A STUDY OF EVIDENCE THAT MUSIC EDUCATION IS A POSITIVE FACTOR IN K-8 STUDENT

ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 showed that music participants received more

academic honors and awards than non-music students, and that the percentage of music participants receiving As,

As/Bs, and Bs was higher than the percentage of non-participants receiving those grades

A McGill University study found that pattern recognition and mental representation scores improved significantly

for students given piano instruction over a three-year period. They also found that self-esteem and musical skills

measures improved for the students given piano instruction. — Costa-Giomi, E. (1998, April). The McGill Piano

Project: Effects of three years of piano instruction on children's cognitive abilities, academic achievement, and selfesteem.

Paper presented at the meeting of the Music Educators National Conference, Phoenix, AZ.

Source Date: 2003-01-02

UCLA professor of education James Catterall is interested in the relationship between music and overall academic

achievement. In particular, he was interested in what happens with the students of lower socioeconomic status who

took music lessons in grades 8-12, compared to similar students who took no music lessons. First, the students who

took music increased their math scores significantly as compared to the nonmusic control group. But just as

important, reading, history, geography and even social skills soared by 40 percent. Music-making not only supports

the development of math skills, but of all skills, for all kinds of students (Catterall et al., 1999).

(

Students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school

years show significantly higher levels of mathematical proficiency by grade 12. This observation holds both

generally and for low socioeconomic status students as a subgroup. In addition, absolute differences in measured

mathematics proficiency between students consistently involved versus not involved in instrumental music grew

significantly over time. -- James Catterall, Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga, "Involvement in the Arts and

Human Development."

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. 44

percent of biochemistry majors were admitted. (As reported in Phi Delta Kappa.)

"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." Business Week, October 1996.

In "Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning," the contributors highlight some of the "take-home"

messages about arts: 1. The arts reach students not ordinarily reached, in ways not normally used. This keeps tardies

and truancies and, eventually, dropouts down. 2. Students connect to each other better - greater camaraderie, fewer

fights, less racism, and reduced use of hurtful sarcasm. 3. It changes the environment to one of discovery. This can

re-ignite the love of learning in students tired of being filled up with facts. 4. Arts provide challenges for students at

all levels, from delayed to gifted. It's a class where all students can find their own level, automatically. 5. Arts

connect learners to the world of real work where theater, music, and products have to appeal to a growing consumer

public. 6. Students learn to become sustained, self-directed learners, not a repository of facts from direct instruction

for the next high-stake test. 7. Students of lower socioeconomic status gain as much or more from arts instruction

than those of higher socioeconomic status. This suggests the gifted programs need to expand their targets.

"Music education can be a positive force on all aspects of a child's life, particularly on their academic success. The

study of music by children has been linked to higher scores on the SAT and other learning aptitude tests, and has

proven to be an invaluable tool in classrooms across the country. Given the impact music can have on our children's

education, we should support every effort to bring music into their classrooms." Jeff Bingaman - U.S. Senator, New

Mexico

"The term ‘core academic subjects’ means English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign

languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography." — No Child Left Behind Act of 2002,

Title IX, Part A, Sec. 9101 (11)

Researchers found that children given piano lessons significantly improved in their spatial- temporal IQ scores

(important for some types of mathematical reasoning) compared to children who received computer lessons, casual

singing, or no lessons. — Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L., Levine, L.J., Wright, E.L., Dennis, W.R., and Newcomb, R.

(1997) Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial temporal reasoning.

Neurological Research, 19, 1-8.

The arts enhance the process of learning. The systems they nourish, which include our integrated sensory,

attentional, cognitive, emotional, and motor capacities, are, in fact, the driving forces behind all other learning. That

doesn't mean that one cannot learn without the arts; many have. The arts, however, provide learners with

opportunities to simultaneously develop and mature multiple brain systems, none of which are easy to assess

because they support processes that yield cumulative results. It may be more important to value the nonacademic

benefits of the arts. Why be sheepish about the possibility that the arts may promote self-discipline and motivation?

What's embarrassing about countless other art benefits that include aesthetic awareness, cultural exposure, social

harmony, creativity, improved emotional expression, and appreciation of diversity? Aren't these the underpinnings

of a healthy culture?

"Casals says music fills him with the wonder of life and the ‘incredible marvel’ of being a human. Ives says it

expands his mind and challenges him to be a true individual. Bernstein says it is enriching and ennobling. To me,

that sounds like a good cause for making music and the arts an integral part of every child’s education. Studying

music and the arts elevates children’s education, expands students’ horizons, and teaches them to appreciate the

wonder of life." — U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, July 1999.

When a child learns, by experience, that music forges direct links between self and world, self-expression becomes

more fluent; the music helps interpret "who I am." The child who is taught how to create music is also learning

something significant about his or her innate creativity. As a child begins to understand the connection between

hours of practice and the quality of a performance, self-discipline becomes self-reinforcing. It is only a short jump

from that realization to making the connection between self-discipline and performance in life. --From Growing up

Complete, the 1990 report of the National Commission on Music Education

"Music is about communication, creativity, and cooperation, and, by studying music in school, students have the

opportunity to build on these skills, enrich their lives, and experience the world from a new perspective." — Bill

Clinton, former President, United States of America

In the Kindergarten classes of the school district of Kettle Moraine, Wisconsin, children who were given music

instruction scored 48 percent higher on spatial-temporal skill tests than those who did not receive music training. —

Rauscher, F.H., and Zupan, M.A. (1999). Classroom keyboard instruction improves kindergarten children's spatialtemporal

performance: A field study. Manuscript in press, Early Childhood Research Quarterly.

