Music Lessons in the School Curriculum

Introduction

Most people enjoy music, listening to it, singing, or playing an instrument. However, despite the general interest in music, many schools are forced to remove music education from the curriculum. This decision is misguided because, with the absence of music class, the school loses an interesting activity and a subject that fills the students’ lives with vibrancy and affects the children’s overall education. When a teacher engages music to teach students, it enables them to improve school performance, gain motivation, and even treat health problems.

Improving Student Learning Outcomes

The benefit of music for the learning process can be argued that music provides a means of expressing what is difficult for children to describe in ordinary situations. Thus, when this technique is used at school, kids can manifest their authentic thoughts and feelings, which will help establish a connection with the teacher. Accordingly, it provides an invisible relationship between the teacher and the student to understand the learner’s needs better. At the same time, the learning of musical pieces promotes abstract thinking and the development of skills from the mathematical sciences. (Hennessy 689). Children who attend music classes learn to be organized, make plans, and follow through promptly (e.g., preparing for a concert). In addition, there was a university study in France published in Learning and Individual Differences, in which students who listened to a lecture with classical music in the background scored higher than those who attended a class without music (Hennessy 690). Considering that music is primarily a cultural phenomenon, it promotes an understanding of past and future traditions that affect children’s education. Thus, music improves learning outcomes and builds the most valuable life experiences

The Motivational Function of Music

Music can encourage students to apply more effort to learning, especially if there are problems with certain subjects. For example, in physical education classes, music is a means to ensure an effective training program. This is confirmed by the fact that professional gyms use dynamic music during sports activities. Thus, listening to fast music is beneficial for optimal results in education (Hennessy 693). This is because it distracts children from the difficulty and motivates them to focus on the specific challenge at hand.

Music has a Beneficial Effect on the Human Body

Any music influences breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and energy. Music can relieve stress, increase immunity, lift one’s spirits, and inspire creativity. It can also bring a person from feeling sad, apathetic, or anxious and enhance well-being. According to an article from the website Science Nordic, listening to music can actually alleviate acute and chronic pain (Hennessy 690). The fact that music serves as an incredibly effective method of redirecting one’s attention away from pain may be the reason for the pain-relieving properties. The reduction of aches and pains can also be attributed to the release of opioids, which are produced during ‘pleasurable’ music. A 2014 article from the University of Southern California argues that classical music, in particular, is an effective aid for improving sleep patterns and reducing stress (Hennessy 693). For children in school, stress is every day because it can be caused by peer problems or learning challenges. As a consequence, students develop anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders.

Conclusion

Thus, music lessons must be present in the school curriculum. Music not only motivates children and develops abstract thinking but is also intended to improve a person’s health. Accordingly, if the student attends music lessons, the level of stress and depression will decrease. Moreover, there will even be an opportunity to restore the cultural connection between the past and the future, which will contribute to the identity of children.

Work Cited

Hennessy, Sarah. ‘Approaches to Increasing the Competence and Confidence of Student Teachers to Teach Music in Pimary Schools.? Education 3-13, vol. 45, no. 6, 2017, pp. 689-700.