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Advocacy Now: The Importance of Music Education
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- Author(s) / Creator(s)
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Historically music has played an important role in the education of students. Music was included in the education of students but at the turn of the 21st century with the rise of global competition, music education became strained due to budget cuts, standardized testing, and a shift in educational priorities. A review of pertinent literature reveals the benefits of music education and discusses the influence of music education. Researchers believe that children who have exposure to music and music training benefit from enhanced brain activity, which has been shown to increase students’ abilities to perform on certain academic tasks. In addition, many practical life skills are acquired through music learning and music training. Therefore, it can be argued that music should be viewed as a core subject in the curriculum. Although research has indicated that music could and should be adopted amongst core subjects, this is not happening. Instead music programs are often teetering on the edge of extinction due to tight budgets and a lack of understanding of the important benefits that result from music education.
The challenge is that stakeholders often do not know or understand the value of music education. The primary stakeholders of music education are: (a) administrators who govern the activities within a school, (b) parents who make courses choices for their children, and (c) students who are the active participants. If these stakeholders are not educated on the value of music education, the decline in music education will continue. Another problem is that music educators do not always know how to advocate for their programs. Music educators must understand what is at stake and how their craft influences the student and school community. Advocacy is important so that those who do not currently understand the significance of music in education may come to do so. The purpose of this project is to develop an advocacy tool kit to aid in both of these problems and help all stakeholders understand the value of music education, in turn aiding in the growth of music education. It is my hope that this advocacy kit is used by
music educators who may not know where to begin. This advocacy kit will be aimed at the main stakeholders of music education, focusing on different aspects of advocacy in order to better appeal to each group. It is with great hope that this project will assist with starting, growing, and maintaining a strong music program in schools. -
- Date created
- 2018-04-15
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- Type of Item
- Research Material