Welcome to the web home of the Vineyard Junior High School Band Program

Please look at the calendars section of this site for recent updates

The Vineyard Viking Bands have performed all over the Inland Empire and have received numerous awards, having participated in Concert Band festivals (both local and regional), Jazz Band Festivals, and having placed students in both the San Bernardino County Honor Band, and the prestigious All-Southern California Honor Band.

WHY TAKE BAND?

Many parents and students mistakenly believe that learning an instrument has little value beyond the product of creating music. Research has continually shown that studying music, specifically, learning to play an instrument, enhances one's intelligence in many different areas, especially mathmatics and science.

--A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science.

"Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning"

Source: Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb. Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February, 1997

--"Music students score higher on the SAT. Students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation."

Source: College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.

--"Music participants receive more academic honors and awards than non-music students. The percentage of music participants receiving As, A/Bs, and Bs is higher than the percentage of non-participants receiving those grades."

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Washington , D.C.

--"The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling, training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have great payoff for lifelong attention skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression."

Source: Ratey, John J., MD. A User's Guide to the Brain. NY: Pantheon Books, 2001.

WHY WE LEARN MUSIC

Music is Mathematics:

Music uses a universally known vocabulary of symbols, based on mathematics. Pitches (notes) are identified by their sound frequency, their duration is indicated by fractions (half-note, quarter note, etc.) Beat is organized according to recurring patterns of numbers. Harmony is based on mathematical contructs.

Music is Language:

Musicians must acquire terminology in several languages, mostly Italian, Latin, French and German. Nearly all terms related to speed (tempo), loudness, and expression, are indicated in foreign languages. Reading music enhances reading skills as musicians read notation as one reads language: left-to-right. A musical line or passage corresponds in structure to written sentences and paragraphs. Its content demands the samee sensitivity as the natural flow of written language.

Music is Science:

All music is founded on mathematical/scientific principles. Musical notes are based on the overtone series-naturally occurring acoustical phenomenon that is the basis for tuning, harmony, and the way in which all instruments are constructed. In the Medieval period, the overtone series in music was used to demonstrate such mathematiical principels as proportion and ratios. Music allowed early scientists to actually hear a sound produced by one-half, one-third, one quarter, etc. Every time a child places his fingers on a fingerboard or key of an instrument, he is playing a series of ratios that are perceived as sounds or notes.

Music is Social Studies:

Music reflects culture. Great works of music by such composers as Mozart or Beethoven are a product of the societies in which they lived. When we learn about these composers, we also learn about their time periods and what influenced them. All cultures have some form of musical expression. Through music, we can learn about ancient history, folk cultures, exotic places, and how people in diffrent parts of the world view their own lives in the world.

Music is Art:

Through music, we learn to become responsive to feelings, emotions, to recognize beauty, and to be more compassionate. Music teaches us patience, to become more expressive, and to enjoy life. What if there was no music in our lives? Music teaches us what it is to be human, how we are different from other creatures on the Earth. Music is something we can play and enjoy not only in school but throughout our entire lives.