Director's Choice Foundation For Music Education is a not-for-profit organization that is committed to raising funds for the support of music education and the proliferation of music educators in our schools. The foundation is constantly looking for the funds and means to support current and future music educators.


Director's Choice Foundation For Music Education is dedicated to the support and advancement of music education through scholarships and other worthwhile projects.

• Director's Choice Foundation For Music Education will support band, choir, and orchestra educator training programs across the United States.
• We will seek funding to support music education students.
• We will award scholarships as directed by the Board of Trustees.

Music is an integral part of a well-rounded education. This fact has been recognized from the earliest times of Western Civilization by the great Greek philosophers, later at the beginning of the American School Movement, and has survived, and currently as a result of the cutting-edge scientific studies of today. Leading educators, legislators, and neurological researchers concur that the inclusion of music, at every level, is a must for any educationally sound curriculum.

When Horace Mann set forth his plan for the common school and educational opportunities for all in the mid-19th-century, he encouraged equal attention to methods of teaching. Along with spelling, arithmetic, and physical education, Mann felt that teaching music was just as essential to a proper education and healthy living habits.

Early Greek philosophers, such as Plato and Socrates, believed that music was not only important to a holistic education, but also mandatory:

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything." (Plato, 427 - 347 BC)

According to a Gallup Survey in March of 2003:

• 96% of Americans believe band is a good way to develop teamwork skills
• 95% of Americans feel that music is part of a well-rounded education
• 93% of Americans state that schools should offer music as part of the regular curriculum
• 85% of Americans believe that participating in music yields better grades
• 81% of Americans would be proud to be in the school band or orchestra
• 79% of Americans state that schools should mandate music education
• 88% of Americans feel that music helps teach children discipline

A recent compilation of studies published in the Journal of Aesthetic Education included over 3,000,000 SAT participants and found a "significant relationship between music study and mathematics achievement." The study went on to explain that "students who take music classes in high school are more likely to score higher on standardized mathematics tests such as the SAT." 2

Additional research projects have cited:

• Spatial-temporal reasoning
• Achievement in math
• Achievement in reading
• The reinforcement of social-emotional or behavioral objectives

Letter from US Education Secretary Rod Paige to School Superintendents (July 2004)

"The arts are a core academic subject under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). I believe the arts have a significant role in education both for their intrinsic value and for the ways in which they can enhance general academic achievement and improve students' social and emotional development."

House Concurrent Resolution 355 (Passed US House of Representatives on April 4, 2006)

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that: music education grounded in rigorous instruction is an important component of a well-rounded academic curriculum and should be available to every student in every school.

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