There’s one thing that all the musicians you love have in common – they all started out as students.
Young musicians may have gotten a bad rap in Hollywood, but there are some incredibly talented young people out there sharing their musical gifts with the world. We will have the pleasure of featuring the talents of students from the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra on April 3rd.
There’s more to the world of student musicians than you might have imagined! Here are a few fun facts.
- The Greek philosopher Plato believed that an ideal education would be composed of music and gymnastics, and that learning music would help prepare children to become responsible citizens.
- Music changes the brain, at least in youngsters. After just one year, young children who took music lessons had better memory and different brain development than children with no musical training.
- Formal music curricula have been part of our public schools since the 1800s. However, the first singing school was established even earlier, in 1770, and used the textbook Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes Using Non-Traditional Notation.
- Researchers have found that schools with music programs have much better graduation and attendance rates.
- According to the Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, secondary students who played in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs.
Clearly, music education is great for kids. But it’s also great for the rest of us when we have the opportunity to listen to their performances. You won’t regret getting to know the work of these young people, including these local groups: