What the world needs now is drums, sweet drums

Even the most informal involvement in music education can be a vehicle for school aged children to develop social and academic skills including increased motor skill development, improved academic performance, better temporal-spatial manipulation ability, increased self-esteem, greater appreciation of the value of teamwork, a sense of recognition by the community, achievement and a means of self-expression [from Global Education in Music (http://www.get-m.org/whyarts.html)].

Global Education Through Music, a San Diego based organization devoted to the promotion of the arts tells us that the youth involved in its arts programs are drawn by the excitement of:

• creative and artistic expression,
• recognition for performances, exhibitions or public art works,
• learning new job skills, and
• using the arts to communicate difficult thoughts and emotions.
  (http://www.get-m.org/whyarts.html)

In London there are many programs that adopt a similar approach, including Investing in Children’s Kids Count Leadership Camp. At this leadership camp, one elective for the children to chose from has been a drumming workshops led by Dale Marcell. Dale Marcell, master musician and director of The Marcell School of Drum, cites the following benefits of drumming:

1. stress relief: brain wave patterns change after brief drumming sessions to more relaxed states [ see Dr. Barry Quinn];
2. synchronization of brain waves in both brain hemispheres: like deep mediation, may be the neurophysiological basis of higher states of consciousness [Layne Redmond];
3. increase in confidence and self-acceptance, as peers and accept all performances;
4. teambuilding: members of the drumming circle listen to each other, find their own place in the group, assist others, and take leadership roles; and
5. increased cardiovascular performance leading to better health.

The basis of such success may be the unconditional acceptance of each individual musician. As Dale states, “There is no such thing as failure in the drumming circle.”

Bruce Dunn, teacher at Chippewa Public School in London, agrees with this philosophy. Bruce is the directing mind behind “CHOMP”, a percussion band for students in grades 7 and 8. Bruce composes the music that the students play on plastic garbage cans and buckets at venues such as Earth Day, other schools and at the upcoming London International Children’s Festival.

Bruce Dunn has been leading CHOMP since its inception 5 years ago. He says he has seen the program grow in popularity and as a vehicle that has instilled pride and self-confidence in the students. Although entrance into CHOMP is by audition, it is open to all students who have an interest in it. Bruce says that the band is so popular and respected within the school that approximately 40% of eligible students audition for a small number of places. This year CHOMP has 19 students of diverse backgrounds, including 7 Asian-Canadians, 2 African-Canadians, and 1 hearing-impaired student. The only expense for the students is the purchase of their own drumsticks. Most of the other equipment is donated.

The efforts of Bruce and Dale prove that these programs encourage success through the increased self-esteem that comes with competence and mastery of new skills, provide a healthy and creative energy outlet, and allow an opportunity to make positive social connections. All of these are aspects that keep kids positively involved in their community. And it may even help them succeed in school!

Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky (Neurological Research, Feb. 1997) proved that students who listened to Mozart scored significantly higher on examinations. This surge in academic performance has become known as the “Mozart Effect”. The theory behind this effect is that the ordered phrases of Mozart somehow set up the brain for better academic performance.

Studies have shown that second grade students at the 95th Street School in Los Angeles, who were taught musical nomenclature such as whole notes, half notes and quarter notes, before being exposed to fractions, had an easier time learning fractions (1/2, 1/8. 1/16 etc) than those children who have not been exposed to such music theory. Gordon Shaw, physics professor emeritus at the University of California, Irvine, attributes this affect to the fact that music involves ratios, fractions, proportions and thinking in space and time. Shaw says the findings are significant because a grasp of proportional math and fractions is a prerequisite to math at higher levels, and children who do not master these areas of math cannot understand more advanced math critical to high-tech fields.

"Proportional math is usually introduced during the sixth grade, and has proved to be enormously difficult to teach to most children using the usual language-analytic methods," Shaw said. "Not only is proportional math crucial for all college-level science, but it is the first academic hurdle that requires the children to grasp underlying concepts before they can master the material.” (from The Richards Institute of Education and Research at www.educationthroughmusic.com).

Another group of California students, preschoolers who took singing and keyboard lessons, scored 80% higher on object-assembly tests than students at the same preschool who did not have music lessons (Rauscher & Shawl, Symphony, Sept. - Oct. 1996). Preschoolers who studied piano performed 34% better in spatial and temporal reasoning ability than preschoolers who spent that same amount of time learning to use computers (Rauscher & Shawl, Neurological Research, Feb. 1997).

Tramo, a researcher, explains it as such, “Playing music can actually increase the creation of neural pathways in a young child's brain. By bringing out and exercising musical ability in children, you nurture the development of their intelligence.” (http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/11.13/HowYourBrainLis.html).

This is important because spatial and temporal skills are key aspects of success in mathematics and science, and we all know how abstract and scientific reasoning have become critical to success.

The examples given above show that even small amounts of music education can lead school-aged children to develop social and academic skills. In the academic realm, better temporal-spatial manipulation ability, an increased facility with learning fractions, a slight but significant increase in performance on standardized tests, and have all been accepted as definite benefits of exposure to music and/or music theory. The other, ‘softer’ skills that are effected by music and are more difficult to measure, but by no means less important. These ‘soft’ skills are several and varied and include: a sense of ownership and pride in one’s musical equipment, increased self-esteem, greater appreciation of the value of teamwork, a sense of recognition by the community, a sense of personal achievement, and a means of self-expression. Children involved in music education and performance have the additional benefit of learning an appreciation for music in general – something they carry with them long after their student years end.

Investing in Children provides the following links for your information, and does not endorse the products of:

Spatial-temporal versus language-analytic reasoning: the role of music training.
http://www.educationthroughmusic.com/musicbrain.htm

Kindermusik is the emerging community of families and teachers passionately committed to bringing music to children's lives. http://www.kindermusik.com