March is National Music in Our Schools Month

This map shows high school musical theater productions in area schools during March.  It also highlights those school districts in our region receiving a 2019 Best Communities for Music Education award.

According to the National Association for Music Education, participating in music in childhood leads to a myriad of health benefits: development of language and reasoning, memorization, coordination, emotional development, auditory skills, creative thinking, spatial intelligence, self-confidence—the list goes on!

Researchers at Northwestern University compare the impact of music on the brain to that of physical activity on the body. Musicians have more grey matter volume in areas of the brain related to speech, language, emotion and auditory processing. These benefits transfer to non-musical situations as well, improving learning and memory in general.

Celebrate Music in our Schools Month by attending a show.  Visit the RocHealthData map room to see details about area performances in March, as well as how these award-winning school districts vary by on-time graduation rates and chronic absenteeism.