Syosset School District has been designated as one of the Best Communities for Music Education by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation for the 18th time.
Now in its 20th year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students. Only 623 schools districts received this national recognition this year.
“Our music students and our program have earned many awards of distinction. What I most appreciate about this designation is that it recognizes the reason that we are so successful. That reason is an extremely high level of community support for music education,” said Syosset Coordinator of Fine and Performing Arts Michael Salzman. “Syosset is a community that would accept nothing less than the highest quality music education, and this award recognizes that music is a high priority in the Syosset Schools.”
Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music. After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school, but also to attend college as well. Everyday listening skills are stronger in musically-trained children than in those without music training. Significantly, listening skills are closely tied to the ability to perceive speech in a noisy background, pay attention, and keep sounds in memory. Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound. Additionally, social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and how to give and receive constructive criticism.
The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its approximately 10,400 members around the world. The foundation advances active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs.
-Submitted by Syosset School District
