Public and private events would indeed be routine and lifeless without the imaginative appeal of music. The study of music can increase the satisfaction that students derive from music and enable them to deal with more sophisticated and complex music. Formal study of music can sharpen one's sensitivity, raise one's level of appreciation, and expand one's musical horizons. Participation in the music provides all students with the opportunity to develop resources for a rewarding personal life and for positive social interaction. Music provides an ideal focus for lifelong learning and for the worthy use of leisure time in personal and social settings.
Music is one of the most powerful and profound symbol systems that exist.
Just as every student, in the liberal arts tradition, must study our verbal and mathematical symbol systems, so too should students study the symbols represented by music and art. The ability to create symbols and the obsession to use them is what makes us human and for this reason should be cultivated and strengthened at every opportunity. Music, a truly unique symbol system, has enabled human beings to express their loftiest thoughts and feelings about all that makes life worth living love in its myriad forms, religion, patriotism, and nature. An educational program that neglects the rich and powerful system of symbols found in music is barren and incomplete. Music exalts the human spirit.