The Musiconomy Manifesto
The Musiconomy is an
educational philosophy. It’s an applicable method that strives for greatness in
academic, financial, and productive achievement.
The philosophy maintains that musical training, and all the bi-products of learning how to play a musical instrument, to read music, and to develop aural skills, accelerates the development of cognition. Since musical training develops both the left and right hemispheres of the brain, there are bi-products or benefits to developing musical skills, such as improved abilities in math, science, and reading literacy. Other benefits include non-academic skills such as emotional and social intelligence, which are essential to success in developing and maintaining personal and business relationships. Personal and business relationships are certainly part of the economic prosperity equation. Other skills that develop as a result of musical training are discipline, concentration, critical thinking, and desire for improvement. As the pace of society continues to accelerate technologically, these skills will be essential for education, development, and simply making sense out of a growing chaos. The philosophy of The Musiconomy is that musical training, when applied as part of an educational curriculum, will not only improve academic achievements, but also improve the chance for future economic success. Though there are always exceptions, education is a necessary driver for economic prosperity. Musical training as part of a curriculum during early education stages, elementary and high schools years, improves the absorption of benefits that an education provides. It has been scientifically proven, with countless studies that musical training not only improves test scores for students, but that all developed countries with the highest scores overall, implement some form of music education into their curriculums. The students with the highest capabilities in math, science, and reading literacy, are more likely to become productive contributors to society and advancing modernity. This idea of contributing to society as active members implies that something new must be produced. The advancement of society, the expansion of knowledge of the world, has always been made possible by two synergistic elements: education and imagination. Or otherwise called learning and creativity. This is where musical training becomes a unique element, in that it accelerates the cognitive ability to both learn and to create. There has always been a place in free societies for educated and creative people. There will always be a need for such people so long as society maintains personal freedom and prosperity. If it is true that there will always be a need for the educated and the creative, then economic opportunities will be available. If there is no such need, the economy is dead. As we move forward into the future, we are seeing a new world economy developing that is fiercely competitive. The best minds in the world are competing to develop the best products. Workers with the lowest compensation are manufacturing more and more goods in the world. The best jobs in the world are being given to the most skilled people. It is even likely that people will change careers more than twice in their lifetime due to the relentless shifting of demand in the world economy. A diverse portfolio of skill sets will be necessary to cope and ultimately prosper in this new world economy. It is not sufficient to be excellent in only one skill. Therefore, the mind must develop several skill sets and with a flexibility to adapt to new environments that will require deliberate learning outside of what is already known. In this way, prosperity is likely. The U.S Economy in particular, has been cutting spending in arts education for years and has placed less emphasis on the importance of it. This is because music is seen as an “extra-curricular” activity and that there is no relationship between “necessary skills” with math, science, and reading. This is wrong and irrational since there is strong evidence of the contrary. The Musiconomy supports government funding in arts education, but does not rely on it. Instead, The Musiconomy calls for action and involvement of parents and teachers to deliberately seek musical training for their children and students outside of the school system. In order to compete with the rest of the world in the new economy, we must develop and culture the most productive and creative minds in the world. The Musiconomy is the bridge between mind and matter. This advocates the fact that musical training develops intelligent and adaptive minds that imagine, create, and produce “matter.” To produce “matter,” means to produce something that is tangible and useable for society. Without creation and production, an economy will stagnate and collapse. The Musiconomy is a way to develop intelligent minds, to compete for excellence, and to revive the vision of a prosperous future. |
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