Fine Arts

October 27, 2025

This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the October 27, 2025 issue of InsideMPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!

No matter where you are in your school search, a fantastic way to explore MPA is the PreK-12 MPA Preview on Sunday, November 9, at 12:30 PM and the Taste of Ninth Grade that precedes it for prospective ninth-grade families at 11 AM. These engaging events invite your whole family to see why you belong here.

From the moment you step onto campus, you’ll experience the warm, dynamic learning environment that our students thrive in. The Preview also allows you to explore the diverse programs and innovative teaching methods that define the MPA experience. Step into the Makerspace for a world of hands-on exploration, reach new heights on the climbing wall, immerse yourself in cultural celebrations from Latin America, and so much more; explore all of the MPA Preview Experiences here. You’ll not only gain insight into our curriculum, but also connect with the passionate faculty who make MPA so special. Read More

April 29, 2025

At Mounds Park Academy, music is much more than an extracurricular activity. It plays a vital part in a child’s cognitive and emotional development by engaging the brain in ways few other disciplines can. It sharpens memory, strengthens attention, and boosts language skills. But beyond academic growth, music also nurtures empathy, creativity, and social and emotional intelligence through composing, performing, or simply listening. This is why music plays an essential role in Mounds Park Academy’s whole child, progressive, college-preparatory curriculum, PreK through grade 12.

In a time when standardized testing is heavily emphasized and there are rising concerns about math and science scores within our nation, parents might question MPA’s emphasis on arts education. From the school’s founding, our curriculum has reflected an intentional balance between academics and the arts. Through new and emerging research, we now know they were correct.

Cognitive Benefits of Music Education

The Frontiers in Neuroscience article, “How Musical Training Affects Cognitive Development,” states that children exposed to musical training have better verbal memory, language pronunciation and accuracy, reading ability, and executive functions, because of how the brain processes sound. Nina Kraus, author of “Of Sound Mind,” said “People think of the hearing brain as being a silo within the brain. In fact, our hearing engages our cognitive, sensory, motor, and reward systems.” Music learning is so powerful because it engages every one of the above systems into a single activity. Kraus asks us to consider playing the violin. “To play the violin, a student coordinates their motor, cognitive, and sensory system to be able to put their fingers on the correct strings and move the bow at the right time; to read musical notes on a sheet of music and know what sounds they represent; and to hear if the pitches and rhythms are correct and coordinating with other players at the same time,” she goes on to say that this elicits a certain feeling from the student playing the music, which triggers the reward system within the brain. Engaging these different systems makes learning music one of the richest and deepest brain activities humans can perform. Simply put, “Teachers resoundingly tell me that children who participate in creating music do better in school,” Kraus states. Read More