Why
Music? 
Music Is A Science. It is exact, and it demands exact acoustics. A conductor’s full score is a chart, a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody and harmony all at once and with exact control of time.
Music Is Mathematics. It is rhythmically based on the subdivision of time into fractions which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.
Music Is Foreign Language. Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French and the notation is certainly not English – but a highly developed kind of short – hand that uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language.
Music Is History. Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and / or racial feeling.
Music Is Physical Education. It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek, and facial muscles in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.
Music Develops Insight and Demands Research.
Music is all these things , but most of all, Music Is Art. It allows the human being to take all these dry, technically boring (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion. That is one thing science cannot duplicate: humanism, feeling, emotion, call it what you will.
That is why we teach music! Not because we expect you to major in music ... But ... so you will be human
... so you will recognize beauty
... so you will have something to cling to
... so you will have more love, more compassion, more gentleness, more good;
In short, More Life!!
___________________________________________________________________________________________ Music Advocacy's Top Ten for Parents
In a 2000 survey, 73% of respondents agree that teens who play an instrument are less likely to have discipline problems. ~ Americans Love Making Music - And Value Music Education More Highly Than Ever, American Music Conference, 2000.
Students who can perform complex rhythms can also make faster and more precise corrections in many academic and physical situations, according to the Center for Timing, Coordination, and Motor Skills. ~ Rhythm seen as key to music's evolutionary role in human intellectual development, Center for Timing, Coordination, and Motor Skills, 2000.
A ten-year study indicates that students who study music achieve higher test scores, regardless of socioeconomic background. ~ Dr. James Catterall, UCLA.
A 1997 study of elementary students in an arts-based program concluded that students' math test scores rose as their time in arts education classes increased. ~ "Arts Exposure and Class Performance," Phi Delta Kappan, October, 1998.
First grade students who had daily music instruction scored higher on creativity tests than a control group without music education. ~ K. L. Wolff, The Effects of General Music Education on the Academeic Achievement, Perceptual-Motor Development, Creative Thinking, and School Attendance of First-Grade Children, 1992.
In a Scottish studyh, one group of elementary students received musical training, while another group received an equal amount of discussion skills training. After 6 months, the students in the music group achieved a significant increase in reading test scores, while the reading test scores of the discussion skills group did not change. ~ Sheila Douglas and Peter Willatts, Journal of Research in Reading, 1994.
According to a 1991 study, students in schools with arts-focused curriculums reported significantly more positive perceptions about their academic abilities than students ina comparison group. ~ Pamela Aschbacher and Joan Herman, The Humanitas Program Evaulation, 1991.
Students who are rhythmically skilled also tend to better plan, sequence, and coordinate actions in their daily lives. ~ "Cassily Column," TCAMS Professional Resource Center, 2000.
In a 1999 Columbia University study, students in the arts are found to be more cooperative with teachers and peers, more self-confident, and better able to express their ideas. These benefits exist across socioeconomic levels. ~ The Arts Education Partnership, 1999.
College admissions officers continue to cite participation in music as an important factor in making admissions decisions. They claim that music participation demonstrates time management, creativity, expression, and open-mindedness. ~ Carl Hartman, "Arts May Improve Students' Grades," The Associated Press, October 1999.