Old Saybrook, CT – Old Saybrook Public Schools has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. Now in its 25th year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to school districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in providing music access and education to all students.
To qualify for the Best Communities designation, Old Saybrook Public Schools administrators and music educators answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, and support for the music program and community music-making programs. Responses were verified by school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.
Jeremy Taylor, the District Instructional Leader for Fine Arts, said the following about the music program's importance: “I’ve always felt that Old Saybrook’s support for its schools’ music program mirrors this community’s values. When they engage in music-making, our students contribute to a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. They’re accountable to each other for their individual responsibilities. They grow in leadership and ability in obvious ways. Their audience is made up of their families and friends. Music education is special because it’s about learning collectively as a community.”
Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music. After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students involved in music are
more likely to graduate high school and attend college. In addition, everyday listening skills are stronger in musically trained children than those without music training. Listening skills are closely tied to perceiving speech in a noisy background, paying attention, and keeping sounds in memory. Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound. Young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and giving and receiving constructive criticism.
According to Interim Superintendent Dr. Krista Bauchman, “Old Saybrook Public Schools takes great pride in all of our academic programs, but this prestigious award allows us to formally recognize the students and educators in our Fine Arts classrooms. The work they do has a positive and prevalent impact on our community and is considered vital to a well-rounded education in our District.”
About The NAMM Foundation
The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit organization supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) and its 15,000 global member companies and individual professionals worldwide. Our mission is to advance active participation in music-making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving, and public service programs. For more information about The NAMM Foundation, please visit nammfoundation.org.