A Message from Pastor John- April

As I sit here today in my office, I am thinking about music. It’s not because I am sitting here listening to “The Best of the Bee Gees” (don’t worry, I’m not). It is because of what is going on within our music departments. As I write this our middle school choir is not on campus, they are gone for the entire day to participate in the ACSI Middle School Choir Celebration. Then I was thinking how next week our bands (beginning, concert, high school, & jazz) will be gone for the ACSI Band Festival. I also reflected on how blessed I am to have my kids at a school that recognizes the value of music. With that in mind, what I want to share with you is taken from an article on the benefits of music education. You can find the article in its entirety at http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/benefits.html

1) Success in Society - The College Board identifies the arts as one of the six basic academic subject areas students should study in order to succeed in college. Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do, 1983 [still in use], The College Board, New York

2) Success in School - Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation. College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.

3) Success in Developing Intelligence - A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997

4) Success in Life - "Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music." Gerald Ford, former President, United States of Americae

As you can see, music is important, and I pray that you find our music programs to be a blessing, just as my family does. I encourage you to join us for our choir concert on May 21st at 7pm and our band concert on May 22nd at 2 PM. I hope to see you there.