Annotated Bib #1

1. Nutt, Amy Ellis. "Music Lessons Spur Emotional and Behavioral Growth in Children,
New Study Says." The Washington Post. WP Company, 07 Jan. 2015. Web. 22 Mar.
2017.
2. Emily Ellis Nutt starts off her article, Music Lessons Spur Emotional and Behavioral
Growth in Children, by connecting to the parents who have all put their child through
music lessons. She states the main point of the article in this first sentence and lets the
reader know how music can help children develop. The article mentions a study done
by the University of Vermont College of Medicine were they analyzed the brain scans of
232 healthy children ages six to 18 specifically looking at brain development in children
who play a musical instrument. The end result of the study showed that children who
played an instrument had accelerated organization in attention skills, anxiety
management and emotional control. The article points out furthermore that the brain can
be trained just like the body can build muscle through exercise. The head researcher
from the study, James Hudziak, thinks that kids who are not mentally healthy will benefit
from musical training.
Music training not only helps children develop fine motor skills, but aids emotional and
behavioral maturation as well
"I had this passion for health promotion in children, it seemed silly not to do it myself,"
Hudziak said.
3. This article was easy to read. It gave me good insight on how music can benefit children
not only in gaining a new talent, but mentally as well. With this fact that music is proven
to help children mentally, it raises the question of why arts programs are declining in
schools. Nutt quotes James Hudziak many times within this article. Hudziak has never
played an instrument before in his life and because of his research, he has decided to
learn the Viola. He is very confident in his work and wants to help the children he is
promoting health for by going through the same process they are.

Annotated Bib #2
1. "Arts and Creativity 'squeezed out of Schools'." BBC News. BBC, 18 Feb. 2015. Web.
10 May 2017.
2. This Article, Arts and Creativity Squeezed out of Schools, by BBC takes a look at
different reports about arts programs being squeezed out of school. The main problem
with this decline is the number of specialist teachers that are able to teach these
subjects. The article states, the number of arts teachers in schools had fallen by up to
11%, teaching hours and teachers for design and technology were down 11%. this data
shows the numbers since 2010. Besides the fact that there are fewer and fewer
teachers to teach the arts, students of low-income families are unable to take part in the
arts to the cost. In some cases, only the most advantaged students have a greater
range of experiences in school. These arts programs have significant cost associated
with them do to improper funding.
There had been a significant decline in the number of state schools offering arts
subjects taught by specialist teachers
The study also cited recent research that found while 76% of parents had said that their
children regularly took part in arts clubs and cultural experiences outside of school,
there were significant costs associated with them.
The research also suggested that the cost of young people taking part in some
extracurricular activities was putting them out of reach for low-income families.
3. This article gave me a great look into why there has been a decline in the arts. The
decreasing number in teachers and the fact that many students can't afford to take
classes in the arts programs all have great potential for my thesis. I can relate to a lot of
what this article has to say because the program I was in began to shrink dramatically.
We had two changes in band directors within 2 years and some students had trouble
paying for the cost of being in the band. Funding was always a huge issue for marching
band and the other arts programs at my school.

Annotated Bib #3

1. "Drs. Special Report: The Fastest Growing Youth Activity..." The Doctors. N.p., 2015.
Web. 10 May 2017.
2. The video, The Fastest Growing Youth Activity in America, starts off by talking about the
dangers of contact sports and how more parents are taking their kids out of these
 sports. These kids are putting their time into a more physically, mentally, and creatively
challenging sport. This sport is called Drum and Bugle Corps. The video talks about how
every corps has its own medical staff. These medical staffs keep every member healthy
and free of injury. These drum corps perform in front of millions of fans every year at
Lucas Oil Stadium for the DCI world Championship.
3. I have been looking for a way to wrap up my thesis that shows how the arts is starting to
grow again and this video is a perfect example. Talking about DCI is a great way to
show how the arts can make a comeback. This sport can bring back interest in music
and the arts. It already has a big impact on marching bands across the country. During
my marching band career, we took a few trips to some DCI tournaments held in the
area.

Annotated Bib #4

1. Hullinger, Jessica. "11 Problems Music Can Solve." Mental Floss. N.p., 11 May 2012.
Web. 10 May 2017.
2. Jessica Hullinger starts of her article with some information from the documentary Alive
Inside. This documentary is about how music can help dementia patients. Hullinger
continues her article by giving 11 more examples of what music can cure. Her first
problem is about low birth weight. For babies that are born to early, music can reduce
 pain levels as well as encourage better feeding habits. Hullinger states that hospitals
use musical instruments to mimic the sounds of a mothers heartbeat and womb to help
babies sleep. The second problem deals with plant growth. In Dorothy Retallacks book,
The Sound of Music and Plants, shows how plants that listened to easy listening music
grew uniform in size and were full and green. The Third problem was the effects of brain
damage. Music is used on patients to stimulate areas of the brain that control
movement and speech. Rhythm from music help people walk by giving a beat that
serves as a walking cue to the brain. Hullinger goes on to list further problems that
music is capable of curing/fixing.
3. This article provides a great amount of examples that furthers the argument that music
can bring benefits to society. All these examples can be used in my thesis to show why
the arts programs should stay in school and how more students should show interest in
the programs.

Annotated Bib #5

1. Greene, Peter. "Stop 'Defending' Music Education." The Huffington Post.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 11 June 2015. Web. 12 May 2017.
2. Peter Greene believes that music should not be defended because it is a great tool for
raising test scores and making students smarter. he wishes People would stop
defending music education like this. Greene goes on to list better reasons for music
education. It is universal and is around us every day. Greene makes the argument that
music is profoundly human. He states It helps us know who we are, what we want, how
to be ourselves in the world. Greene closes with A school without music is less whole,
 less human, less valuable, less complete. Stand up for music as itself, and stop making
excuses.
A school without music is less whole, less human, less valuable, less complete. Stand
up for music as itself, and stop making excuses.
There are so many reasons for music education.
Music does not need to make excuses for itself, as if it had no intrinsic worth.
3. At first, I thought this article was about how music should not be in schools. As I read
further I realized this is supporting music in the most simple way. Greene supports
music in schools not because it helps with tests, but because music is in our everyday
lives. There is no escape from music and that is why more people should be involved
with music classes.