11 Facts About Music Education

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1. Children who study music tend to have larger vocabularies and more advanced reading skills than their peers who do not participate in music lessons.^[Arete Music Academy. "Statistical benefits of music in education." Arete Music Academy. Accessed July 17, 2014. .]
2. Children with learning disabilities or dyslexia who tend to lose focus with more noise could benefit greatly from music lessons.^[Arete Music Academy. "Statistical benefits of music in education." Arete Music Academy. Accessed July 17, 2014. .]
3. Music programs are constantly in danger of being cut from shrinking school budgets even though they're proven to improve academics.^[National Center for Education Statistics. "Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, 1999-2000 and 2009-2010." National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed February 24, 2015. .]
4. Children who study a musical instrument are more likely to excel in all of their studies, work better in teams, have enhanced critical thinking skills, stay in school, and pursue further education.^[Arte Music Academy. "Statistical benefits of music in education." Statistical-Benefits-Of-Music-In-Education. Accessed July 17, 2014. .]
5. In the past, secondary students who participated in a music group at school reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs).^[VH1: Save the Music. "The Benefits of Music Education." VH1: Save the Music. Accessed February 24, 2015. .]
6. 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.^[The National Association for Music Education. "Music Makes the Grade." The National Association for Music Education. Accessed February 24, 2015.]
7. Regardless of socioeconomic status or school district, students (3rd graders) who participate in high-quality music programs score higher on reading and spelling tests.^[Hille, Katrin, et al. "Associations between music education, intelligence, and spelling ability in elementary school." Adv Cogn Psychol 7 (2011): 1–6. Web. Accessed February 24, 2015. .]
8. A Stanford study shows that music engages areas of the brain which are involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating events in our memory.^[Baker, Mitzi. "Music moves brain to pay attention, Stanford study finds." Stanford Medicine. Accessed February 24, 2015.]
9. Much like expert technical skills, mastery in arts and humanities is closely correlated to a greater understanding of language components.^[Trei, Lisa. "Musical training helps language processing, studies show." Stanford News. Accessed February 24, 2015. .]
10. Young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year, compared to children who do not receive musical training.^[National Association for Music Education. "The Benefits of the Study of Music." National Association for Music Education. Accessed July 17, 2014. .]
11. Schools that have music programs have an attendance rate of 93.3% compared to 84.9% in schools without music programs.^[The National Association for Music Education. "Music Makes the Grade." The National Association for Music Education. Accessed February 24, 2015. .]