Benefits of Making Music – Research Links

East Lothian Council’s YMI has produced short films to highlight the work of six of our projects and you can watch them here.

We Are The Music is a snapshot of East Lothian YMI’s accessible music-making opportunities.

We Are The Music – A snapshot of YMI accessible music-making in East Lothian

Music makes an important contribution to the life of every school and should be celebrated, promoted and encouraged. It helps build pupils’ self-esteem and self-discipline and leads to higher standards across the curriculum. Today many more schools are benefiting from this transformational power that music brings to pupils, staff and parents alongside the wider whole school community.

The 10 Things Schools Should Know About Music

This booklet, produced by Music Mark, summarises the 10 key benefits of music, from recognition within the ‘National Plan for Music Education ‘ that music is an educational building block through to the inclusive nature of music irrespective of abilities. Music should be an entitlement for every child, an integral part of school life and never side-lined as just a ‘nice to have’ subject.

Read a Summary of the 10 Things Here

#1 Music is for Life

#2 Music Improves Learning Skills

#3 Music is an Educational Building Block 

#4 Music Encourages Creativity

#5 Music is Fun

#6 Music Fosters Team Working

#7 Music Boosts School Improvement

#8 Music Underpins Better Behaviour 

#9 Music is for Everybody

#10 Music Builds Life Skills

These articles will be updated on a regular basis. Share your favourite things about music in schools on Twitter using #YMIEastLothian   #10Things

Further Research:

A new music manifesto for young people in Scotland.

Learning Music Can Change Brain Structure – Research from Edinburgh University Neuroscience.

How a School in Bradford is Beating the Odds with Music