Why Music?

Music is a Science... It is exact, specific, and it demands precise acoustics.  A conductor's full score is a chart--a graph which indicates frequencies, intensities, volume changes, melody, and harmony all at once and with the most exact control of time.   
Music is Mathematical...  It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of time into fractions, which must be done instantaneously, not worked out on paper.  
Music is a Foreign Language... Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or French; and the notation is certainly not English - but a highly developed kind of shorthand that uses symbols to represent ideas.  The semantics of music is the most complete and universal language. 
Music is History...   Music usually reflects the environment and times of its creation, often even the country and or cultural feeling.
Music is Physical Education...  It requires fantastic coordination of fingers, hands, arms, lip, cheek, and facial muscles in addition to extraordinary control of the diaphragmatic, back, stomach, and chest muscles, which respond instantly to the sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.  
Music develops insight and demands research...  Music is all these things, but most of all,   
Music is Art...  It allows a human being to take all these, dry, technically boring, (but difficult) techniques and use them to create emotion. That is one thing science cannot duplicate


Taken from  "Your Child's Future...with Music!", a brochure printed by United Musical Instruments.

Music in the Brain - MIT

How Music Affects the Brain

This is Your Brain on Music

Music = Better Academic Performance

University of Kansas Research Linking Music Education to Academic Performance

More Research on Link of Music and School Performance 

Music & Wellness - They are Linked

Yamaha Institute - Music & Wellness

Benefits of Active Music Making