“A music-rich experience for children of singing, listening and moving is really bringing a very serious benefit to children as they progress into more formal learning.” Music education greatly enhances students’ understanding and achievement in a non-musical subject. It also develops different multiple skills set, often simultaneously.
There are several advantages in learning music education, firstly, Language Development. While children come into the world ready to decode sounds and words, music education helps enhance those natural abilities. Secondly, it increases the IQ of the students, especially those children who has given extra music lessons such as voice and/or any other instruments. In SMM, students are given a chance to take extra music lessons during after-school activities, and playing the recorder as part of their curriculum. Thirdly, it taps the spatial-temporal skills of the students, which means that understanding music can help visualize various elements that should go together, like they would do when solving math problems. And lastly, music education can make students be more emotionally developed. St. Mary’s Muhaisnah is an international school with different nationalities and cultures. With music, students develop empathy with other cultures. It also provides them a higher self-esteem and are better coping with anxiety. On the other hand, learning music have disadvantages too, and one of it is the costly instruments. It also needs a spacious place to not distract the other classes.
Music in St. Mary’s Catholic High School Muhaisnah, started last 2015. It focuses into four major skills which includes singing, listening, creating music/improvising and playing instruments. It also includes the important elements of learning music; rhythm, melody, dynamics, and tempo.
In KS 1 (Years 1 and 2), students focuses their knowledge in music by singing and moving as they practice their language development skills. This stage also enhances their motor skills while singing.
In KS2 (Years 3-6), students start to experiment and improvise music by composing simple rhythm and melody. This stage is also the time to build their confidence and boost their self-esteem by playing and practicing different kinds of instruments such as recorder, and other classroom percussion instruments.
In KS3 (Years 7-9), students broaden their knowledge in music by playing and performing solo and/or with the ensemble contexts using their voices and playing musical instruments with increasing accuracy, fluency, control and expression. They also developed a deepening understanding of the music that they performed and to which they listen, and its history.
