Music is not only good for your spirits, it's good for your brain too!
There's research proving that studying music is a great workout for the
brain, making kids better thinkers, learners, and test-takers.
The Facts
Why do some children do better in school than others? Because they
make music! Studies have linked active music-making with better math and
language skills, boosts in school grades, and improvements in
"spatial-temporal reasoning," which is the foundation of engineering and
science.
In Newsweek magazine's February 19, 1996, cover story, "Your
Child's Brain," it quoted from research done by Gordon Shaw and
Frances Rauscher at the University of California at Irvine showing that
music education increases a child's learning ability. The big bottom
line is this: Teach kids music, and they'll have better memory,
concentration, and problem-solving skills.
“Making Music Makes You Smarter” is more than a slogan. It’s a fact backed up by numerous scientific studies. Take a look at some
of the exciting findings that show how exposure to music can affect a
child's intelligence from the earliest stages in life:
Preschoolers
- Research shows that music students are better equipped to
comprehend mathematical and scientific concepts. A group of
preschoolers received private piano lessons and singing lessons. A
second group received private computer lessons. Those children who
received piano training performed 34 percent
higher on tests measuring spatial-temporal ability than the others.
“Spatial-temporal” is proportional reasoning –- ratios,
fractions, proportions, and thinking in space and time. This concept
has long been considered a significant obstacle to teaching
elementary math and science.
Elementary grade children
- Music study can help kids understand advanced math concepts. A
grasp of proportional math and fractions is a prerequisite to math at
higher levels. Children who do not master these areas cannot
understand more advanced math critical to high-tech fields. A group of 237 second-grade children were given four months of
piano lessons and time using a newly designed math
computer program. The group scored 27% higher on proportional math and
fractions tests than children who only used the math computer program.
- Young children with developed rhythm skills perform better
academically in early school years. One study showed that students who
achieved academic expectations scored high on all rhythmic
tasks, while many of those who scored lower on the rhythmic test
achieved below academic expectation.
-
Music training helps under-achievers. In Rhode Island, researchers
studied eight public school first-grade classes. Half of the classes
became “test arts” groups, receiving ongoing music and visual arts
training. In kindergarten, this group had lagged in scholastic
performance. After seven months, the students were given a
standardized test. The “test arts” group had caught up to their fellow
students in reading and surpassed their classmates in math by 22
percent. In the second year of the project, the arts students widened
this margin even further.
Secondary school students
-
A ten-year study tracking more than 25,000 students shows that
music-making improves test scores. Regardless of socioeconomic
background, music-making students get higher marks in standardized
tests than those with no music involvement. The test scores studied
were standardized tests, such as the SAT, and reading
proficiency exams.
Pre-university students
- Music can help students get into a better university. In 2001, SAT
takers with coursework/experience in music performance scored 57
points higher on the verbal portion of the test and 41 points higher
on the math portion than students with no coursework/experience in the
arts. And, it appears that the longer you study music, the better you
do in testing.
University students
- Music majors are the most likely group of college grads to be
admitted to medical school. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas
studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He
found that 66 percent of music majors who applied to medical school were
admitted, the highest percentage of any group. For comparison, 44
percent of biochemistry majors were admitted. Also, a study of 7,500
university students revealed that music majors scored the highest
reading scores among all majors, including English, biology, chemistry,
and math.
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