Celebrating African-American Music Appreciation Month: How Music Education Impacts Young People

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter decreed June to be African-American Music Appreciation Month, and each year since music lovers have gathered to celebrate African-American artists’ contributions to music on U.S. soil. We proudly join the celebration to honor the iconic music and recognize the black community’s impact on shaping our country’s culture. 

We honor the history and rich African traditions that gave birth to different styles of music like rap, hip-hop, jazz, rhythm and blues, barbershop, and swing. These genres share tales of heritage, slavery, and racial oppression and are linked to important historical events like the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement (National Today, 2023). African-American music covers a range of topics that carry great significance and have touched millions of people around the globe. 

While we recognize the impact of black music on our society, we are reminded of the importance of exposing our young students to this music from an early age. Music education can have major positive impacts on students’ growth and development:

1) Speech and Language Skills

Music stimulates the brain and, through various sounds and lyrics, students are exposed to a large amount of vocabulary in a short amount of time (Martin, 2020).

2) Improved Memory

Music involves a high level of memorization as students must recall rhythms, pitches, dynamics, and several other elements at once. This process benefits the overall memory center of the brain (Silverstone, 2018).

3) Academic Success

Students transfer these language and memory skills to the classroom which improves their study habits and academic performance (Martin, 2020).

4) Teamwork

When playing music together, students must listen to each other and work together to create a cohesive, technically correct performance (Silverstone, 2018).

5) Exposure to Different Cultures

Music has no language barrier and brings people together regardless of ethnicity or background. Educating students about different cultures through music promotes tolerance, openness, and an appreciation of diversity (Martin, 2020).

We believe music education is highly beneficial to students and provides an outlet for creativity that is crucial to a child’s development. We created our Digital Music Lab program with this in mind. Digital Music Lab partners with Syracuse University to teach junior high and high school students how to develop music composition and production skills.

This 12-week music lab allows students to explore Patterns Beatmaker, the Loop Tabs, MIDI instruments, Audio Recording, and collaborate with other students to create great beats. The best part is the program culminates with a Beats Showcase where students present their finished tracks. Check out the beats created by our most recent Digital Music Lab graduates: https://soundcloud.com/visioncenterbeats

Looking for an enriching after-school activity this fall?  Music is a powerful learning tool to provide students with a well-rounded education. The next Digital Music Lab starts this September. Sign up through the link below.

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Nati Torrence