October 31, 2002 — Because most kids drop out of music between grade levels and high school with apparently damaging effects on their math and science scores, Warner Bros. Publications will release a comprehensive K-12 grade music curriculum.

According to Fred Anton (CEO of Warner Bros. Publications), Expressions Music Curriculum will be introduced in Spring 2003 to help counter the fact that even though music participation is part of almost every child's grade-school experience, by the time kids are in high school, only about 12 percent are involved in music programs.

"Students who play music do better in all academic subjects," said Anton. "According to the College Entrance Examination board, music students scored 93 points higher than average on their SATs in 2000."

The U.S. music dropout rate puts the U.S. far behind countries like Japan, England and Germany, where the majority of high school students are involved in music. Some evidence suggests that there could be a connection between the relatively minor role that music plays in our high schools and the lagging performance of American kids on math and science tests compared to their contemporaries in other industrialized nations.

Anton and his management team at Warner Bros. Publications, the world's largest print music publisher, worked with educators to examine why students drop music. Among the reasons they found: a lack of continuity in the music education material.

Expressions Music Curriculum materials treat elementary school music as one unit, middle school as another, and high school as a third. "We believe that linking the student's entire music education under one curriculum will create continuity and lower the music drop out rate."

When this happens, kids will benefit emotionally, and intellectually. After all, some pretty smart people have acknowledged their debt to music. Among them is one who said, "If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music." His name: Albert Einstein.