A student’s freshman year of high school often comes with a handful of challenging decisions. Which sports should you try out for? Do you have to choose between band and football? Will you have time to practice your instrument at home with your academic load increasing?

Whether you choose to participate in the arts at your high school or enroll in music lessons in Columbia at Soundcheck Rock Academy, we hope this article helps you see the value of music.

What Are The Benefits of Music Education in High School?

High school music education enriches your life by helping you understand one of the world’s most popular art forms, helps you make friends, improves your self esteem, teaches you how to practice a skill, and so much more.

Music as an Art Form Has Intrinsic Value

One of the problems with blogs about music education is that they often focus on externals, like “does music make you smarter?”, “will music help you get into college?”, and other issues like that.

Music is worth learning in and of itself. As you study musc, music history, music theory, and other aspects of music, you’ll be able to listen to and enjoy many genres and musical disciplines. You will have a richer life because when you go to a concert or play an album, you know what’s going on, and you can understand what the artist is trying to communicate.

Improve Your Self Esteem

Many adults start taking piano lessons in Columbia because they are trying to find an artistic angle that makes them more interesting or confident. You can get ahead of this concern by engaging in music education when you are still in high school. If you become a musician early in life, you may not fully grasp the value of this, but the fact remains – people who can play a musical instrument at a high level have a depth and an “interesting factor” that others do not. This becomes more pronounced as you get older.

Make Friends, Enjoy a Built-In Community

If you form a band with friends, play in a high school orchestra or band, or sing in a choir, you will make memories and friends. You and your peers will rehearse together, perform in MMBA competitions together, compete for MMEA spots in the orchestra, and grow as musicians. Along the way come many good times (and stressful times), and you have a great opportunity to make friends for life.

Learn Discipline and How to Practice Something

If you end up pursuing a career outside of music, you may need to learn how to perform challenging new tasks at work. You might need to learn a new software program, figure out how to solve a technical problem, or something else. The truth is, if you were able to learn how to play a musical instrument at an advanced level, you can probably learn how to do most other things in adulthood (within the scope of reason).

Playing Don Haddad’s Suite For Tuba, the Barber Violin Concerto, writing songs on the guitar, or doing some other musical exercise is hard, and if you had the discipline to learn a skill of that magnitude, you should feel confident in your ability to learn anything else.

Music is a Gateway Into Interesting Historical Topics

Music history is one of the most fascinating gateways into history at large. Every bit of American musical history has socio-political implications, and whether you’re studying Leonard Bernstein, Amy Beach, or Howlin’ Wolf, you can learn more about the world today by understanding the conditions in which great pieces of music were written.

For a fascinating read, see America’s Musical Life by Richard Crawford.

High School Music and College Acceptance

If you are trying to major in music, high school music obviously helps. You don’t necessarily need to take A.P. Music Theory to get into a college major though, as most music acceptance is reliant on your overall GPA and success in auditions (how good you are in the audition process is usually the most important thing).

But if you are majoring in something else, high school music study can still help you. Musical ensemble membership helps you stand out from your peers (important in university admission), and if you are willing to audition and perform with your college’s orchestra, marching band, wind band, or jazz ensemble, you have an even greater chance of being admitted.

If you would like to get started with music lessons at Soundcheck, you can enroll in our exciting band program, take guitar lessons in Columbia, voice lessons, and more. Get in touch to start lessons today.