"And then he winked at me. It was awkward."

Ok,so...

Headed out to the Nova Scotia Music Educator's Conference today. It was actually a pretty good experience...even though I left about half way through to go look for halloween costumes (good little teacher I is). I also ran into one of my ex-vocal coaches today. Back in my first year of my undergrad, he started in the Education program at the same time. We ran in to each other in meal hall one day and he sat and talked to me for awhile. Before he left he offered to "help" me out with anything if I needed it through out the year. Anything at all. And then he winked at me. It was awkward. I hadn't seen him since then until today. He is married and has a kid with another on the way. Awesome. 

Anyway, here are a few interesting facts that I learned today:

"Music majors are the most likely group of college grads to be admitted to medical school."
          - Lewis Thomas, Case for Music in the Schools, Phi Delta Kappa, 1994

"Students who participate in school band or orchestra have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs among any groups in our society."
          - House of Congress, Res. 226, United States Senate, June 13, 2000

"A study of 7,500 university students revealed that music majors scored the highest reading scores among all majors including English, Biology, Chemistry, and Math."
          - The Case for Music in the Schools, Phi Delta Kappa, 1994

"The foremost technical designers and engineers in Silicon Valley (companies like Apple) are almost all practicing musicians."
          - Dee Dickinson, Music and the Mind, 1993

Things worth remembering the next time that someone says music has no place in our schools. 

If music be the food of love, play on, 

- Jenn