Make sure to join us tonight at our annual Fine Arts College Information Night. Registration begins at 6:30 pm at Howard High School in Ellicott City, followed by a short plenary session at 7:00 pm before breaking out into panel discussions for music, theatre, visual art, and dance. At 8:30 pm, there will be an additional session open for financial aid and scholarship information. Our event is growing still, and we would love for you to experience everything College Night has to offer.
students
Study: Music Education Could Help Close The Achievement Gap Between Poor And Affluent Students
From an article published in the Huffington Post:
Closing the achievement gap between low-income and affluent students could be as simple as do-re-mi.
In a study out Tuesday from Northwestern University, researchers looked at the impact of music education on at-risk children’s nervous systems and found that music lessons could help them develop language and reading skills. The study is the first to document the influence of after-school music education on the brains of disadvantaged children, as opposed to affluent children receiving private lessons.
Researchers from the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern spent two summers with children in Los Angeles who were receiving music lessons throughHarmony Project, a non-profit organization providing free music education to low-income students. In order to document how music education changed children’s brains, students were hooked up to a neural probe that allowed researchers to see how children “distinguished similar speech sounds, a neural process that is linked to language and reading skills,” according to a press release.
Photo of Harmony Project student, courtesy of Dr. Nina Kraus.
Students from the study, ages six to nine, were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of children who received two years of music education by the end of the study, while the second group of children had only received one year of lessons. This led researchers to discover that children’s brains only started to respond to the music education after two years of lessons. One year was not enough to have a definitive impact.
“We used a quick but powerful neural probe that allowed us to gauge speech processing with unprecedented precision. With it, we found that the brain changes only followed two years of music training,” Dr. Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, said in a press release. “These findings are a testament that it’s a mistake to think of music education as a quick fix, but that if it’s an ongoing part of children’s education, making music can have a profound and lifelong impact on listening and learning.”
Photo of Harmony Project students, courtesy of Dr. Nina Kraus.
Leaders at Harmony Project approached the researchers after the non-profit observed that their students were performing much better than other public school students in the area. Since 2008, over 90 percent of high school seniors who participated in Harmony Project’s free music lessons went on to college, even though the high school dropout rates in the surrounding Los Angeles areas can reach up to 50 percent, according to a Northwestern press release.
“Now we know this success is rooted, at least in part, in the unique brain changes imparted by making music,” Dr. Margaret Martin, founder of Harmony Project, said in the press release.
Kraus told The Huffington Post that the study could be a case for expanding music education in school.
“It would appear that music is an effective strategy for helping to close the achievement gap,” Kraus said. “What seems to be happening is that this experience of making music is helping to create a more efficient brain, a brain that is going to be able to help a person learn and communicate, especially through sound.”
The Harmony Project and the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory have teamed up before to study how music education impacts students’ grades. Researchers previously showed that after one year, second-grade students participating in Harmony Project maintained or improved their grades. This compares to peers from the same schools whose grades’ dipped after not participating in music lessons.
“Existing research indicates that kids from poor homes are not learning to read in the first four years of school –- while kids from middle-class and affluent homes are,” Martin previously told The Atlantic. “Given the importance of reading in achieving an education, this finding is stunning.”
How Music Education Improves Brain Development
Thank you, cmuse.org for this wonderful article and video:
It has been said many times that music does wonders for the health of the human brain. But where does it all come from?
How does music trigger such a positive effect on our brains? According to some of the world’s top neuroscientists, the brain reacts to music’s multi-sensorial experience in a unique way. Playing a musical instrument requires many different processes of your mind and on your body to work together. If you play the piano, for example, your hands will touch and feel the keys, you ‘ll think about the pressure you need to apply, you’ll educate yourself to tuning and pitch, you’ll learn the technique and you are developing muscle memory…all of these processes are handled and coordinated by the brain, which in turns, becomes a lot more elastic and flexible. Think of it as the ultimate brain train! If you want to hear more, check out this fantastic clip!
Middle School Arts Information Night
Please join us on Tuesday, November 5, 2013, 7-8:30 pm at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia for our second annual Middle School Fine Arts Information Night. Not only will students and parents learn the means by which to keep fine arts courses on a high school schedule for four full years, but there will be student performances, presentations, and more. Rumor has it that there will be quite a number of exciting door prizes from local vendors, too.
2013 Teen Opportunities Fair
Teen Opportunities Fair
Sat., Nov. 16, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
North Laurel Community Center, 9411 Whiskey Bottom Road, Laurel
This free event connects teens ages 11-17 with leadership, volunteer and recreational programs in Howard County. Attend powerful presentations, see dynamic demos, and learn about great things teens can do. Get connected to opportunities in academics, art, business, community, finance, government, job skills, leadership, music, nature and outdoors, sports and theater. Learn ways to build your résumé, develop leadership skills, or just have fun. Student leaders from the Howard County Association of Student Councils (HCASC) will share school leadership opportunities.
