May 6, 2005

KEEPING THE ARTS ALIVE

Music Matters

“I would teach children music, physics and philosophy; but most important music, for in the patterns of music and all the arts are the keys of learning.”

—Plato, Greek Philosopher (427-347 B.C.)

Ask more than 100 students of James F. Smith Elementary School and their parents if music matters and you’re sure to get a resounding answer of, “Yes, music does matter.”

Dylan Naroff, concertmaster of the San Jose Youth Symphony Preludes String Ensemble, is pictured with Maestro Yair Samet, artistic director and philharmonic conductor of the San Jose Youth Symphony. Dylan attends J.F. Smith Elementary School.

For four years, JFS Elementary searched for a music enrichment program for children ages 6 to 12 to replace what California education budget cuts had so severely limited.

In November 2004, thanks to an overwhelming response from parents and educators, the school successfully implemented Music Matters, a weekly after-school music education program administered by the San Jose Youth Symphony.

Now in its second year, Music Matters was developed in direct response to the demand from educators scrambling to replace programs cut by the state budget crisis.

“The purpose of the program is to introduce young people to orchestral music and to develop a love for music,” added Charlotte Powers, Music Matters program manager and board chair for the San Jose Youth Symphony.

The program is founded on the premise that the principles of teamwork, creativity, discipline and leadership first introduced in music education carry over into the careers of tomorrow’s leaders in engineering, science, education, business and government.

“Music education is especially critical to the success of Silicon Valley where creativity is particularly vital to the next technological wave to fuel our regional economy,” said George Ko, director of operations for the San Jose Youth Symphony.

Courtney Coyne, a third grader at JFS Elementary School, learns to play the keyboard with Music Matters keyboard instructor Jezer Dedascalou, who majored in music at San Jose State University.

So drive by JFS Elementary any Thursday afternoon and you’ll see something atypical at most California public schools—more than 100 children carrying violins, flutes, trumpets, clarinets, keyboards and percussion pads.

For many, it’s their first experience reading and playing music and their first introduction to symphony music.

What was once a dream for music enthusiast Nancy Naroff is now a reality. “Evergreen Valley will be a richer community as a result,” concludes Naroff.

For more information about the San Jose Youth Symphony and the Music Matters program, visit the Web site www.sjys.org or call (408) 885-9220. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to this organization, send donations to San Jose Youth Symphony, 595 Park Ave., Suite 302, San Jose, Calif. 95110.

Music Matters violin instructor, Mission Chamber Orchestra violinist and Evergreen resident Nancy Naroff contributed to this article.

Music Matters recital May 25
Interested in seeing the results of the Music Matters program at James F. Smith Elementary? Enjoy a recital for the more than 100 kids in the program on Wednesday, May 25 at 7 p.m. in the JFS multipurpose room, 2220 Woodbury Lane.

Recitals for all instruments—including piano, trumpet, flute, clarinet, violin and percussion—will demonstrate how the children at JFS Elementary benefited from this after-school musical instrument instruction.

Why does music matter?

James Caterall, UCLA Professor of Education and one of the nation’s leading researchers on the effects of the arts on curriculum education, states unequivocally that, “students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12.”

In another essay, “The Arts and the Transfer of Learning,” Caterall speaks of the “the rich archive of studies that show connections between music learning or musical experiences and the fundamental cognitive capability called spatial reasoning.”

Caterall goes on to explain that spatial reasoning forms the backbone of all learning, from language decoding and acquisition, to planning and organizing abilities, to mathematic concepts such as fractions and proportions.

According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, a Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse report showed that “Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances, including alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs.”

In 1998, the College Board reported the college-bound seniors who had school music experience scored 52 points higher on the verbal portion of their SATs and 37 points higher on math than those without arts instruction, totaling an 89-point increase.