Music is sadly almost absent from our education system

By Martijn Dendievel, assistant conductor at Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen

However, I missed one thing. It is something that every child can develop. It is something that creates a sense of togetherness and helps develop social skills. It is something that teaches children to discover their own feelings. It is something of a miracle elixir for improving academic performance, because it enlarges cognitive capacities, among other things.

Unfortunately, music hardly features in our education

Could you guess what I'm writing about? I'm talking about music. Singing, playing, humming, listening, simply doing something with music! Unfortunately, it hardly features in our education (anymore). When I was in kindergarten, we still learned a couple of children's songs per month and sang them together with our teacher; today you could count on one hand the 8-year-olds in an average school who know "Kortjakje". In primary school, singing is no longer part of the curriculum, and regular contact with music within school walls does not exist. Only children whose parents decide to enroll them in music school come into contact with the miraculous world of acoustic sounds and tones.

In recent times, however, there have been a number of studies and experiments proving how important music education is for everyone. In 2014, an American study found a clear difference in executive functions between children with and without music education. Important detail: the entire test group came from the same social background and had roughly the same IQ, which had been a point of criticism in previous studies. During a memory and reaction test, a notable difference in brain activity between children with and without musical experience was observed, among other things.

Problem schools in Bradford (England) and Roxbury (United States of America) made a 180-degree turn by making music, art and dance an integral part of their curriculum. In a short time, not only academic performance improved, but also the atmosphere and interaction among students. In five years, the Bradford school increased the number of students meeting the expected English standards for reading, writing and maths from 53% to 74%. The American school, previously known for violence and school dropouts, replaced security personnel with art teachers in 2010 and was able to record an enormous increase in the speed of knowledge acquisition just two years later. Bullying disappeared, students were able to concentrate better, and had better chances for further education.

In Bremen, Germany, a world-class orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, resides in a secondary school, eats lunch together with students in the refectory, and turned the rehearsal room into an extra classroom. In doing so, the orchestra saves costs on infrastructure while simultaneously working on its self-imposed social and artistic responsibility. They called their project "Zukunftslabor", the laboratory of the future. A few days ago, their eighth "Stadtteiloper" premiered, a music theatre project that brings together students, teachers, orchestra musicians and local residents. Here too: twenty years ago, no one wanted to go to this school; in 2018, it was included in a list of the twenty best schools in Germany.

Here in Flanders, such initiatives are rare, and usually organized by engaged cultural institutions or individuals. If we want Flanders to stand in the front row internationally when it comes to educational quality and innovation, we must anchor music in our school education and reintroduce it for everyone, from the first kindergarten class through sixth secondary.

If we teach children to love making music early enough, we lower the threshold that many adults still perceive as elitist.

Some proposals: in kindergarten, singing must return in a playful way (of course with an accompanying course in kindergarten teacher training). In primary education, professional musicians can use the successful Kodály method to regularly bring large groups into contact with the basic principles of music. Music schools of the DKO can also bring instrument presentations to the classroom and encourage children to take lessons at the DKO. Secondary schools should be encouraged to organize school choirs and ensembles and regularly participate in rehearsals, concerts and music performances.

In the Flemish conservatories, a program based on the principle of the German "Musikvermittlung" can be launched, so that musicians can develop the right tools for the aforementioned tasks. We have so many creative minds in Flanders who are more than eager to get to work on this matter, and are waiting for the starting signal.

If we instill in children the love of making music early enough, we lower the barrier that still feels elitist to many adults. The beauty of music, and art in general, is that it has no negative side effects, puts people in dialogue and connects them with each other, encourages critical thinking, and can give life (back) a splash of color on small and large scales.