[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 23 (Monday, March 6, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E229-E230]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            RECOGNIZING THE CONTRIBUTION OF MUSIC EDUCATORS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. DAVID M. McINTOSH

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 6, 2000

  Mr. McINTOSH. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing a resolution 
recognizing the value of music education and honoring music educators 
across our nation who contribute so much to the intellectual, social, 
and artistic development of our children.
  Music education has touched the lives of many young people in my 
state of Indiana. It has taught them team work and discipline, while 
refining their cognitive and communications skills. Music education 
enables Hoosier children with disabilities to participate more fully in 
school while motivating at-risk students to stay in school and become 
active participants in the educational process.
  Consider the experience of Patrick, a young man in Muncie, Indiana. A 
couple of years ago, Patrick was an angry teenager who was having 
trouble in school and with the law. His father had left home years 
before. His family tried very hard to reach him but it seemed nothing 
could help him get his life turned around.
  Knowing that Patrick loved music, his grandmother suggested he 
audition for the White River Youth Choir. With the encouragement of his 
mother and probation officer, he tried out and was accepted. Patrick 
has been a member of the choir ever since. He faithfully attends 
practice and has even toured with the choir outside of the country. The 
choir director, Dr. Don Ester, has become a powerful role model in his 
life. Patrick has made new friends and has goals for his life.
  The change in Patrick's life was so remarkable that his grandmother 
wrote this letter to Dr. Don Ester, the choir director, thanking him 
for helping her grandson. In her letter she says:

       Recently, some of the friends that [Patrick] used to hang 
     out with were arrested for a series of armed robberies. This 
     holiday season, their families are visiting them in jail and 
     preparing for criminal trial proceedings. We (Patrick's 
     family) are counting our blessings that we are able to come 
     hear him sing in the winter concert rather than what might 
     have been if he had continued on the path he was headed. Of 
     course, many events and many good people in this community 
     have helped Patrick, but I am convinced that much of the 
     credit goes to you and the loving work you are doing with the 
     kids in the choir.

  Studies support anecdotal evidence--students who participate in music 
education are less likely to be involved in gangs, drugs, or alcohol 
abuse and have better attendance in school. A 1999 report by the Texas 
Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse found that individuals who 
participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest levels of current 
and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs.
  Consider the case of the Boys Choir of Harlem which performed last 
month at the Kennedy Center. The 200 member choir is composed of 
intercity youth aged 8-18. In spite of the difficulties these children 
face, almost all of them graduate from high school and go on to 
college.
  Not only does music education help many at-risk kids develop an 
interest in learning, but

[[Page E230]]

it also helps many children excel in their studies.
  Recent studies underscore what parents and teachers have known for a 
long time--that music education contributes to enhanced cognitive 
development, discipline, teamwork, and self-esteem. These studies 
indicate that music education dramatically enhances a child's ability 
to solve complex math and science problems. Further, students who 
participate in music programs often score significantly higher on 
standardized tests.
  In kindergarten classes in Kettle Moraine, Wisconsin, children who 
were given music instruction scored 48 percent higher on spatial-
temporal skill tests than those who did not receive music training. 
After learning eighth, quarter, half, and whole notes, second and third 
graders scored 100 percent higher on fractions tests than their peers 
who were taught fractions using traditional methods.
  Gwen Hunter, a music teacher at DeSoto and Albany Elementary Schools 
in Indiana, recently wrote me a letter: ``I feel strongly that the arts 
broaden children's creativity, self-esteem, and emotional well-being. 
Music is an area of study that builds cognitive, affective, and 
psychomotor skills that can be transferred to other areas of interest. 
It caters itself to the different types of learners by offering 
opportunities for visual learners, listening learners and kinesthetic 
learners. Music education allows students the opportunity to develop 
and demonstrate self-expression.''
  Just this last February, students from 11 different sites in Indiana 
participated in Circle the State with Song. The event, sponsored by the 
Indiana Music Educators Association, began as an all day rehearsal and 
culminated in an afternoon concert. Janet Morris, who is a teacher at 
Royerton Elementary School in Muncie, Indiana, shared with me what some 
of the participants learned during the event.
  Here are some of the statements they made:

       I learned that when you put enough time and effort into 
     something, it pays off in the end.
       I learned how to work together.
       I learned that music is so meaningful and powerful when 
     everybody works together.
       Music is really, really, fun!
       I want to learn to compose.
       I've learned how fun it is to perform for people.

  Janet also shared with me one of her favorite memories teaching 
elementary school music. She said, ``One of the best stories I have is 
of a 4th grade young lady who looked at me very seriously during a 
choir rehearsal one day and blurted out, ``I'm going to grow up and be 
you . . . I want to be a music teacher.'' Needless to say, I was almost 
in tears her emotion was so intense and I was so stunned that a child 
saw and shared my passion for teaching. This young lady is still 
planning on being a music teacher and probably won't let anything 
detour her. She is now in 8th grade and working very hard on her flute, 
piano and singing.''
  So, too, music education builds dreams. The symphonies of tomorrow 
begin in the classroom of today.
  I want to thank Gwen Hunter, Janet Morris, Joe Poio, Keith Pautler, 
and Dr. Don Ester and all the music teachers in Indiana and across the 
nation for their wonderful contribution to the education of our youth. 
I especially want to thank my band teachers, Peter Bottomly and Phil 
Zent, who served as good role models while I was in high school in 
Kendallville, Indiana. The discipline I learned while mastering a 
difficult instrument like the tuba, has served me well.
  I would also like to thank all of my colleagues who joined me in 
introducing this resolution--Representatives Clement, Hilleary, 
Kucinich, and Roukema. Music education is an important academic 
discipline which can provide a deep, lasting contribution to a child's 
formal schooling and music educators are doing a terrific job.

                          ____________________