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 1. Schools with music programs have significantly higher graduation rates than do those without programs (90.2% as compared to 72.9%). In addition, those that rate their programs as “excellent” or “very good” have an even higher graduation rate (90.9%). Schools that have music programs have significantly higher attendance rates than do those without programs (93.3% as compared to 84.9%). Harris Interactive poll of high school principals, 2006

//2. “The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling—training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attentional skills, intelligence, and an ability of self-knowledge and expression."// - Ratey John J.,MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001

3. Playing a musical instrument significantly enhances the brainstem’s sensitivity to speech sounds. This relates to encoding skills involved with music and language. Experience with music at a young age can “fine-tune” the brain’s auditory system. — Nature Neuroscience, April 200

4. A 2004 Stanford University study showed that mastering a musical instrument improves the way the human brain processes parts of spoken language. (cont) vvv 5. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), researchers also discovered that musical training helps the brain work more efficiently in distinguishing split-second differences between rapidly changing sounds that are essential to processing language — Prof. John Gabrieli, associate director of MIT’s Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging

6. Students in high-quality school music programs score higher on standardized tests compared to students in schools with deficient music education programs, regardless of the socioeconomic level of the school or school district.

7. Students in top-quality music programs scored 22% better in English and 20% better in math than students in deficient music programs.

8. Students at schools with excellent music programs had higher English and math test scores across the country than students in schools with low-quality music programs.