Great question! Assuming you want this information in evaluating preschools (given the topic you assigned the question)....

For music education, here are a few Education.com articles I would recommend for you:

Can Music Help Your Child Learn?
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Can_Music_Help_Learn/

National Standards for Music Education for Four-Year-Olds
http://www.education.com/reference/article/national-standards-music-education-four/

For play-based education, I would recommend these articles:

Are Your Preschoolers Playing Enough at School?
http://www.education.com/magazine/column/entry/Your_Preschoolers_Playing_Enough/

How To Choose a Preschool: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Ed_How_Choose_Preschool_2/

Academic Preschools: Too Much Too Soon?
http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Ed_Academic_Preschools/

Hope you find these above resources helpful. And if assumption about preschool search was incorrect, my apologies.

The article I submitted to examiner.com discusses two primary reasons a child should have music in their education. One is that a basic education that does not have music and art is not basic to a child's needs. Music and the other arts must be considered as "basic" to all children's edcuational needs. Two - research has found that there are two parts to the human mind. These are the left and right hemispheres. Education today, serves only the left (analytcial, linear) hemisphere and neglects the right (complex spatial half). The 3 Rs are not an adequate eduction. What I don't mention my article is the "Mozart effect." This has proven to show that music education has benefits that carry over to the other subjects a child learns in school. So, yes, your child should have access to some kind of music instruction. To put it another way, there is no evidence that shows that music instruction is detrimental to a child's education. Even if there is no increase in study habits, concentration levels, or improved test scores, the child will have a better sense of aesthetic perception - the ability to discern good art/music from bad art/music. It would seem that this would be a basic evaluative skill that everyone would have. Yet, look at what kind of music is most popular with young adults and children today.

<p>You can read two Examiner.com articles on &quot;The Importance of Music Education&quot; by clicking through to one or both of the links below:   </p>
<p>Part One:  http://www.examiner.com/x-4472-Bay-Area-Concerts-Examiner~y2009m3d4-The-importance-of-music-education  </p>
<p>Part Two:  http://www.examiner.com/x-4472-Bay-Area-Concerts-Examiner~y2009m3d7-The-importance-of-music-in-education--part-2</p>;