The Case for Giving

Help OCM make Omaha a more confident, educated, musical, cooperative, healthier, productive, and inclusive community.

The benefits of your gift to the Omaha Conservatory of Music extend far beyond its walls.

Here is what the research shows the kind of music education taught at OCM will produce in Omaha:

More Confident Young Omaha
When music education is delivered at the highest level, participation has been found to catalyze students’ musical, social, and personal growth. (Adderly, Kennedy, and Berz, 2003; Fritz, 2002; et. al.)

Ensemble participation can help students develop a sense of achievement, confidence, and intrinsic motivation. (Hallam & Prince, 2000; et. al.) 

Costa-Giomi (1999) and Harland et al. (2000) found participation in school music ensembles to increase students’ sense of identity and self-esteem, the latter being the “…secret heart of learning.” (Dryden, Vos, 1999; et. al.)

Smarter Omaha
The very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry are, nearly without exception, practicing musicians. (The Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, New York, 1989)

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. (Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, 1997)

Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66% of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. Only 44% of biochemistry majors were admitted. (Phi Delta Kappan, 1994)

In an analysis of U.S. Department of Education data on more than 25,000 secondary school students (NELS:88, National Education Longitudinal Survey), researchers found that students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show “significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12.” This observation holds regardless of students’ socio-economic status, and differences in those who are involved with instrumental music vs. those who are not is more significant over time. (The Imagination Project at UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, 1999)

More Musical Omaha
On average, 74 percent of orchestra ticket buyers have played a musical instrument or performed vocal music as students. (Knight Foundation Report on Orchestra Segmentation, 2002) 

Reduced At-Risk Omaha
An Auburn University study found significant increases in overall self-concept of at-risk children participating in an arts program that included music, movement, dramatics and art, as measured by the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale. (Barry, 1992)

More Cooperative Omaha
Students learn to work both as individuals, as well as active contributors to a group outcome, thus developing a strong sense of belonging. One aspect of this is knowing when to speak and when to listen, and paying attention when focus is elsewhere (learning by observation). (Kokosatki, 2007; et. al.) 

Healthier Omaha
Overall, music making contributes to perceived good health, quality of life, and mental well-being. (Coffman & Adamek, 1999; Kahn, 1998; Vanderark et al., 1983; Wise et al., 1992)

The results show how music contributes to positive ageing by providing ways for people to maintain positive self-esteem, feel competent, independent, and avoid feelings of isolation or loneliness, as well as maintaining their self-identity, and strengthening their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Since physical and mental activity and social connectedness contribute to health, this will also save society money. (Hays, Minichiello, 2005)

Music ensembles can provide senior citizens with a venue to make friends, while intergenerational music activities between children, teenagers, and senior citizens have particular social value. (Bowers, 1998; Darrow et al., 1994; Leitner, 1982)

Choral singing seems to have positive emotional, social, physical, and creative outcomes. (Bailey, Davidson, 2002, 2003; Beck et al., 2000; Clift, Hancox, 2001; Hinkle, 1988; Irish, 1993)

More Productive Omaha
Creativity has become a new core competency in the US economy, an education that develops it is crucial for all students. (Jones, 2003)

Other major national reports on the arts have emphasized their importance in developing a range of transferable skills including those related to creativity and critical thinking. (NACCCE, 1999)

The arts create jobs, increase the local tax base, boost tourism, spur growth in related businesses (hotels, restaurants, printing, etc.) and improve the overall quality of life for our cities and towns. On a national level, nonprofit arts institutions and organizations generate an estimated $37 billion in economic activity and return $3.4 billion in federal income taxes to the U.S. Treasury each year. (American Arts Alliance Fact Sheet, October 1996)

More Inclusive Omaha
Ensemble participation can help dispel prejudicial myths and cultural stereotypes through shared elemental experiences with students from other cultures. (Jones, 2004)

Students can find, in music, a mechanism for directly experiencing what they have in common (feelings, striving, etc.) is far more and more power than the differences they have been taught that separate them from others. (ArtsLab, 2004)

Participating schools were found to benefit from the music program through improved interethnic relation.  Incidents of harassment were reduced and immigrant children with improved self-image were found to find easier acceptance. (Skyllstad, 2000)

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