Monday #43- Listen, Play, & Appreciate Music!

Make Today Matter...

Facts:

• Over 70% of schools are not able to maintain funding for the arts.
• Schools with music programs compared to schools without have significantly higher education rates, 90.2% compared to 72.9%, and higher attendance rates, 93.3% compared to 84.9%.
• Students with coursework in music appreciation score roughly 60 points higher in verbal and 40 points higher in math on the SAT than their non-arts peers.
• Early musical training increases brain development in language, reasoning, math, science, memory, creativity, expression, and spatial intelligence.
• Choral singers are nearly twice as likely to be involved in charity work--as both volunteers and donors--than the average person.
• Every human culture uses music to preserve and pass on its ideas and ideals.
• Music is not limited by age, gender, ethnicity, or time.

Take action today!

1. Listen to your favorite music and sing, dance, clap, jam on your air guitar, and enjoy it like no one is watching.
2. Go see or buy tickets for a live music performance.
3. Sign up for music lessons for yourself or your family.
4. If you already sing or play an instrument, do it today or offer to teach someone who wants to learn.
5. Donate unused instruments to a local school, church, or music education center.
6. Communicate with your school-district administrators or national legislators. Write a letter of appreciation for the hard work they do and request continued funding for the arts.

You matter!

Music is fun, expressive, imaginative, beautiful, energizing, relaxing, interesting, and freeing. Through music, we preserve our cultural heritage, celebrate our faith with praise and worship, remember events and experiences from the past, come together with friends and family, and express our emotions.

Music is the soundtrack of life!

(Adapted from Every Monday Matters: 52 Ways to Make a Difference by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza)