Music

Music is core to academic growth and central to the education of every student. Music Education is an essential, vibrant part of life. Learning, performing, creating, and appreciating music brings meaning and richness to our heritage and culture. Music Education is a positive influence in the lives and education of students and society as a whole. Music Education facilitates learning in other subjects and enhances skills that children inevitably use in all areas of life. 

Through Music Education, students learn the meaning and value of creativity and innovation by:

• Demonstrating originality and inventiveness in work and being open and responsive to new and diverse perspectives. 
• Developing, implementing, and communicating new ideas to others through vocal and instrumental means. 
• Acting on creative ideas to make a tangible and useful contribution to the domain in which innovation occurs. 

Through Music Education, students obtain critical thinking skills that shape their efforts and affect their personal value choices by:          

• Exercising sound reasoning in understanding and making complex choices and decisions. 
• Understanding the interconnections among systems; identifying and asking significant questions that clarify various points of view and lead to better solutions.
• Framing, analyzing, and synthesizing information in order to solve problems and answer questions. 

Through Music Education, students learn to communicate through sound by articulating thoughts and ideas clearly through more than written and spoken word.         

Music Education prepares students for success in school, work, and life: 

• Strengthening literacy as Music is an essential language. 
• Developing a globally competitive workforce since Music develops essential skills for global competitiveness in the 21st century.
• Nurturing engaged learners for Music promotes psychomotor and cognitive development. 

Assessment

Kansas State Department of Education–developed exemplars that illustrate how standards-aligned dance learning can be assessed through authentic performance tasks, demonstrating student understanding of movement, creativity, and artistic processes.

• Model Cornerstone Assessments for Music website link is available upon request.