Music education

The consistency of practicing these skills has been shown to benefit students in a multitude of other academic areas as well as improving performance on standardized tests such as the ACT and SAT.

The Carabo-Cone Method involves using props, costumes, and toys for children to learn basic musical concepts of staff, note duration, and the piano keyboard.

American proponents of the Dalcroze method include Ruth Alperson, Ann Farber, Herb Henke, Virginia Mead, Lisa Parker, Martha Sanchez, and Julia Schnebly-Black.

This occurs in several stages through songs that give rhythmic, melodic, harmonic patterns and all musical elements, in aural, oral, verbal, auditory and visual recognition, reading, writing, creativity and theoretical understanding.

Kodály's main goal was to instill in his students a lifelong love of music and he felt it was the duty of the child's school to provide this vital element of education.

The work of Denise Bacon, Katinka S. Daniel, John Feierabend, Jean Sinor, Jill Trinka, and others brought Kodaly's ideas to the forefront of music education in America.

This 'ideal' environment includes love, high-quality examples, praise, rote training and repetition, and a time-table set by the student's developmental readiness for learning a particular technique.

[7] The skills and content sequences within the audiation theory help music teachers establish sequential curricular objectives in accord with their own teaching styles and beliefs.

This approach involves using props, costumes, and toys for children to learn basic musical concepts of staff, note duration, and the piano keyboard.

This creative approach aims to shape attitudes, helping students see music not as static content to be mastered, but as personal, current, and evolving.

The teacher gives a group of students a specific problem to solve together and allows freedom to create, perform, improvise, conduct, research, and investigate different facets of music in a spiral curriculum.

"[22] Researchers at the University of Wisconsin suggested that students with piano or keyboard experience performed 34% higher on tests that measure spatial-temporal lobe activity, which is the part of the brain that is used when doing mathematics, science, and engineering.

[23] A long-term study over twelve years at the University of Graz also found a change in the grey matter in the brain of children with music lessons.

"…the educational climate is not conducive to their continuance as historically conceived and the social needs and habits of people require a completely different kind of band program.

Both teachers and students are under increased time restrictions"[29] Patricia Powers states, "It is not unusual to see program cuts in the area of music and arts when economic issues surface.

In contrast to previous experimental studies, a meta-analysis published in 2020 found a lack of evidence to support the claim that musical training positively impacts children’s cognitive skills and academic achievements, with the authors concluding that "researchers’ optimism about the benefits of music training is empirically unjustified and stems from misinterpretation of the empirical data and, possibly, confirmation bias.

This perceived need to change public opinion has resulted in the development of a variety of approaches commonly called "music advocacy".

Music advocacy comes in many forms, some of which are based upon legitimate scholarly arguments and scientific findings, while other examples controversially rely on emotion, anecdotes, or unconvincing data.

"[50][51] Philosophers David Elliott and Marissa Silverman suggest that more effective advocacy involves shying away from "dumbing down" values and aims through slogans and misleading data, energy being better focused into engaging potential supporters in active music-making and musical-affective experiences,[52] these actions recognizing that music and music-making are inherent to human culture and behavior, distinguishing humans from other species.

One study attempted to view the distinctions between the musical preferences of English and Japanese speakers, providing both groups of people with the same series of tones and rhythms.

"[58] When looking beyond these bandleaders and top leaders, women had many music education roles in the "...home, community, churches, public schools, and teacher-training institutions" and "...as writers, patrons, and through their volunteer work in organizations.

Music played a prominent role and professional musicians using a variety of wind instruments, drums and rattles to celebrate military victories.

Several Latin American Schools, specifically in Puerto Rico and Haiti, believe music to be an important subject and are working on expanding their programs.

Reverend John Tufts published An Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes Using Non-Traditional Notation which is regarded as the first music textbook in the colonies.

During the middle of the 19th century, Boston became the model to which many other cities across the United States included and shaped their public school music education programs.

Several instructional methods were developed in Europe that would later impact other parts of the world, including those affiliated with Zoltan Kodaly, Carl Orff, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, and ABRSM, to name but a few.

Notable professional organizations on the continent now include the Europe regional branch of the International Society for Music Education, and the European Association of Conservatoires.

The two oldest gamelan instrument sets, dating from the twelfth century, are housed in the kratons (palaces) in the cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta.

The African National Congress (ANC) attempted to repair the neglect of indigenous knowledge and the overwhelming emphasis on written musical literacy in schools.

[97] The series featured popular musician Guy Sebastian and researcher and music educator Anita Collins, and was also supported by the Salvation Army.

A German kindergarten teacher instructs her pupils in singing
An elementary music teacher instructing a child in 1957 in the Netherlands.
Émile Jaques-Dalcroze
Depiction of Curwen's Solfège hand signs. This version includes the tonal tendencies and interesting titles for each tone.
A selection of instruments used in the Orff music education method.
A group of American method students performing on violin.
Students from the Paul Green School of Rock Music performing at the 2009 Fremont Fair, Seattle, Washington.
Children in primary school are assembling a do-organ of Orgelkids
Students with a music teacher
A music teacher leading a music ensemble in an elementary school in 1943.
Bonampak, Temple of the Murals, room 1, musicians