“The study of music stimulates the creative mind and is a valuable part of every child’s education. By helping build essential skills, imagination, and self-esteem, music and the arts fuel achievement in all academic areas leading to infinite possibilities for our students as future leaders and innovators.”
– CAROLYN STANFORD TAYLOR, Wisconsin State Superintendent, Speech at 2019 Wisconsin State Music Conference, Madison, WI
“A school’s mission is wider than learning how to make a living. It is a place where students can learn how to make a life. Those who would send schools back to the basics set their standards much too low. The logic of language, the structures of mathematics, the conclusions of the sciences give us distinct perspectives, but they do not exhaust what we can know, what we can imagine, or what we can feel. The arts are among the important ways we remake ourselves.”
– ELLIOT W. EISNER, Arts Educator, Stanford University
“…art means more than the resuscitation of the past: it means the free and unconfined search for new ways of expressing the experience of the present and the vision of the future. When the creative impulse cannot flourish freely, when it cannot freely select its methods and objects, when it is deprived of spontaneity, then society severs the root of art.”
– JOHN F. KENNEDY, 35th President of the United States
“Music enhances the education of our children by helping them to make connections and broadening the depth with which they think and feel. If we are to hope for a society of culturally literate people, music must be a vital part of our children’s education.”
– YO-YO MA, Musician
“Music education stimulates, challenges, and enriches our young people during their formative, school years; its value lasts a lifetime.”
– TAMMY BALDWIN, U.S. Representative, Wisconsin
“When members of a society wish to secure that society’s rich heritage they cherish their arts and respect their artists. The esteem with which we regard the multiple cultures offered in our country enhances our possibilities for healthy survival and continued social development.”
– MAYA ANGELOU, Poet
“Some people think music education is a privilege, but I think it’s essential to being human.”
– JEWEL, Musician
“The arts are an essential part of human experience; they are not a frill. We recommend that all students study the arts to discover how human beings communicate, not only with words, but through music, dance, and visual arts. Now more than ever, all people need to see clearly, hear acutely, and feel sensitively through the arts. These skills are no longer just desirable; they are essential if we are to survive with civility and joy.”
– ERNEST BOYER, former President, Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching
“With music, one’s whole future life is brightened. This is such a treasure in life that it helps us over many troubles and difficulties. Music is nourishment, a comforting elixir. Music multiplies all that is beautiful and of value in life.”
– ZOLTÁN KODÁLY, Composer and Music Pedagogue