Quotes
“Music, [scientists] believe, trains the brain for higher forms of thinking. After eight months of musical training, 3-year-olds were expert puzzle masters, scoring 80% higher than their playmates did in spatial intelligence—the ability to visualize the world accurately. This skill later translated into complex math and engineering skills.”
--Newsweek, February 1996
“One of our greatest assets in this country is the talented boys and girls who devote their early lives to music, to appreciation of music and understanding of music. This is a great, and I think vital force in American life. It is a part of American life which I think is somewhat unheralded around the world. But this emphasis upon artistic achievement in music is a source of satisfaction and pride to all of us.”
--John F. Kennedy
“Can education be complete without exposure to music and the arts? I believe the answer is "no." Education must include reference to men in their creative capacity, and much of the creative energy of mankind has been devoted to music and the other arts.”
--Sen. Edward Brooke, R-MA
“We cannot forget that music is an integral part of a student's educational development. We must ensure that the current educational climate includes access to music education and the other arts. We must not ignore the cultural and artistic development of our students.”
--Sen. Paul Simon, D-IL
“Children must learn from the earliest schooling that music is basic. Music gives us a language that cuts across the disciplines, helps us to see connections and brings a more coherent meaning to our world”.
--Ernest Boyer
President, Carnegie Foundation
“The things I learned from my experience in music in school are discipline, perseverance, dependability, composure, courage and pride in results. Not a bad preparation for the work force!”
--Gregory Anrig
President, Educational Testing Services
“Our schools tend to refine intellects but neglect to discipline emotions. For anyone to grow up complete, music education is imperative.”
--Paul Harvey
“Arts education aids students in skills needed in the workplace: flexibility, the ability to solve problems and communicate; the ability to learn new skills, to be creative and innovative, and to strive for excellence.”
--Joseph M. Calahan
Director, Corporate Communications
Xerox Corporation
“One of the great advantages of music is that it is an opportunity for an expression of feeling. A child who is going through the drudgery of learning does not appreciate what his feelings are going to be ten years later when he will have mastered that tool as a means of expression. I think it is a responsibility of parents, of teachers, and of the school system generally to keep music in the curriculum.”
--W. Walter Menninger, M.D.
“The arts are clearly an integral part of life at Harvard and Radcliffe, important for their value to the college environment and also for the potential they provide for lifelong enrichment. In addition to academic criteria, therefore, we always consider extra-curricular talents and personal strengths when we evaluate a candidate’s credentials. We look for students whose previous participation in the arts show that they can make a substantial contribution to the community.”
--Dean of Admissions at Harvard University
“GE hires a lot of engineers. We want young people who can do more than add up a string of numbers and write a coherent sentence. They must be able to solve problems, communicate ideas and be sensitive to the world around them. Participation in the arts is one of the best ways to develop these abilities.”
--Clifford V. Smith
President, General Electric Foundation
“It is better to make a piece of music than to perform one, better to perform one than to listen to one, better to listen to one than to misuse it as a means of distraction, entertainment, or acquisition of ‘culture.’”
--John Cage
“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.”
--William Congreve
“The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted.”
--William Shakespeare
“It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception.”
--Albert Einstein on his Theory of Relativity
“Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education, and children should be taught music before anything else.”
--Plato
“Have you ever watched a movie with no score? You don’t realize how music affects everything until it’s taken away. I can’t even imagine what a life without music would be like…You don’t have to be Liberace; you don’t have to be Beethoven, to learn music. I would love to walk into a school and see all these kids on computers sequencing their own music, whatever they like. To try something new, it takes an open mind.”
-Justin Timberlake to AMC, 2002
“I dream of a day when every child in America will have in his or her hand a musical instrument, be it a clarinet, a drumstick, or a guitar. And I dream of a day when there’s no state legislature that would even consider cutting funding for music and the arts because they realize that it’s a life skill that changes the lives of students and gives them not only better academic capability, but it makes them better people. We sometimes forget that many of us in this room, including this guy standing right in front of you, would not be where he is today if not for having music introduced in my life because it gave me the understanding of teamwork, discipline and focus.”
-Mike Huckabee to NAMM University Breakfast Sessions 2007
