Chittenango Central School District Receives National Recognition for 14th Straight Year

The NAMM Foundation proudly recognizes Chittenango as one of the Best Communities for Music for 2024! This recognition is awarded to school districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in providing music access and education to all students, as well as recognizing the level of community support.

“Our District and community are very supportive of our music program,” says Matthew Stearns, K-12 Music Chairperson, “We are fortunate to offer four strands of music: Band, Choral, Orchestral, and General Music. We are equally fortunate to provide several performing opportunities for all grade levels. Our musicians are frequently selected for All-County ensembles, as well as Area All-State and New York State All-State ensembles.”

“In Chittenango, we believe that all students should have access to music, and that all students can succeed”, says Stearns. “We have a tremendous group of music educators who ensure this.”

The research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music. After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school but also to attend college as well. In addition, everyday listening skills are stronger in musically trained children than those without music training. Significantly, listening skills are closely tied to perceiving speech in a noisy background, paying attention, and keeping sounds in memory. 

Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound; young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and giving and receiving constructive criticism. 

For more information about The NAMM Foundation, please visit nammfoundation.org. Congratulations to the musicians of Chittenango!

(The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit organization supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) and its 15,000 global member companies and individual professionals worldwide. Their mission is to advance active participation in music-making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving, and public service programs).