Fringe Benefits

Often times, when I’m reading up on music organizations, I come across language about how studying music helps with other things, how musical practice has certain “fringe benefits” in language development, or math, or cognitive skills, or fine motor skills, or whatever else.

I actually have no idea if these fringe-benefit statements are true. Probably, I guess. But more to the point, I’ve always felt a little dirty after reading them. It’s as if they’re insinuating that music’s only value is as a supplement to the really important things in life, like math.

It seems to me that music should be enough. That musicing together should be enough. That creating should be enough. That listening and wondering should be enough. That joy and play should be enough. That music can be important, just as music for music’s sake.