart’s Piano Sonata K448 was found to significantly increase spatial scores of college students on IQ tests when the Sonata was listened to for 10 minutes before the test. (From Nature. Copyright 1993, Drs. Rauscher and Shaw, University of California, Irvine)

Disadvantaged preschoolers display dramatic improvements in spatial reasoning ability after music training. (Drs. Rauscher and Shaw, University of California, Irvine)

There is a direct correlation between improved SAT scores and the length of time spent studying the arts. Those who studied the arts four or more years scored 59 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math portions of the SAT than students with no coursework or experience in the arts. (Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, the College Board, compiled by MENC, 1995)

According to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource Center, students who can be classified as "disruptive" (based on dropouts) total 12.14 percent of the total school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students involved in music classes meet the same "disruptive" criteria. (Based on data from the NELS:88 (National Education Longitudinal Study), second follow-up, 1992)

Students who participated in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking skills. (National Arts Education Research Center, New York University, 1990)