Music is vital to education. It is a powerful force in human learning and a language that cannot be denied. A child searches for expression and creative opportunities to share with others to satisfy their need for communication. The foundation for comprehension is enhanced significantly through the fine art of music by developing a child's critical listening and thinking skills through the nuance, inflection, and subtleties of rhythmic and lyrical expression. Becoming sensitized and being able to recognize and respond to music’s fine art of detail provides a depth of understanding and a value appreciation that enhances the development of the total individual. 

This is not found in any other school learning experience. 

One must consider the impact music makes on the student as they pursue academic excellence. Through music performance, we expand academic achievement and create a productive, successful life only attainable through the fine detail of artistic production and performance. Through music study, students experience the beauty of musical expression.....Beauty, compassion, feeling, appreciation, sensitivity, love, peace, tolerance, sympathy, warmth, empathy, self-esteem, cooperation, and respect……These are but a few “living or life priorities” that are hidden in music study!  No other discipline addresses these “living or life priorities” in the manner which music does. Once a school district denies the opportunity for music study, a student is lost to the whims of life’s desensitizing environment. 

Edward S. Lisk