Benefits of Music
Music & Intellectual Ability
- Young children who received a year of musical training showed brain changes and superior memory compared with children who did not receive the instruction. (Fujioka, T., Ross, B., Kakigi, R., Pantev, C., And Trainor, L., Brain, A Journey of Neurology; Oxford University Press, Sept. 2006)
- The study revealed that students who participated in music lessons showed statistically higher intelligence quotients. (Glenn Schellenberg, Music Lessons Enhance IQ, Psychological Science, Vol. 15, No. 8, 2004)
- 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. (The Case for Music in the Schools, Phi Delta Kappa, 1994)
Music & Language
- Early musical training helps develop brain areas involved in language and reasoning. It is thought that brain development continues for many years after birth. Recent studies have clearly indicated that musical training physically develops the part of the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language. (Quoted from Children’s Music Workshop website)
- Music can make the learning process easier, aids the learning of language. (Quoted from Excel-ability Learning website)
Music & Math
- Children who have received music instruction scored higher marks on tests of their spatial and arithmetic skills. (Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L., Levine, L.J., Wright, E.L., Dennis, W.R., and Newcomb, R., Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial temporal reasoning, 1997)
- There is also a causal link between music and spatial intelligence (the ability to perceive the world accurately and to form mental pictures of things (Quoted from Children’s Music Workshop website)
- Music listening has been shown to increase spatial-temporal reasoning (the kind of reasoning used in higher levels of math and science). (Quoted from Excel-ability Learning website)
Music & Academic Improvement
- Middle school and high school students who participated in instrumental music performances scored significantly higher than their non-band peers in standardized tests. (University of Sarasota Study, Jeffrey Lynn Kluball; East Texas State University Study, Daryl Erick Trent)
- Music training helps under-achievers. Students lagging behind in scholastic performance caught up to their fellow students in reading and surpassed their classmates in math by 22% when given music instruction over seven months. (Nature, May 23, 1996)
- A study examined the influence of music education on nonmusical abilities, the effects of music lessons on academic performance, and cognitive abilities. (Glenn Schellenberg, Music Lessons Enhance IQ, Psychological Science, Vol. 15, No. 8, 2004)
- Recent studies show that students who study the arts are more successful on standardized tests such as the SAT. They also achieve higher grades in high school. (Quoted from Children’s Music Workshop website)
- High school music students have been shown to hold higher grade point averages (GPA) than non-musicians in the same school. (National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1998)
- 78% of Americans feel learning a musical instrument helps students perform better in other subjects. (Gallup Pool, “American Attitudes Toward Music,” 2003)
- A significant positive correlation has been shown between music study and increased math, science, reading, history and SAT scores. (Quoted from Excel-ability Learning website)
- In 2001, students participating in music scored higher on the SATs than students with no arts participation. (College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001)
Music & Non-Intellectual Ability
- A Columbia University study revealed that students in the arts are found to be more cooperative with teachers and peers, more self-confident and better able to express their ideas. (Burton, J., Horowitz, R., Abeles, H. Champions of Change, Arts Education Partnership, 1999)
- With music in schools, students connect to each other better – greater camaraderie, fewer fights, less racism and reduced use of hurtful sarcasm. (Jensen, E., Arts with the Brain in Mind, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001)
- A study of rural and urban inner-city schools found that arts programs helped schools in economically disadvantaged communities develop students’ critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. (Stevenson, L., Deasy, R., Third Space: When Learning Matters, AEP, 2005)
- Music study enhances teamwork skills and discipline. In order for an orchestra to sound good, all players must work together harmoniously towards a single goal, the performance, and must commit to learning music, attending rehearsals, and practicing. (Quoted from Children’s Music Workshop website)
- A study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other cultures and teaches them to be empathetic towards the people of these cultures. This development of compassion and empathy, as opposed to development of greed and a "me first" attitude, provides a bridge across cultural chasms that leads to respect of other races at an early age. (Quoted from Children’s Music Workshop website)
- Students of the arts learn to think creatively and to solve problems by imagining various solutions, rejecting outdated rules and assumptions. Questions about the arts do not have only one right answer. (Quoted from Children’s Music Workshop website)
Music & Life
- Nine out of ten adults and teenagers who play instruments agree that music making brings the family closer together. (Music Making and Our Schools, American Music Conference, 2000)
- Students who participate in school band or orchestra have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs among any group in our society. (H. Con. Res. 266, United States Senate, June 13, 2000)
Future Career
- The skills gained through sequential music instruction, including discipline and the ability to analyze, solve problems, communicate and work cooperatively, are vital for success in the 21st century workplace. (U.S. House of Representatives, Concurrent Resolution 355, March 6, 2006)
- The nation’s top business executives agree that arts education programs can help repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st Century. (The Changing Workplace is Changing Our View of Education, BusinessWeek, October 1996)
- Music study develops skills that are necessary in the workplace. It focuses on "doing," as opposed to observing, and teaches students how to perform, literally, anywhere in the world. Employers are looking for multi-dimensional workers with the sort of flexible and supple intellects that music education helps to create as described above. In the music classroom, students can also learn to better communicate and cooperate with one another. (Quoted from Children’s Music Workshop website)
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