Music is everywhere. You can hear it in your home, in your car, or on your personal mp3 player. Even unintentionally, you hear it playing in an elevator, in the waiting room of your doctor's office, or even as you pick produce at your local supermarket. It is almost as much a part of life as breathing. The truth is that there are many benefits to music; more than most people know. Studies have shown that music impacts our health in many positive ways. For example, it has been documented that music reduces pain and stress, it slows down your heart rate, stimulates brain cells, boosts exercise performance, promotes sound sleep, increases optimism, reduces anxiety in cancer patients, eases people in social situations and is used in many spiritual aspects from worship to meditation. (Chaudhari) If these are the benefits to simply listening to music, are there greater benefits for those who are trained to create it? Time and time again we have heard that people who are involved in music are smarter, calmer and more likely to succeed in every aspect of life, yet somehow when school budgets are in jeopardy, music is one of the first programs terminated. Let us begin by taking a close look at the implied reasoning behind these theories and compare them with many of the studies that prove their inaccuracies.

Some believe that since many students have no interest in music, it should not be a required class considering parents can simply have them take