WRITTEN BY JADEN FISKE
The Music Program at VAAS was something that most of the students here looked forward to participating in and was often a reason some students attended the school in the first place. Unfortunately, it was removed for this year. This program gave students here a community to belong to and an out-of-school hobby that could turn into a career. The Music Program would participate in pep-rallies, and would occasionally have concerts of its own as well. It collaborated with other programs, like Leadership and Theatre, expanding the arts part of our school. The Music Program has a lot of benefits to students as well. As mentioned earlier, students who were in the music program could have made a career out of it. Finding their interest in that early on and having a class that can help teach them how to become better musicians helps them mentally plan out their future. Playing instruments has positive effects on the brain as well. “Playing a musical instrument has been shown to increase cognitive ability through enhanced neuronal communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, resulting in positive effects on learning, memory, fine motor skills, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, resulting in an overall more capable brain to apply in a multitude of settings.” wrote Anna R. Stoklosa in her article Instruments of Knowledge: Music and the Brain. She mentions in that article that introducing music lessons to children and a young age helps enhance neural connections developing in the brain. Anna talks about how listening to music helps boost your mood, physiological functions, (heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure) and behavior. According to Anna, “Thomas Jefferson used music and his violin to help him write the Declaration of Independence when he couldn’t come up with the right words. Music helped Jefferson get his thoughts from his brain onto paper.” and “Albert Einstein, one of the smartest men in history, was also a violin player. His mother bought him a violin in grade school and he attributes his intellect to his ability to play Mozart and Bach on the violin. His friend, G.J. Withrow, said Einstein figured out problems and equations by improvising music on the violin.” When a child is learning to play an instrument their brains learn to hear and interpret sounds that are different from just listening to it. Playing an instrument helps connect sensory, auditory, visual, emotional components and more of the central and peripheral nervous systems. It even helps improve memory! The Music Program was a great addition to our school, especially with high school students' brains not being fully developed yet. The Ssssource collected some data on this through a google form. We passed the form around through friends and some classmates. We got a total of 61 responses. 82% of students are in 10th grade and 18% are in 9th. 55% of the responses were enrolled here at VAAS when the music program was around, though 92.3% were not involved with the program. Out of all 61 responses, 91.8% said that the music program should be added back. When asked what instruments they play, if any, the majority of students responded with string instruments like Guitar, Ukulele, or Violin. A few said other instruments like the piano or flute, and some students played none. The love for the Music Program doesn’t stop there either. When it was first announced that the Music Program was being cut from VAAS, students passed around a petition on change.org to try and bring it back, with only 30 signatures missing from reaching the 200 signature goal. A few students have left the school because of the lack of our former Music Program. “What is VAAS without music ?” One student commented on the petition. In conclusion, as much as the program is missed, they can’t deliver what is not asked for. The reason for its absence is due to lack of interest, not enough students signed up to take it. The only way we can get The Music Program back is through us. We, the students of VAAS, have to sign up for the class. Not only does it benefit possible career choices, but benefits the brain and neurological connections as well. Comments are closed.
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EditorZachary Buenaventura Author
Yuliana Altamirano CategoriesArchives
June 2023
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