Impact of Music Education and Issues Stopping its Implementation - Research Paper Example

? Impact of Music Education and Issues Stopping its Implementation Part One Introduction Music is a vital part of life. Music starts before one is born; through hearing the heart beat of the mother, and continues after one is born. It is not possible to separate man with music since, in the world; music is taken to perform different purposes such as educating the mass and entertainment. Music comes in different forms and is meant for different purposes, but no matter how different it is, it serves a common role of bringing individuals together. Music education has been eliminated in various schools despite its uniting role, and informative role (Olson, 1996). Music may be used to inform, express a sentiment, and entertain. Through music education, there are a lot of things that individuals have enjoyed. Elimination of music education in schools’ programs has negatively affected the society both in the present and the long run. Many reasons such as lack of funds; have contributed to its elimination in school programs and the society should look at the issue of the impacts of music, and what is stopping its implementation in order to bring it back to school programs. It has been discovered that music programs in schools help in exposing pupils and students to life (Olson, 1996). However, although music education has positive effects, it also has negative effects. Primary sources such as conduction of surveys of individuals in the field of teaching, and secondary sources such as books, periodicals, articles, and journals will be used in the study. Problem statement Music has contributed a lot in schools and society at large since it helps students to gaining understanding of the things that they expect in life. Through music education, one acquires information that he did not have, and in another way, he is entertained. This implies that music education plays an important role in the life of students in the functioning of the brain in relation to academics. However, music education has not been taken seriously during incorporation in many school programs or by teachers all over the world due to different reasons, which will be discussed in this paper. This assignment is going to focus on the impacts of music education and the issues stopping its implementation. Objectives of the Study This assignment is going to be performed for the following two reasons: 1. To determine what are the effects of music on overall development of the brain including academics. 2. To find out why music education is not taken seriously by educators and the reasons for withholding the implementation of music education permanently by the educators. Effects of Music on Overall Development of the Brain Different researches that have been conducted show that there is a connection between music and the brain. Different individuals have different opinions regarding the different styles of music and their effect on the mind. However, different individuals have concluded that classical music improves the ability of an individual’s thinking while rock music improves an individual’s brain power. Some researchers are of the opinion that listening to Mozart by children enhances their thinking ability (Piro &Ortiz, 2009). Another effect of music is that it improves concentration, which is necessary for studying (NAFME, 2012). For example, the Mozart piece soothes the mind thus increasing focus during studying or helps one to acquire concentration when carrying out a task (Lu, n.d.). According to opinion reached by several researchers, music creates concentrating in performing a task by blocking external noise and creating a background noise, which is beneficial in carrying out the task (Hodges, n.d.). Different researchers have studied the Mozart effect and have come to a conclusion that; listening to Mozart before testing improves temporal reasoning on standardized tests while listening to Mozart at the time of testing can cause neural competition; by inferring with the brain’s neural firing patterns (Levy, n.d). Listening to music often and replaying tunes in the brain helps the neurons stay alive and active, and the synapses intact, thus improving the reading skills of an individual (Chipongian, 2000). Listening to the proper music promotes learning, and participation in music making provides additional cerebral advantages. In addition, some music wires hemispheric synchronization, thus helps in achieving brain coherence, which significantly enhances the learning process. Music increases certain brain functioning such as reading skills and average grade level. The more an individual listens to music the more his grades are improved, and the more the reading power he will have (Chipongian, 2000). For example, in a learning institution, a student who has listened to music for 3years is expected to have a better average grade than a student who has listened to music for one year. Also, the student who has listened to music for three years will have better reading skills than the student who has listened to music for one year since the IQ of the earlier student is higher than that of the latter. Reasons Why Music Education is not Taken Seriously Music is a necessary subject to a student since music plays a significant role in the student’s life; both in class and society at large. However, music education has been eliminated in many school curriculum programs (Mark &Madura, 2009). This is derailing developments in the society due to lack of enough professionals in the different fields of education. One of the major reasons for educators not taking music education seriously is the lack of funding of music study by the governments. According to surveys carried out in different public schools, more than 60% of school administrators argue that studying of music in schools has not been taken seriously since the government fails to fund the continuity of music education. Funding of music study is as important as funding of other subjects studied in schools such as mathematics. Teachers of music who were interviewed are of the opinion that lack of funding of music study, has demoralized them since they have the morale for teaching the subject, but they do not get paid well for the services that they provide. When an educator of music studies is not paid well, he cannot be able to provide his services well to the anxious students who are ready to learn music. Head teachers interviewed were of the opinion that; music education as a subject is not taken seriously by the educators since only a small percentage, usually below 10%, of the total student population opt to study music at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level, and pupils who take music as part of the curriculum tend to drop the subject as soon as they