Music’s Positive Effect on School Mental Health

Caring for the person inside of the kid in the back of the class, and the teacher with five preps every day, and the administrator who is trying to stay within a budget that counts the number of pencils each teacher receives, has become a concern for everyone and a responsibility for many. And like the wide variety of people who inhabit school buildings every day in multiple ways, what’s needed is not a singular answer or a comprehensive approach. It takes effort from everyone, each in their own way, each using their own set of skills, abilities and talents.

Those efforts are being made every day in schools across the country. They are being made by administrators, faculty, staff, parents, supporters, boosters and the students themselves. Their effect on the mental health of the individual, the group or the whole school can be immediate, delayed short-term or life-long, but they all have an effect.

Music can be one of those ways. The sharing of music, the universal language, through any means possible, can have a positive effect on a school population’s mental health. It can be shared personally or impersonally, by one person to another or to the entire school community. Music can be used by a single person, and it can be provided in any setting without any musical ability or talent. Its value in improving the day is not limited to the recipient, but it also affects the person(s) who provided the tunes, often in equal measure. What is needed is more opportunities for music to provide this lift.

The positive effects of music on a school climate can be seen every day in the school’s music program. The students and staff making music are being invigorated and, more often than not, doing so with others in group sizes ranging from two to 2,000.

Despite the frustrations every musician feels while practicing alone, all the way to rehearsing in an ensemble, creates a positive feeling. They are frustrated by the challenges of the music as it is matched by their current skill and talent level, but they know that their skill level can and will improve, and give them the tools to properly perform a specific piece of music. Musicians do this for their own selves, working hard to make the music they play more meaningful to them, closer to what the composer intended. That connection is what allows music to be such a positive force in every performer’s life.

However, sharing that connection is what really lifts a musician’s spirits. It is hard to describe the feeling a person has when he or she performs a piece of music for an appreciative audience and performs it well. Performing music stimulates the entire brain, the entire body of the musician, producing endorphins, the human body’s ‘feel good’ drug. However, it also does much the same for the audience – those listeners who engage in the music through the simple act of listening and thinking of nothing else.

Music connects us to one another at an emotional level and even when those emotions are sad, the emotions help one feel more human, a positive in a world often full of negatives. Add in the visuals of watching the performer, the toe tapping, the thought process that a musical phrase, mood or effect brings to mind, and the audience members become connected to the performers in ways that few activities offer. The live performance of music improves a school climate for everyone.

A school’s music program is certainly the first place to look to help create those opportunities, but should not be the only nor the last. Just as society turns to music at times of celebration, commemoration, renewal and grief, schools do the same. Sports team warm up to their favorite tunes, students listen to tunes whenever they have a chance, teachers play music during their prep periods, student councils schedule dances and proms and pep rallies and award celebrations, all with a musical prelude, background or postlude.

Music is in our lives on a daily basis because everyone enjoys hearing music. And along with the endorphins, the toe tapping, the dance moves, come memories. The most popular radio channels on satellite radio are those that include music from one or more generations – favorites of those from 6 to 86.

Schools, in their efforts to support student, staff and faculty mental health should include music in their overall approach. Finding ways to share live or recorded music within the building, before, during and after school hours, even in small amounts, will help. Inspiring music in the hallways before first period, relaxing music in the background during study halls or work time, live performances by school groups or student-organized ones at gatherings, events, just because after-school all will contribute to that effort.

Even if just one person feels better about themselves, their lives, their current path, their day, it is worth the effort. Music is a part of every culture on earth and a part of every culture’s recorded history going back to the beginning. What we preserve indicates what we cherish. We know our history, but we save our music (and art). Why not make sure it continues to be connected to the human experience by including it in our educational efforts? Doesn’t everyone sing in the shower?

Steffen Parker is a retired music educator, event organizer, maple sugar maker, and Information Technology specialist from Vermont who serves as the Performing Arts/Technology representative on the NFHS High School Today Publications Committee. He received the NFHS Citation Award in 2017 and the Ellen McCulloch- Lovell Award in Arts Education in 2021.