Music Advocacy's Top Ten for Directors

  1. The 1997 Gallup Survey on Americans' attitudes towards music revealed that eighty-six percent (86%) of adults agree that all schools should offer instrumental music as part of the regular curriculum. The same percentage endorses community financial support for school music education.

  2. Students with coursework/experience in music performance scored 52 points higher on the verbal portion of the SAT and 36 points higher on the math portion than students with no coursework or experience in the arts. - Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, 1998.

  3. A 1985 study by Edward Kvet showed that student absence from class to study a musical instrument does not result in lower academic achievement. He found no academic achievement difference between sixth grade students who were excused from class for instrumental study and those who were not, matching variables of sex, race, IQ, cumulative achievement, school attended, and classroom teacher. - Spin-Offs: The Extra-Musical Advantages of a Musical Education, Cutietta, Hamann, and Walker (Elkhart, IN: United Musical Instruments U.S.A., Inc., 1995).

  4. Researchers at the University of California-Irvine report that second-grade students given four months of piano keyboard training, as well as time playing newly designed computer software, scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than other children. - Neurological Research, March 15, 1999; Shaw, Graziano, and Peterson.

  5. The nation's top business executives agree that arts education programs can help repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st century. - "The Changing Workplace is Changing Our View of Education," Business Week, October 1996.

  6. A study of 811 high school students indicated that the proportion of minority students with a music teacher role model was significantly larger than for any other discipline. Thirty-six percent (36%) of these students identified music teachers as their role model, as opposed to 28% English teachers, 11% elementary teachers, 7% physical education/ sports teachers, 1% principals. - "Music Teachers as Role Models for African-American Students," D.L. Hamann and L.M. Walker, Journal of Research in Music Education, 1993.

  7. Longer arts study means higher SAT scores. For example, students participating in the arts for two years averaged 29 points higher on the verbal portion and 18 points higher on the math portion of the SAT than students with no coursework or experience in the arts. Students with four or more years in the arts scored 57 points higher and 39 points higher on the verbal and math portions respectively than students with no arts coursework. - Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, 1998.

  8. Admissions officers at 70 percent of the nation's major universities have stated that high school credit and achievement in the arts are significant considerations for admission to their institutions.

  9. In a study of approximately 7,500 students at a medium- size university between 1983 and 1988, music and music education majors had the highest reading scores of any students on campus, including those majoring in English, biology, chemistry, and mathematics. - "The Comparative Academic Abilities of Students in Education and in Other Areas of a Multi-focus University," Peter H. Wood, ERIC Document Number ED327480.

  10. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66% of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. Forty-four percent (44%) of biochemistry majors were admitted. - as reported in "The Case for Music in the Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994.