Music in Our Schools Month is a time to celebrate and advocate for children all around the world with access to a musical education. All across America every year, fifth-graders learn to play the recorder, seventh-graders pick up the cello, and high school juniors march with their tubas around the football field—all because of an educational system where the study of music is encouraged. Later in college, some of these students may choose to study music and share their passion with the next generation.
As Psychology Today knows well, studying music as a child can have a great and wonderful impact on brain function even into adulthood. One article notes that musical training can improve connectivity between the two hemispheres of the brain and can lead to people relying less on working memory, which is the part of short-term memory that is concerned with immediate perception and processing language. Another article suggests that this ability may be a reason why Albert Einstein was so brilliant—he said, “I see my life in terms of music…I get the most joy in life out of music.”
We at the Press do our best to promote learning in all forms, like through our role as a teaching press at the University of North Georgia. We also help to make students’ education more affordable by providing eight open-access textbooks, three of which have ranked on the Georgia Library Learning Online (GALILEO) list of most popular resources.
One of our open access resources, Understanding Music: Past and Present, strives to bring a musical education to everyone. This textbook was made to accompany Music Appreciation classes, but can be enjoyed by anyone who wishes to learn a little more on the subject. It is free to download on our website.
For this Music in Our Schools Month, encourage a child’s interest in music, and maybe even delve into the subject yourself.