Music in the Classroom

I decided quite a while ago that I wanted to study music in the elementary classroom. Music is a huge part of my life, and it has helped me survive all of my education. I think music can be an extremely positive thing for kids, and it makes me sad that it has been so cut out of the elementary curriculum. My biggest problem is I can't decide which aspect of music in the classroom I want to focus on.

I am extremely interested in the connection between music and math. I think it would be really interesting to do a study in which a series of lessons are taught with a music integration, and look at the results. However, I am also interested in the social-emotional effect student engagement with music can have. I know for me personally, music allows me to express emotions that can't necessarily come out verbally, or, for kids, could come out in unkind actions. I think it would be interesting to engage students in musical activities daily and measure their social-emotional reactions. OR, I'm interested in using music as transitional activities.

I have a lot of interest areas, and I'm having a hard time nailing one down. My biggest thing, though, is that I want this to be something where the students are creating the music, not just listening to it. It might be song, rhythm, or actually playing some sort of instrument, but I want to study the effects of creating music, not just repeat the Mozart Effect.