Reference List

All of these sites were used in my research, as well as Music Unites home website: www.musicunites.org

My Listicle! –click me!

Music Unites is a non-profit charity founded with the objective of installing free music programs in at-risk public schools. The work they do changes lives in so many ways. Public school music programs give children a creative outlet where they can be themselves, myself included. I want to share my story as an example of how music programs change students lives. I joined the band in the sixth grade with the full intentions of dropping after one year. I already played guitar and piano, and I figured I would rather play sports once I advanced to high school. However, the summer after my sixth grade year, things changed. My parents decided to divorce, which left me in a two household life. Many students in today’s society live the same life. Band became the place where I felt like I was with my true family. Band didn’t make me feel like I had to chose a side, or please everybody. I felt I could be myself. Band helped me through one of the toughest times in my life. As I grew older and advanced to high school, I decided to stick with music instead of continuing in athletics. I eventually joined the choir as well as participating in the Jazz band, concert band, and marching band. These creative outlets gave me a space in which I could express myself freely. I always felt, and still do feel, that I am truly myself when I’m making music. It is a feeling that could never be imitated or replaced. I share this story because I believe it highlights how important having music programs is to public schools. The work that Music Unites does by installing music programs in at-risk schools is far more important than just teaching kids how to play music. It gives students who don’t have a stable family structure a place where they can feel safe. Not only that, it provides students with tools they can use to help fund their college education, should they chose to do so. I hope that my “testimony” sheds a more personal light on how music programs in public schools effect students lives for the better.

This blog post was created as partial fulfillment for my final project in DMS 101.

Fairly often, the debate about funding the arts in public schools comes into discussion. There are many fair points on both sides, but I believe it is painfully obvious that the arts, especially music, should stay a focal point in our schools and in how we fund schools. There are many reasons why the arts should be funded. I believe that the most important reason to fund the arts is the family that art groups build. Many children live in one parent households, and some hardly ever see their parents due to crazy work schedules or multiple jobs or a number of other things. Art programs give kids like this an outlet to have a family. Growing up, I had many friends whose parents were not very present in their lives. I know for a fact that music and band are what got them through school. Another very important reason to fund the arts in schools is the correlation between the arts and the ability to learn and critically think. Playing music or creating any art form requires using multiple parts of your brain. When you’re reading music and playing it you have to use your left side of your brain in order to perform the proper motor functions, such as note positioning and embouchure use. However, you also have to use the right side of your brain for interpretation of the music. The choice of how to play notes, long or short, soft or loud, all comes from the creative side of your brain. Due to the daily use of both sides of your brain, musician students, as well as all art students, tend to be more adept at critical thinking and problem solving. While there are arguments against funding the arts in schools and letting them be purely extra-curricular, I believe the positives greatly outweigh the negatives when it comes to funding.

This blog post was created as partial fulfillment of my final project for DMS 101.