Why Band?


Student Performance

  • The College Entrance Examination Board found that students involved in public school music programs scored 107 points higher on the SATs than students with no participation. - Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, compiled by the Music Educators National Conference (2002)

  • U.S. Department of Education data on more than 25,000 secondary school students found 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." - U.S. Department of Education NELLS88 Database

  • The College Board, in a publication about college admissions, states, “Preparation in the arts will be valuable to college entrants whatever their intended field of study.” -Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need To Know and Be Able To Do, The College Board

  • To learn more about our Alumni Achievements, click HERE!


Public Support and Access

  • According to a 2003 Gallup survey, 95 percent of Americans believe that music is a key component in a child's well-rounded education. - American Attitudes on Music, Music Making and Music Education, The Gallup Organization 2003

  • In spite of this public support and documented benefits, "only one in four eighth graders reported being asked to sing or play a music instrument at least once a week." -1998 NAEP Assessment

Life Skills

  • 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, Houston Chronicle, January 11, 1998

  • Arts involvement teaches children many skills necessary to succeed in life, including problem solving and decision making, building self-confidence and self-discipline, the ability to imagine what might be and to accept responsibility for it, teamwork, the development of informed perception, and articulating a vision. - Compiled from various research documents and reports

Scientific Research

  • A research team reports that early music training dramatically enhances children's abstract reasoning skills. These findings indicate that music uniquely enhances higher brain functions required for mathematics, chess, science and engineering. - From Neurological Research, Feb 28, 1997; Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D, University of California, Irvine

  • Research made between music and intelligence concluded that music training is far greater than computer instruction in improving children’s abstract reasoning skills. -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



“The things I learned from my experience in music in school are discipline, perseverance, dependability, composure, courage and pride in results... Not a bad preparation for the workforce!”

– Gregory Anrig, President, Educational Testing Service


“It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough - it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our hearts sing.”

– Steve Jobs, in introducing the iPad 2 in 2011