It's been said by many that kids who play music will do better in school. A recent two year study accompanied with several years of observation by Los Angeles based non-profit The Harmony Project has demonstrated just how much music can make a difference. Before beginning the study, they began to notice that kids they were teaching music to were graduating high school at higher rates with many heading off to big universities like UCLA and Tulane. This was despite the fact that this same kids came from disadvantaged areas with the odds stacked against them. The Harmony Project began to study a test group of current students more closely over a two year period including measuring brain activity at various times during the study. To date the testing has shown that while one year of musical training doesn't appear to make much different, a marked improvement was definitely evident after two years. One remarkable statistic from the study showed that 90 percent of the students participating graduated from high school while only 50 percent of their same neighborhood peers did the same.
Here's an introductory video about the Harmony Project - Based on what I'm learning so far I would love to see a Harmony Project in every city in America. We'll have to do some searching to see what exists already and see how we can do our part to help expand this.
Like most studies about music and education, this was a rather small sampling of 44 students and many more studies like this need to be done all over the country and in different socio-economic areas. I am thinking however that when they do the results they find may very well indeed be similar and support what we have been saying: Music and arts training needs to be included in education if we really want our children to have the best chance at succeeding. I talk to countless folks who went to school in the 1950s-1960s and they tell me music instruction of some sort was actually a requirement for many. Compare this to today where its pretty much never a requirement and often not even an option.
Stay tuned as we continue to research more studies and learn as much as we can about all angles of how music and education are tied together. For now, here's the link to an ABC News story about the study, its a very worthwhile read: ABC News: Playing Music Helps Sharpen Kids Brains
RIP to Jimi Jamison
The music world was sad to learn of the sudden passing of one of rock's best known voices from the 1980s, Jimi Jamison from Survivor. Jimi sang on many of their trademark hits including "The Search is Over", "High On You", "I Can't Hold Back" and more. He took over the lead singing duties after Survivor made a name for themselves with "Eye of the Tiger" from the Rocky franchise. The lead singer at that time Dave Bickler had left the band for medical reasons and since then Dave and Jimi had both performed with Survivor at various times over the last 20 years.
I'll leave you with my favorite Survivor song with Jimi Jamison which is "The Search Is Over". Jimi: You and your voice will be missed!
I was living for a dream, Loving for a moment
Taking on the world, That was just my style
Now I look into your eyes, I can see forever
The search is over, You were with me all the while
I hope everyone's week is goin' great - I'm having a blast learning more about music, education and musical education altogether :) Have a great night and I'll be back tomorrow with another post!
Music, Love & Laughter
Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
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