Home Page - overview of Music

The systematic development of musical skills, knowledge and perception is fundamental to the total development of the individual. 

Music education should begin at an early age and should continue to encourage creative expression through performance, listening and composition. As students become sensitive to the expressive elements of music, they develop insight into human feelings.
The sense of meaning in music can be developed by the student as: 

Performer:  Performance is an active process involving the development and application of musical skills, knowledge and perceptions. 

Listener, evaluator, consumer, historian: These experiences develop an understanding of music and musicians of the past and present. 

Composer: The organization of the elements of music into an intrinsically satisfying composition generates aesthetic creativity and perception.

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MUSIC RULES:  M - U - S - I - C

M- Make good choices, always be responsible

U- Use good manners, be nice and be kind

S- Speak when acknowledged, always put your hand up

I- In the music room, always try your best!

C- Care for the instruments and all of the equipment

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Sometimes we might ask: How is music important to learning?   
Music affects us in ways we can't even imagine.   Even when merely thinking of a song we know, our auditory cortex is activated.  Music is the only activity that can activate multiple areas of the brain at the same time.

This is your brain on music Mapping mental activity reveals that music stimulates the brain in the same way food, ... and drugs By Steven Fick and Elizabeth Shilts January 2, 2006  Hearing music: The auditory cortex (1) is organized in terms of sound frequencies, with some cells responding to low frequencies and others to high. Moving from the inside to the outside of part of the cortex, different kinds of analysis are taking place. In the core, basic musical elements, such as pitch and volume, are analyzed, whereas surrounding regions process more complex elements, such as timbre, melody and rhythm. Imagining music: Singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in your head stimulates the auditory cortex even though you are not actually hearing the tune. The activity, however, occurs in small, discrete areas (1), and to a lesser magnitude. The inferior frontal gyrus (2) tends to be associated with retrieving memories and is thus stimulated as you recall: "how I wonder what you are." Scientists believe the dorsolateral frontal cortex (3) is responsible for holding the song in working memory while it is being imagined.      Playing music: There are few activities that require more of the brain than playing music. It uses complex feedback systems that take in information, such as pitch and melody, through the auditory cortex (1), and allow the performer to adjust his playing. The visual cortex (2) is activated by reading — or even imagining — a score; the parietal lobe (3) is involved in a number of processes, including computation of finger position; the motor cortex (4) helps control body movements; the sensory cortex (5) is stimulated with each touch of the instrument; the premotor area (6) remains somewhat mysterious but somehow helps perform movements in the correct order and time; the frontal lobe (7) plans and coordinates the overall activity; and the cerebellum (8) helps create smooth, integrated movements. Reacting emotionally to music: When you gets the "chills" from a piece of music, the "reward" structures in your inner brain (cross section), such as the ventral tegmental area (1), are stimulated. These are the same areas that are activated when a hungry person eats, ... If you are listening to a song you find pleasant, activity in the amygdala (2) is inhibited. This is the part of the brain that is typically associated with negative emotion, such as fear. QUOTE: "Listening to music, such as classical or jazz, may make learning easier and more effective since music exercises some of the same brain circuits involved in learning math, language and other skills." (Inside the Brain Revolutionary Discoveries of How the Mind Works (1997) by Ronald Kotulak.