Prior to this semester, I was unaware of the ‘non-musical’ benefits children experience when provided with a music education which are highlighted in Orff-Based Music Training Enhances Children’s Manual Dexterity and Bimanual Coordination by Marta Martins, Leonor Neves, Paula Rodrigues, Olga Vasconcelos and São Luís Castro. This study conveys the ability for Orff based music training to improve the fine motor skills of abilities for an extended period of time, as does Rudi Crncec, Sarah J. Wilson and Margot Prior’s The Cognitive and Academic Benefits of Music to Children: Facts and Fiction, which similarly concludes that children who have music lessons from a young age have superior cognitive abilities than those who do not. These impacts, though non-musical in nature, give significant merit and validation to music education, however, I believe music education is also important for the sake of music, and in allowing children to hear, play, and understand music. Unfortunately this is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve, largely due to a waning interest in music education from not only students, but their parents, staff and governments. John Sloboda’s Emotion, Functionality and the Everyday Experience of Music: Where does music education fit? conveys this clearly by questioning what music eduction is really for, suggesting that it is no longer to satisfy the musical needs of children, but as a tool provided en masse to school children in order to fulfil the requirements of the school curriculum and gain the non-musical benefits associated. My understanding of music education at the moment, is that it is a discipline struggling to find relevance in a system that values standardised testing and STEM subjects over the arts, despite the obvious and significant benefits both musical and non-musical provided to those who undertake a music education, and highlights the need for this to change so these benefits can be enjoyed more expansively.
Črnčec, R., Wilson, S. S., & Prior, M. (2006). The Cognitive and Academic Benefits of Music to Children: Facts and fiction. Educational Psychology, 26:4, 579-594, DOI: 10.1080/01443410500342542 Sloboda, J. (2001). Emotion, Functionality and the Everyday Experience of Music: Where does music education fit?. Music Education Research, 3:2, 243-253, DOI: 10.1080/14613800120089287 Martins, M., Neves, L., Rodrigues, P., Vasconcelos, O., & Castro, S. (2018). Orff-Based Music Training Enhances Children’s Manual Dexterity and Bimanual Coordination. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02616