Just Add Music for Better Education

Since the days of Pythagoras in the 5th century, there have been many reports about the connection between music and math. Kids who study music formally do better in school. Music helps children understand math better. So why is it that with issues of innumeracy and achievement gaps and the popularity of American Idol, Glee and other music shows, music programs are being cut in school systems all over the country?

Tight budgets are always the culprit, but why aren't school administrators and consultants fighting for more funding? Why is it that there never seems to be a problem finding the money for sports? The benefits of music cut across age, race, social status and regions of the country. It's the great equalizer.

The fact is that music is critical to learning for very young learners as well as older kids. How did you learn your ABC's? With a song, of course. Music helps the brain retain information. You rarely hear jingles on the radio, but they were invaluable tools in advertising. They were slogans set to music and you always remembered the product when you heard its praises being sung. "See the USA in a Chevrolet" (GM), "A silly millimeter longer" (Chesterfield cigarettes), "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh, what a relief it is" (Alka-Seltzer).

For children, music also helps kids with language. Nursery rhymes and other children's may be sound silly, but they help children learn sounds, rhymes, order and memorization. "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly" repeats in reverse the order of swallowing a fly, a spider, a bird, a cat, a dog, a goat, a cow and a horse. Yucky, of course, but it achieves the goals: sounds, rhymes, order, memorization. Marcia Louis, a Norwalk, Connecticut-based children's entertainer (www.marcialouis.com) does this song best, but another song in her repertoire is changing the menu in "I Like To Eat Apples and Bananas" to pepperoni pizza. It's even yuckier, but it's also more memorable.

But back to schools and music. Sharon Burch, a K-3 school teacher from Iowa, studied the various methods that preschool and kindergarten teachers "used to introduce the written language of English" with flashcards, pictures, games, puppets, storytelling, movement and coloring. She applied some of these methods to teaching the 12-bar chord progression and introduced "Freddie the Frog," an interactive book with audio CD that teaches tempos. Kids can play along with their instruments.

Burch is available to talk to the powers that be in school districts across the country about the importance of music in the K-12 curriculum. (See her website for rates and terms.) People should realize that music education doesn't stop in high school. Conductor Roger Nierenberg (pictured right) left the Stamford Symphony Orchestra to create The Music Paradigm, a technique to help executives improve their own job performance and to address issues such as restructuring, cultural transformation, innovation and creativity and cross-functional teamwork. www.musicparadigm.com. It seems to me that the powers that be in the school systems should invite not Roger to help them improve job performance in their schools. And, of course, bring people such as Marcia Louis and Sharon Burch to put into place music programs to help kids learn.