Parents are also welcome. For more information, contact Holly Harden at 410-313-4625 or visit v4c.hcyouth.org/teenoppfair/.
If you attended our College Information Night, you may see some familiar faces at this event, too.
Fine Arts College Information Night Is Here!
Middle School Fine Arts Information Night
Please remember to check out our page for this event, and join us on Thursday for what it sure to be a wonderful evening.
Middle School Fine Arts Information Night
Wilde Lake High School, 7-8:30 pm
February 7, 2013
High School Musicians to Participate in 33rd Annual WVU Honor Bands
West Virginia University will host its 33rd Annual Invitational High School Honor Bands event at the Creative Arts Center during Feb. 9-11.
Approximately 350 student musicians from high schools in West Virginia and several surrounding states will participate. The students are recommended by their high school band directors and selected on the basis of their ability and accomplishments.
The students will audition Thursday evening and rehearse for two days before presenting the annual Honor Bands Concert, Saturday, Feb. 11, at 3:30 p.m. in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre at the WVU Creative Arts Center. The concert is free and open to the public. (Note: the time of the concert was changed from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. due to a WVU home basketball game.)
The Honor Bands event is hosted by WVU Director of Bands John Hendricks and Associate Director Jay Drury. This year more than one hundred schools will participate in the Honor Band weekend. Many of the high school band directors also accompany their students to the event, which serves as a workshop and observation opportunity for area music teachers.
“Much of the success of our Honor Bands is due to the outstanding guest conductors who bring their talents to Morgantown each year,” Hendricks said. “We are pleased to announce that our conductors this year will be Col. Michael Colburn, conductor of ‘The President’s Own,’ the United States Marine Band of Washington, D.C.; and also two WVU School of Music alumni, Dr. Jay Jacobs, associate director of bands at McNeese State University in Louisiana, and Roger Walker, band director at Frankfort High School in West Virginia and Concert Band conductor at WVU’s Potomac State College.”
As part of the Honor Band Weekend activities, the WVU Wind Symphony will perform a concert Friday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre. This concert, a free event, will also feature the guest conductors for the WVU Invitational Honor Bands event, as well as special guests, The United States Army Herald Trumpets, the official fanfare ensemble for the President of the United States.
For more information contact the WVU Band Office at (304) 293-4381.
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CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu
Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.
2012 Teen Opportunities Fair
Teen Opportunities Fair
Sat., Nov. 10, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
North Laurel Community Center, 9411 Whiskey Bottom Road, Laurel
This free event connects teens ages 11-17 with leadership, volunteer and recreational programs in Howard County. Attend powerful presentations, see dynamic demos, and learn about great things teens can do. Get connected to opportunities in academics, art, business, community, finance, government, job skills, leadership, music, nature and outdoors, sports and theater. Learn ways to build your resume, develop leadership skills or just have fun. Student leaders from the Howard County Association of Student Councils (HCASC) will share school leadership opportunities.
Parents are also welcome. For more information, contact Holly Harden at 410-313-4625 or visit www.v4c.hcyouth.org.
If you attended our College Information Night, you may see some familiar faces at this event, too.
WVU College of Creative Arts to hold open house for prospective students Nov. 10
The College of Creative Arts at West Virginia University will hold an open house for prospective students, Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Creative Arts Center.
According to Dean Paul Kreider, the college has openings for talented and dedicated students in music, art, design, theater and dance.
“The open house is in partnership with the Discover WVU Open House event, and will offer students the opportunity to get a head start on the college audition and portfolio review process,” he said. “There will be mini lessons and portfolio tips from our faculty, as well as information sessions on careers in the arts and behind-the-scenes tours of the Creative Arts Center.”
As part of the admissions process for the School of Music and the School of Art & Design, an audition/portfolio review is required for all applicants. Students wishing to audition or submit a portfolio may do so on this date.
The School of Theatre & Dance does not require an audition or design portfolio unless the student wishes to be considered for a scholarship.
All three schools offer cash awards and scholarships—up to a full tuition waiver—to students who plan to study for a Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. School of Music scholarship recipients are chosen by audition. The criteria considered include musical accomplishments, scholastic record and musical proficiency. School of Art & Design scholarship awards are based on portfolio submissions that exceed basic competencies and abilities. Also, the School of Theatre & Dance offers scholarships on the basis of outstanding talent, academic achievement and the student’s demonstrated potential for success in the program.
To see the full Schedule of Events and more details about the audition and portfolio review process, visit the College of Creative Arts website at www.ccarts.wvu.edu. Audition dates in 2013 will be held Feb. 9, Feb. 10 (music only) and March 9 (music only) at the Creative Arts Center.
Students who would like to register for the Nov. 10 Open House/Fall Preview Day may also call the School of Music at 304-293-4532 or the School of Art & Design and Theatre & Dance at 304-293-4339.
To register for the Discover WVU Open House portion of Nov. 10, please visit http://mvd.wvu.edu/open_houses/open_house_registration.
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CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu
Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.
Howard County Fine Arts Advisory Council 