Music as education

HIGH NOTES

Convinced as I am about my attention deficit disorder, it doesn't take much for me to distract myself from the job at hand.

And on the Internet where more interesting things are but only a quick click away, I usually end up finding something to hold my attention for at least three whole minutes.

It was on one such ramble that I happened to click on an article about music education in schools as part of the general curriculum. Never being too keen on academics myself, I should have quickly clicked my way to a website dedicated to more general music-related issues.

But I didn't.
The article explained in detail how music teaching helps children develop socially and intellectually. It contained facts, figures and statistics to prove that training in music as an academic discipline gives kids a considerably higher level of performance and an edge, in and outside school, compared to kids who aren't musically trained at all.

I was reminded of my music teacher in school, a certain Mrs Stevens, who took the singing period. Twice a week she would line us boys up (in order of soprano and puberty-broken voices) and make us sing folk songs like "Tom Dooley", "Bimbo" and so on.

Looking back, I can't really see where those two periods a week were actually meant to lead. It was definitely not a free period because you were actually forced to sing.

But I guess I did enjoy it more than physics or geography. And we did have a school opera and singing competition once in a while. Both of which were always worth looking forward to. But was it enough?

I'm quite convinced it was not. Kids could definitely benefit more from music and other arts being introduced as a formal discipline. At least as an option for them to pursue.

For now it seems that a focused education in music is limited primarily to kids who come from a background already initiated in the arts. While there exist organisations and even schools that proactively promote music education, the trick is to expose kids who don't come from these backgrounds to music.

For over a decade now studies have shown that kids can benefit intellectually if made to listen to classical music and jazz, both of which contain complex rhythmic structures. Studies also show that children who learn and play music at an early age actually fare better in maths and sciences.

I wonder if Indian classical music (complex as it is) may have something to do with some of the best engineers and scientists in the world being Indian? It's a long shot but worth considering.

I shared my suggestions in a conversation with a friend. She believes schools and the government would never wholeheartedly support music as a formal discipline in schools. It's simply not economically relevant. But that's not true. The arts and entertainment industry the world over is an extremely lucrative industry. The arts are an intrinsic part of life. The more we sow the seeds, promote and encourage it, the more we reap.

An education in music and the arts doesn't necessarily mean that kids who study music are going to be the next commercially successful popstars.

In fact, a number of the artistes I listen to don't have formal training. They picked up their guitar skills from friends, sang in college and school bands, even in church choirs. All of us can do that and it's definitely a good thing. But a music education does stand everyone a chance at a better life in every possible way.

If studying music means that a kid gets smarter in the sciences and stands a better chance at getting into a medical college, it clearly translates into a few lives saved. And that's just one example of the power of music.