‘Schoolhouse Rock’: Music as a valuable tool for learning

How many representatives and senators in Springfield and Washington, D.C., got their first taste of the legislative process from a cartoon scroll singing about it on Saturday morning TV?

How many kids were eased through math class by learning multiplication tables with a melody? Is it possible to recite the preamble to the Constitution without hearing that song in your head?

Those of us in our 50s and 60s learned a lot about math, language, government and the sciences in three-minute bursts of animated musical numbers amid the desolate landscape of Saturday morning cartoons.

“Schoolhouse Rock” began 50 years ago and ran seven years with seasons devoted to math, then grammar, all things America (coinciding with the Bicentennial) and science.

“Conjunction Junction,” for instance, had a profound effect on many.

These shorts were so ubiquitous and catchy that they stuck, many of them for half a century.

The genius behind them was an advertising executive named David McCall, whose young son had difficulty memorizing multiplication tables but had no trouble remembering the lyrics to popular music.

“Three is a Magic Number” was the first short to air, and it illustrated multiples of three, from one to 10.

Those who dismiss music instruction in school as “extra” might not know the powerful role music plays in the formation of and recall of our memories.

A 2021 article in “Psychology Today” talks about how our long-term memory is broken into two types: explicit and implicit.

Explicit memory is textbook learning that must consciously be brought into awareness. It fades as our ability to recall things does.

But implicit memory is automatic. Music creates it.

You might not know the lyrics to a whole song, but you have no problem remembering them as you hear it and sing along. Musical memories endure, living on in the unconscious mind. Even people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease tend to remember music.

“Schoolhouse Rock” was and remains a shared learning experience. ABC recently aired an anniversary show, with famous people singing their favorite bits.

Sure, our parents came up with little ditties to help us remember our phone numbers when we were kids, because that was the only way to make them stick.

Some of us would never have learned the Lord’s Prayer had Prince never sung it start to finish in his 1981 song “Controversy.”

Do you think you could remember the names of 90 places around the country and world – in order – without the aid of Johnny Cash singing “I’ve Been Everywhere Man”?

The “Schoolhouse Rock” shorts have had a profound effect on generations of us.

Whether you’re learning to play music or you’re learning through music, your brain will thank you later on.

The Daily Herald

https://www.dailyherald.com/discuss/20230210/daily-herald-opinion-music-as-a-valuable-tool-for-learning