Holbrook Indian School
A Seventh-day Adventist Boarding Academy Serving Native American Youth since 1946
Music Enrichment Experience Taking Music Education on the Road By Katie Freeland Pictured from left: Charles, Skylar, Adrienna, NAU student wind chamber ensemble, Maribel, Fawn, Molika, Cherie, and Marklynn meet at the ensemble’s performance.
“Where words fail, music speaks.”
Hans Christian Andersen
I
n late April, as orchestral music drifted through the cool Flagstaff air and into the ears of students from Holbrook Indian School (HIS), staff and students alike felt deep gratitude for the opportunity the Music Enrichment Experience program had given them. This was the third and final trip of the school year for the program. Thanks to Friends of HIS who made the trip possible, students were able to enjoy a wide variety of recitals and concerts from the Northern Arizona University (NAU) School of
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Music. These included voice, oboe, cello, piano, and a wind chamber concert featuring clarinets, oboes, flute, bassoon, bass clarinet, French horn, and a string quartet. “Research has found that learning music facilitates learning other subjects and enhances skills that children inevitably use in other areas.”1 This holds true for listening to music as well. “Students who listened to a one-hour lecture where classical music was played in the background scored significantly higher in a quiz
on the lecture when compared to a similar group of students who heard the lecture with no music.”2 It’s speculated that because the music put the students into a heightened emotional state, they were more receptive to information. Classical music has been shown to improve brain function, lessen anxiety, increase feelings of relaxation, and even help soothe insomnia. These are all benefits that hard-working students can profit from, and HIS students did so by going on three Musical Enrichment