can. This gives music educators a hard time in trying to convince pupils of the importance of studying music. Students who were interviewed said that; their main lack of interest in the subject was due to lack of recording equipments. The students’ opinion showed that the major problem was inadequate resources in facilitating the learning of music through purchasing of Information Communication Technology (ICT) music programs. Reasons for Withholding the Implementation of Music Education Permanently Although music is an important subject to the lives of individuals in the society, educators of music subject are withholding the implementation of music education permanently because the number of students who seem interested in specializing in the subject is very small as compared to other subjects. This makes the educators fear whether the number of students willing to specialize with the subject will increase. Another reason leading to withholding of the implementation of music education permanently is the lack of enough resources to fully support study of the subject (Mark &Madura, 2009). The resources funding study of the subject are inadequate such that; there are no funds to purchase ICT equipments required in studying the subject (Jorgensen, 2003). In addition, the educators of music subject need to have a good remuneration, which will increase their morale in teaching the subject. Conclusion Music has positive effects to the learning process and its teaching should be highly encouraged in all schools. Music enhances the power of an individual’s thinking and strengthens the power of the brain. It creates a conducive environment for one to study through developing concentration. This concentration helps the learners to have a good studying environment. For example, the Mozart piece soothes the mind thus increasing focus during studying or helps one to acquire concentration when carrying out a task. In order to promote teaching of music in schools, study of the subject has to be well funded as other subjects in order to facilitate the acquisition of essential equipments needed for studying the subject. Part two Question One In writing this paper, I had to first organize different writings depending on different stages of the project. In every stage, I had different information, which was not arranged in order of the information flow; hence, I had to make drafts in every stage of the paper, and then reorganized the drafts to write my paper. After writing the paper, I revised it in order to ensure that there was flow of information as required. After revising the paper, I edited it. In order to get the relevant information, I collaborated with various school administrators, teachers and students. I also collaborated with other students in gathering their views about the issue that I have discussed. Question Two After choosing my topic relating to education and music, I first of all, gathered secondary information from different sources, and then carried out a survey from different school administrators, students and teachers, which were of great importance in getting relevant information to complete the assignment. I used library catalogue to check availability and location of different resources. I searched for resources, which had relevance to the topic under study and used them in getting information. Hence, I used these sources in writing the paper. In carrying out primary research, I carried out research on those schools, which were around my area of residence. Question Three In writing this assignment, one of the strengths is the use of reliable information. The information from primary sources is accurate since it was first hand information. The information was not distorted since I got it personally through interviewing students, school administrators, and teachers. Another strength for this writing is that information from secondary sources were linked in one way or another and provided conclusions after a carrying out a careful study; hence, information from secondary sources was not based on individual speculations, but as a result of a study. In addition, in writing this paper, I ensured that I organized the work in a flowing manner such that the flow of information is clear. Question Four In writing this paper, difficulties were encountered in carrying out primary research. One of the problems in this area was that some school administrators were not welcoming and free to give out information. This gave me a hard time in trying to locate other school administrators, who were friendly and ready to volunteer any information that I needed to complete my assignment. Another problem was that it took a lot of time before completing my primary research emanating from cancellation of scheduled meetings with school administrators and teachers. This made me take a longer time in writing my assignment than I had scheduled. Question Five I appreciate for writing this assignment since it helped in learning how essential music is to the learning process. I learnt that music improves and strengthens the thinking power of an individual. Another lesson, which I learnt, is that music as a subject has lost taste compared to other subjects due to the problem of resource allocation in the subject (Jorgensen, 2003). In addition, I learnt that music helps an individual in learning things that one would never learn in any other subject, for example, life experiences. This is well explained only in music. References Chipongian, L. (2000). Can Music Education Really Enhance Brain Functioning and Academic Learning? Retrieved from http://brainconnection.positscience.com/topics/?main=fa/music-education. Hodges, D.A. &O’Connel, D.S. (n.d.).The Impact of Music EducationOn Academic Achievement. Retrieved from http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/documents/highschool/Schedule/Arts/Achievement.pdf. Jorgensen, R. E. (2003). Transforming Music Education. Indiana: Indiana University Press. Levy, Y. (n.d.).The Effects of Background Music on Learning: A Review of Recent Literature. Retrieved from http://edweb.sdsu.edu/Courses/Ed690DR/Examples/LitRev/Levy.htm Lu, D.T. (n.d.). Music Education Beyond the Mozart Effect. Retrieved from http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/dl.html. Mark &Madura, P. (2009).Music education in your hands: an introduction for future teachers. New York: Routledge. NAFME (2012).Why Music Education? 2007. Retrieved from http://www.menc.org/resources/view/why-music-education-2007.National Association for Music Education. Olson, K.D. (1996). The Effects of Music on the Mind: Beyond Soothing the Savage Beast. Retrieved from http://www.reversespins.com/effectsofmusic.html. Piro &Ortiz, C. (2009, March 16). “The effect of piano lessons on the vocabulary and verbal sequencing skills of primary grade students”. Journal Psychology of Music. Read More