Save the EWG Music Program

We, the undersigned, protest Superintendant Geismars proposal for the elimination of .8 teaching position in music in the Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School system, recognizing that it means systematically dismantling the entire band and chorus program from the bottom up.

Several hundred EWG students currently participate in performance ensembles in our district, which are offered during the school day for academic credit. The program is open to any student in grades 5 through 12 within the district, and the unique learning environment opens the students minds and often inspires them to seek fields of study that might never have occurred to them. For those who have already chosen their future field of study, the resources at these schools nurture their abilities and improve the skills that they need to be successful in their chosen specialties.

In short, this program offers life-changing experiences that fundamentally influence the alumnis future careers and decisions in life.

Music education is one of the most precious things we can give to the youth of our towns. The following facts imply a necessity of music instruction at all levels, especially instrumental and choral music from grades 5 through 12. If the EWG school district eliminates Band and Chorus from the elementary schools, it will only be a matter of time before the program in grades 7 through 12 disintegrates, negating the benefits of such instruction. These facts are research based, and represent our views on the benefits of instrumental and choral music instruction:

The term core academic subjects means English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography. No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101 (11)

The College Board identifies the arts as one of the six basic academic subject areas students should study in order to succeed in college. Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need to Know and Be Able to Do, 1983 [still in use], The College Board, New York

Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs). Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998

Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation. College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.

Students who participated in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking skills. National Arts Education Research Center, New York University, 1990

A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997

Students in two Rhode Island elementary schools who were given an enriched, sequential, skill-building music program showed marked improvement in reading and math skills. Students in the enriched program who had started out behind the control group caught up to statistical equality in reading, and pulled ahead in math. Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles, as reported in Nature, May 23, 1996

One limitation on the practical scheduling of music classes is often concern over impact on students' other studies from "pull-out" programs, in which students leave ongoing classes for music study. A 1985 Study by Edward Kvet of Loyola University found, however, that sixth-grade students involved in music study through pull-out programs do just as well in reading, language, and mathematics as their counterparts who don't leave class for music study.

Brain imagery has shown increases in parts of the cerebral hemisphere and in the thickness of neural fibers connecting the two sides of the brain in children who begin stringed-instrument study before the age of seven, compared to children who are not exposed to this kind of learning. Some scientists theorize that young keyboard and string players are using both hands in ways that twentieth-century American children usually don't have to do. --From "Straight Talk about Music and Brain Research," by Ella Wilcox

Students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show significantly higher levels of mathematical proficiency by grade 12. This observation holds both generally and for low socioeconomic status students as a subgroup. In addition, absolute differences in measured mathematics proficiency between students consistently involved versus not involved in instrumental music grew significantly over time. -- James Catterall, Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga, "Involvement in the Arts and Human Development."

In "Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning," the contributors highlight some of the "take-home" messages about arts: 1. The arts reach students not ordinarily reached, in ways not normally used. This keeps tardies and truancies and, eventually, dropouts down. 2. Students connect to each other better - greater camaraderie, fewer fights, less racism, and reduced use of hurtful sarcasm. 3. It changes the environment to one of discovery. This can re-ignite the love of learning in students tired of being filled up with facts. 4. Arts provide challenges for students at all levels, from delayed to gifted. It's a class where all students can find their own level, automatically. 5. Arts connect learners to the world of real work where theater, music, and products have to appeal to a growing consumer public. 6. Students learn to become sustained, self-directed learners, not a repository of facts from direct instruction for the next high-stake test. 7. Students of lower socioeconomic status gain as much or more from arts instruction than those of higher socioeconomic status. This suggests the gifted programs need to expand their targets.

For these reasons and more, we the undersigned, formally protest the proposal to eliminate .8 teaching position in music in the Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School system.