Blog Review - Music in Learning

Title of blog: Music for Musics Sake

Date: June 23, 2015

Blog URL: http://www.smartmusic.com/blog/music-for-musics-sake/ (Links to an external site.)

Contributor's name and short bio: Scott Rush has held numerous jobs as a teacher and director for music education. He is currently the Director of Fine and Performing Arts for Dorchester School District Two in South Carolina. He has written several books about the art of music and teaching music. Mr. Rush has been awarded several National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence.Most recently he was elected into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and in 2015 was elected into the South Carolina Band Directors Association Hall of Fame.

Summary: I found this blog while searching for platforms for my project. This particular blog is really more about WHY music is important and is kind of aimed at teachers of ensemble groups, but still, I like it's overall message. I am a huge believer that music is an extremely important part of a well rounded education and that it should not be considered as an "extracurricular" type of activity, but should instead be part of the required curriculum. However, it can be difficult to explain why music is such as important part of learning. I liked how this article points out the tangible benefits of music education, but really focuses on the the emotional and spiritual effects which are so often overlooked, but are so important to healthy development and engaged learning.