The Department of Fine Arts at MVSU offers opportunity to study visual art and/or music. Music and visual art students generally discover their talent at an early age and that discovery leads them to desire advance study. At MVSU students may develop and advance their skill sets to become productive in the world of art and music.
In studying visual art one can familiarize oneself with the various perspectives of art historically and presently. You may develop a deeper aesthetic relationship through interaction of peers and teachers as well as explore the reasoning behind the making of art. At MVSU art faculty will engage students in learning the processes and techniques needed to manipulate materials to produce creditable art. You will meet other aspiring artist, which may develop interesting discussion and friendship.
The American Music Council, a non-profit music education advocacy association, offers a document on their website titled “Essential Advocacy Resources for Music.” The document can be found at http://www.amc-music.org/pdf/Essential-Advocacy-Resource.pdf. Here are six quotes from that document, along with their original sources:
A 2000 Georgia Tech study indicates that a student who participates in at least one college elective music course is 4.5 times more likely to stay in college than the general student population.
– Dr. Denise C. Gardner, Effects of Music Courses on Retention, Georgia Tech, 2000
A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reports that music training - specifically piano instruction - is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children’s abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science.
– Dr. Frances Rauscher and Dr. Gordon Shaw, Neurological Research, University of California at Irvine, February, 1997
Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that sixty- six percent (66%) of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. Forty-four percent (44%) of biochemistry majors were admitted.
– “The Case for Music in the Schools,” Phi Delta Kappan, 1994
College students majoring in music achieve scores higher than students of all other majors on college reading exams.
– Carl Hartman, “Arts May Improve Students’ Grades,” The Associated Press, October, 1999
Music students demonstrate less test anxiety and performance anxiety than students who do not study music.
– “College-Age Musicians Emotionally Healthier than Non-Musician Counterparts,” Houston Chronicle, 1998
On the 1999 SAT, music students continued to outperform their non-arts peers, scoring 61 points higher on the verbal portion and 42 points higher on the math portion of the exam.
– Steven M. Demorest and Steven J. Morrison, “Does Music Make You Smarter?,” Music Educators Journal, September, 2000