The purpose of this study was to examine relationships between school music participation and a composite measure of academic achievement in American schools. The authors examined the first (baseline) year of a longitudinal study commissioned by the National Center for Education Statistics, conducted in 1988 (NELS:88/94 Data Analysis system, with Additional Systems for High School and Beyond and the National Longitudinal Study of 1972, NCES, 1996). The data set contains information on more than 23,000 American middle school students, and is thought to be representative of the national as a whole.

Several previous researchers employing causal modeling techniques have found relationships between extracurricular activities and education attainment as measured by standardized academic achievement tests. In music, students with school band and orchestra experience make significantly higher grades in high school mathematics, English, and social science than do non-performing students, and instrumental music instruction seems to improve scores on tests of spatial-temporal ability, which is thought to correlate with ability in mathematics.

The present study confirmed previous findings on relationships among music participation and academic achievement. Significantly more students in school music choral or instrumental groups ranked above the 50th percentile in academic grades than did other students (p < .05). For instrumental students, these results held true for all four socioeconomic quartiles, for both boys and girls, and for all races/ethnicities. For choral students, only students in the third and fourth quartiles and Caucasian students ranked significantly higher than other students.

The first part of this paper provides an overview of some important historic theories of education and their influences on music education. The second part deals with two specific theories related to music education, both from the late twentieth century. The paper presents some insights into the effects of these theories on the practice of music education (praxis). The important historic theories of education with implications for education and music education discussed in this paper are:

1. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, published in 1759.
2. Jean Jacques Rousseau's concepts of childhood, published in 1762.
3. Henrich Pestalozzi's theory on the sequencing of instruction, published (variously) in 1810.  
4. G. Stanley Hall's theories of child development stages, especially his construct of adolescence (1880s). 
5. Education theories of John Dewey and other leaders of the progressive education movement.
6. Jean Piaget's theories of childhood development stages.

The influences of these theories on music education praxis are discussed largely as a group. The two theories of music education discussed in this paper are:

1. Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory.
2. Albert LeBlanc's theory of music preference.

Both these theories are illustrated and their influences on music education praxis are discussed separately.

Text of paper presented at the first conference of the Greek Society for Music Education, held in Thessaloniki, Greece on June 26-28, 1998. It was one of a pair of papers presented as the Honor Guest Lecturer Addresses (the other being "Music Education in the U.S.A.: An Overview"). This item includes the English and Greek translations of the work. 

This paper describes the evolution of music in American public schools and universities. Included are some statistics on the number of elementary, middle, and high schools that offer each type of music instruction, including band, choir, orchestra, and music for general students. Also included are some discussions on the evolution of university music programs. The paper concludes with a description of the new national voluntary standards for music education, and some assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of American music education programs. 

This was part of a pair of papers presented as the Honor Guest Lecturer Addresses (the other being "Music Education Research in the U.S.A.: An Overview"). This item includes the English and Greek translations of the work.