Vanessa Brady

Find Success Through Music

2010-04-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

March was “Music In Our Schools” month. This focus provided me with a host of articles to comb through and re-energize my mission as an educator! In a time when we are worried about the economic strain on our schools, here are the two main reasons to fight for music in our schools.

Success in society:

What other discipline allows students to constantly work as a part within a whole group or team? Choir and instrumental ensembles teach students that their small voice is needed to make the rest succeed. As a result, we mold students into responsible adults that can visualize “the big picture”. Talk about a great way to boost self-worth in a child!

Success in developing intelligence:

Neurological studies show how the study of music contributes to brain development. Music is a wonderful avenue for learning mathematical and language concepts but it also stretches our cognitive abilities in memory, critical thinking skills, and problem solving. Studying and performing music also allows the brain to fully process humor, emotion, and cause and effect. It is this type of understanding that makes our world go round.

I leave you with this quote:

“If there were a course to teach your child self-discipline, time management and self-reliance, would you enroll him? If this class would raise his SAT score by an average of 107 points and significantly increase his mathematics proficiency, is it worth your tax dollars? If that same course would place him in the group with the lowest lifetime and current use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs, would you camp out to guarantee him a spot? You don’t have to. Just support the music programs in your school.” Tracey Begland

Are We Saving the Music?

2010-03-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

Recently I read an informative blog post by The Des Moines Register's Jason Clayworth “Hundreds of students rally lawmakers: Save our schools”

Before I became a music educator, I did not want to be a music teacher. I was afraid that I was not good enough. I certainly did not want to become another run-of-the-mill general music teacher. I wanted to make sure that I was the most enthusiastic and prepared that I could possibly be. I have talked with many administrators and parents that are less than thrilled with the music experience in the metro and surrounding area schools. And we ask, “why are we getting cut?” Maybe some of us do not show the state, school board, and our administrators WHY what we do is necessary:

Music Education (of the dynamic and excellent variety) has the power to:

enhance brain development
allow students to think creatively become problem solvers
raise test scores in reading and math
cross barriers of language and learning disabilities
teach responsibility through team work

Sadly, not every teacher is productive and it is they who should be considered “excess” in the budget. Unfortunately, the DMPS district pulled anyone with less than 10-15 years of music education experience instead of weeding out on an individual basis. The music and the art teacher at my current building are both outstanding and were both considered excess. This should not be.

Music Educators: We should not be perpetually at risk of losing our positions. We need to rally together to make our efforts more unified and dynamic. We need to produce data and more importantly, a movement that shows the value of our work.

New Site / First Post

2010-02-27T21:27:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the new version of VanessaBrady.com. On this blog I will post new techniques, strategies, or lesson plans that I discover through various teacher education research and experience. Please subscribe or check back often.

Thanks.