One of the ideas that I try to disseminate (somewhat in vain, I believe, because it goes against a deeply ingrained cultural notion that says that music is either "fun" or only for the naturally gifted) is that music is academic and useful to everyone.
Music teaches math, including arithmetic and geometry, it teaches coding (deciphering and using a symbolic notation system), it teaches extreme physical coordination (think "Flight of the Bumblebee"), it teaches patience, it teaches emotional development, it teaches us how to work with others to achieve something that we cannot reach individually, and most importantly, to me at least, it teaches people how to spin human emotions and experience, including everything from joy to suffering, into a technicolor brocade that we can share with each other.