A University of California (Irvine) study showed that after eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers showed a

46% boost in their spatial reasoning IQ. — Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Ky and Wright, "Music and Spatial Task

Performance: A Causal Relationship," University of California, Irvine, 1994

Researchers found that lessons on songbells (a standard classroom instrument) led to significant improvement of

spatial-temporal scores for three- and four-year-olds. — Gromko, J.E., and Poorman, A.S. (1998) The effect of

music training on preschooler's spatial-temporal task performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, 46, 173-

181.

Researchers in Leipzig found that brain scans of musicians showed larger planum temporale (a brain region related

to some reading skills) than those of non-musicians. They also found that the musicians had a thicker corpus

callosum (the bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two halves of the brain) than those of non-musicians,

especially for those who had begun their training before the age of seven. — Schlaug, G., Jancke, L., Huang, Y., and

Steinmetz, H. (1994). In vivo morphometry of interhem ispheric assymetry and connectivity in musicians. In I.

Deliege (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3d international conference for music perception and cognition (pp. 417-418).

Liege, Belgium.

MUSIC IMPROVES VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT Four groups of children aged six to nine years, who were

experiencing reading difficulties, participated in a program involving listening to music. There were improvements

in learning new words. The findings suggest that music may be an effective learning medium for aspects of language

development, especially for students with reading problems. [source: Bygrave, P.L. (1995-1996). Development of

receptive vocabulary skills through exposure to music. Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education no.

127, Winter, pg. 28-34] -- from To The Point, Norman M. Weinberger

In a study conducted by Dr. Timo Krings, pianists and non-musicians of the same age and sex were required to

perform complex sequences of finger movements. Their brains were scanned using a technique called "functional

magnetic resource imaging" (fMRI) which detects the activity levels of brain cells. The non-musicians were able to

make the movements as correctly as the pianists, but less activity was detected in the pianists’ brains. Thus,

compared to non-musicians, the brains of pianists are more efficient at making skilled movements. These findings

show that musical training can enhance brain function. — Weinberger, Norm. "The Impact of Arts on Learning."

MuSICa Research Notes 7, no. 2 (Spring 2000). Reporting on Krings, Timo et al. "Cortical Activation Patterns

during Complex Motor Tasks in Piano Players and Control Subjects. A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Study." Neuroscience Letters 278, no. 3 (2000): 189-93.

Good pitch discrimination benefits learning to read by enhancing the second, phonemic stage of learning. Pitch

change of verbal word components (formants) is thought to be the most important factor in conveying word

information. The relationship to music education is straightforward, because such training invariably involves

improvement in pitch discrimination. --From Music and Cognitive Achievement in Children by Norman M.

Weinberger

SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM INVOLVING MUSIC YIELDS INTELLECTUAL AND SOCIAL

BENEFITS Many studies of music in the school curriculum focus on potential improvements in scholastic subjects,

neglecting other important aspects of personal and social development. Roberta Konrad of UCLA has found both

types of benefits in the same classroom setting. Seventh and eighth grade students in Los Angeles were involved in a

social studies curriculum involving music and other arts. Compared to control classes having standard curricula, she

found higher achievement grades in history, and also significant increases in positive social behaviors, including

helping and sharing, increases in empathy for others, and beneficial attitudes including reduced prejudice and

racism. Teachers also found that students were less aggressive. Thus music integrated into 7th and 8th grade social

studies is now linked to both better subject performance and better social behaviors and attitudes. [source: Konrad,

R.R. (2000), Empathy, Arts and Social Studies, Dissertation Abs.: Human. & Soc. Sci., 60, pg 2352] -- from To The

Point, Norman M. Weinberger

At what age should children be introduced to various kinds of music lessons? It depends partly on the maturity of

the child. In general, children at age 3 are ready for simple keyboard practice. Suzuki violin practice begins at age 3

for some children, 4 for others. Children will often be out of tune, but that's fine at this age. Some children are ready

for kazoos; others are ready for the wind instrument called a recorder. Young children's brains are forging novel

neural networks and need a high amount of exposure to a wide variety of sounds. To keep it fun, parents should

model playing music, and it should be a social experience.

Researchers at the University of Montreal used various brain imaging techniques to investigate brain activity during

musical tasks and found that sight-reading musical scores and playing music both activate regions in all four of the

cortex's lobes; and that parts of the cerebellum are also activated during those tasks. — Sergent, J., Zuck, E., Tenial,

S., and MacDonall, B. (1992). Distributed neural network underlying musical sight reading and keyboard

performance. Science, 257, 106-109.

Playing a musical instrument reshapes the brain. This doesn’t mean it actually changes the overall shape of the brain

but rather that coordinated use of the fingers can alter the brain’s ability to distinguish touch input from different

fingers on the same hand. To appreciate this fact, and its astounding implications, we need to understand how the

brain normally processes touch (tactile) input from the skin. Briefly, different parts of the body surface send

information to different parts of the somatosensory system, which is concerned with touch. Adjacent places on the

skin project their information to adjacent places in the brain, resulting in a "map" of the body inside the brain. One

can find a "map" of the hand and its individual digits, with neighboring brain cells receiving information from

neighboring fingers. -- from What the Brain Tells us About Music: Amazing Facts and Astounding Implication

Revealed, Norman M. Weinberger