Through our music curriculum designed by The Juilliard School, every student can enjoy being an engaged listener, composer, interpreter and communicator. In addition, your child will be developing valuable skills that will pay dividends in all aspects of learning and prepare them for success in future life.
With music as a creative key, your child will develop skills like critical thinking, resilience, risk-taking or discipline, which he or she can use in their learning in every subject. Activities have been designed to allow your child to explore the works in ways that nurture and express their imagination. Students will also develop cultural literacy, broadening their understanding of cultural and social history around the world to give them a global perspective.
Our students have great fun with music whilst enriching their learning.
These are the ways the performing arts collaboration with Juilliard will enhance learning for our students.
Learning music and the performing arts can increase academic development
Learning music and the performing arts is linked to high academic performance[1],[2], helping students to improve literacy[3], mathematics[4] and cognitive development.[5]
Evidence suggests that students who participate in learning the arts achieve higher grades in school, and musically-trained students demonstrate enhanced brain performance[6]. Music also helps develop various attributes – from motor skills[7] by learning to play a musical instrument, through to an appreciation of mathematics via rhythm and tempo[8].
So while some education systems focus on exam after exam, they are missing the whole picture. If they also created time for the performing arts, they would see their pupils achieve even more.
The performing arts teach young people a range of personal skills that help them thrive
The performing arts teach young people a range of personal skills that enable them to shine in every aspect of their lives – both at school and in the world of work. In fact, they teach young people exactly the attributes required in the modern workplace - creativity[9], critical thinking, the ability to collaborate and various social skills[10].
Studying rehearsing and learning to perform teaches young people various character traits including confidence, self-esteem and discipline[11].
A lot of educators talk now about the need to build character – the performing arts do exactly that.
Learning music can inspire joy in learning that can spread to other subjects
Learning music and the performing arts more widely exposes young people to a form of learning that is increasingly rare for young people – one to one (or one to a few) tuition. Learning at this level and in this way helps ignite sparks in young people who may not have previously engaged with academic learning, enhancing satisfaction and sense of achievement in school[12].
And once they get the love of learning, this can transfer across to all their subjects.
An appreciation of the performing arts makes for more engaging global citizens
An appreciation and understanding of the arts makes for engaging, curious and culturally rich global citizens – which we believe is a key component of education.
Put simply, the world is a better place with music in it – it transcends cultural barriers, provides connections between people with little or nothing in common[13]. The more people who understand music and the performing arts, the more the world will connect.
[1] Catterall, J., Chapleau, R., & Iwanaga, J. (1999). Involvement in the arts and human development: General involvement and intensive involvement in music and theater arts. IN Fiske (1999) Champions of change: The impact of the arts on learning, 1-18: Washington.
[3] Salmon, A. (2010). Using Music to Promote Children's Thinking and Enhance Their Literacy Development. Early Child Development and Care, 180(7), 937-945.
[4] Smithrim, K., & Upitis, R. (2005). Learning through the Arts: Lessons of Engagement. Canadian Journal of Education, 28(1/2), 109-127
[5] Schellenberg, E. (2004). Music lessons enhance IQ. Psychological Science, 15, 511 - 514.
[6] Curtis, L., & Fallin, J. (2014). Neuroeducation and Music: Collaboration for Student Success. Music Educators Journal, 101(2), 52-56.
[7] Hyde, K. L., Lerch, J., Norton, A., Forgeard, M., Winner, E., Evans, A. C., & Schlaug, G. (2009). Musical training shapes structural brain development. The Journal of Neuroscience, 29(10), 3019-3025.
[8] Shilling, W. A. (2002). Mathematics, music and movement: Exploring concepts and connections. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29, 179–184.
[9] Koutsoupidou, T., & Hargreaves, D. (2009). An experimental study of the effects of improvisation on the development of children’s creative thinking in music. Psychology of Music, 37(3), 251–278.
[10] Hallam, S. (2010) "The Power of Music: Its Impact on the Intellectual, Social and Personal Development of Children and Young People." International Journal Of Music Education. 28(3), 269-289. ERIC, EBSCOhost (accessed October 5, 2015).
[12] Päivi-Sisko Eerola & Tuomas Eerola (2014) Extended music education enhances the quality of school life, Music Education Research, 16(1), 88-104, DOI: 10.1080/14613808.2013.829428.
[13] Wright, C. H. (1994). The Value of Performing Arts Education in Our Schools. NASSP Bulletin, 78(561), 39-42.