MARCH: Did you know that March is Music In Our Schools Month?

It’s a celebration of music education. According to National Day Calendar, “Neuroscientists have discovered when students listen to music, every part of their brain engages. Auditory, visual and motor skills become prominent because the brain accesses the ability to plan, focus and multitask. In fact, students who play instruments are said to give their brain enough exercise that is equivalent to a full-body workout.

“Students who read music are actually performing mathematical calculations that require fractions, ratios, and values to be implemented while playing because reading sheet music is about counting notes. Music also allows students to express emotions, such as joy, sadness, triumph, without needing to find words.”

March is also the month for the Red Cross, Developmental Disabilities Awareness, National Cerebral Palsy Awareness, National Brain Injury Awareness, Endometriosis Awareness, Multiple Sclerosis Awareness, National Colorectal Cancer Awareness, National Kidney, National Trisomy Awareness, National Social Work, Women’s History, and likely more that we’re missing.

On March 7, 150 years ago, Alexander Graham Bell was granted the patent for the telephone.

Ninety years ago, on March 8, the first stock car race was held at Daytona Beach, Fla.

On March 12, 75 years ago, Hank Ketcham’s comic strip Dennis the Menace first appeared in 16 newspapers in the U.S.

From History.com: “March has witnessed some unusual events throughout history. Take March 3, 1876, in Olympia Springs, Kentucky, when hunks of red meat fell from the sky in what became known as the Great Kentucky Meat Shower. “Two gentlemen, who tasted the meat, express the opinion that it was either mutton or venison,” The New York Times reported. The meat was later identified as lung, muscle and cartilage tissue, possibly regurgitated by vultures.”