by Jessica Barno

Created on: May 06, 2009   Last Updated: May 07, 2009

The man who was arguably the most intelligent who ever lived was reported to have once said, "If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music." His theories and his famous equation, e=mc2, revolutionized the way science had previously looked at light, energy, and time, transforming the study of quantum physics. That man was Albert Einstein. His relationship to music and his intellectual accomplishments are not simply coincidence.

Since the very beginning of human existence, music has been ingrained into the human brain as deeply as linguistic communication (Sacks, "Preface"). It always has been, and always will be, a source of comfort and entertainment, and a vessel of communication and expression. Whether a particular human being lived ten thousand years ago or is living in the present age, or whether he is an infant, adolescent, adult, or even elderly, music plays a crucial role in human cognitive development and reinforcement (Eddy). The development of cognitive skills is perhaps most crucial at the earlier stages of a person's development. Presently, exposing elementary-school age children to active participation in music has been shown to stimulate the development of several areas of the brain, and is considered by some to be just as essential to a child's education as reading or writing (Sacks, "Sense"). Regrettably, due to recent economic events, many schools have been forced to trim budgets, and all too often the first programs to lose funding or to be cut altogether are the choral, band, and orchestral programs. This decreased funding for music programs is detrimental to the quality of elementary education, in particular.

In 2007, $124.4 million of President Bush's $2.758 trillion budget request was reserved for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities got only slightly more with a total budget of $140.9 million. Collectively, the two programs' combined budget represents less than .01% of the 2007 budget. Put into perspective, if there were approximately 51 million children enrolled in America's school systems (Eddy), the amount of funding available for music and humanities education per child for the year of 2007 was $5.20. Needless to say, this kind of a lack of funding makes quality music education a near impossibility. As the cost of a single musical instrument can be anywhere from five-hundred to over five-thousand

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