List from National Association for Music Education
Music training in childhood “fundamentally alters the nervous system such that neural changes persist in adulthood after auditory training has ceased.”
Scientific American’s (2010) board of editors asserted, “Studies have shown that assiduous instrument training from an early age can help the brain to process sounds better, making it easier to stay focused when absorbing other subjects, from literature to tensor calculus.”
Hearing the music, honing the mind. (2010). Scientific American, 303(5), 16.
The cognitive structures developed through music instruction “exposed and illuminated more general organizing structures relevant for multiple disciplines.”
The combined results of 12 experimental studies indicate a positive relationship between voluntary music study and math achievement.
Multiple studies indicate that early music instruction is linked to significant improvements in students’ spatial reasoning abilities.
The combined results of 30 studies indicate that music instruction is linked to significantly improved reading skills.
Researchers have found a correlation between three or more years of instrumental music training and enhanced auditory discrimination, fine motor skills, vocabulary, and nonverbal reasoning.
Playing a musical instrument significantly enhances the brainstem’s sensitivity to speech sounds. This relates to encoding skills involved with both music and language.
Children with music training had significantly better verbal memory than those without such training, and the longer the training, the better the verbal memory.
Adults who had trained on a Western musical instrument for at least six years before age 12 had significantly better verbal memories, as demonstrated by a word recall list, than those without any musical training.
On the 2012 SAT, students who participated in music scored an average of 31 points above average in reading, 23 points above average in math, and 31 points above average in writing.
College Board SAT, 2012 College-Bound Seniors: Total Group Profile Report. (See table 18.)
Researchers have demonstrated a strong relationship between individuals who participated in school arts experiences and higher academic success as demonstrated by grade point averages, scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) and math and verbal portions of the SAT exam.
Kelly, S. N. (2012). Fine Arts-Related Instruction’s Influence on Academic Success.
Students in high-quality school music programs score higher on standardized tests compared to students in schools with deficient music education programs, regardless of the socioeconomic level of the school or school district.
After assigning 144 children to keyboard lessons, voice lessons, drama lessons, or no lessons, researchers found that children in the music groups exhibited greater increases on an IQ test than students in the drama lessons or those without lessons.
Schellenberg, E. G. (2004). Music lessons enhance IQ. Psychological Science, 15(8), 511-514.
An analysis of data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 demonstrated a significant correlation between participation in school music groups and achievement in math and English.
First- graders who participated in special music classes as part of an arts study saw their reading skills and math proficiency increase dramatically.
Schools in Texas that have higher levels of student participation in the fine arts receive higher academic ratings and have lower drop out rates.
Schools that have music programs have significantly higher graduation rates than do those without music programs (90.2 percent as compared to 72.9 percent). In addition, those that rate their programs as “excellent or very good” have an even higher graduation rate (90.9 percent).
Schools that have music programs have significantly higher attendance rates than do those without programs (93.3 percent as compared to 84.9 percent).
70% of those who were involved in music say that it was at least somewhat influential in contributing to their current level of personal fulfillment.
Harris Interactive Inc. (2008). MENC Executive Omnibus Results Summary.
Costa-Giomi (2004) investigated the effects of three years of piano instruction on children’s self-esteem. Children in the study were divided into two groups: piano instruction weekly for three years, and no music instruction. Both groups had similar levels of self-esteem at the beginning of the study. The researcher found that the children who completed three years of piano instruction had a significant increase in self-esteem while the children who did not participate in piano instruction or dropped out of piano instruction did not.
Chorus America found that choral singers are far more likely to be involved in charity work, as volunteers and as donors (76 %), than the average person (44% according to a 2001 report by Independent Sector). Choral singers are also more than twice as likely as non-participants to be aware of current events and involved in the political process. They are also twice as likely as the general public to be major consumers of other arts – and not just music.
Students who participate in music groups score significantly higher than their peers on measures of social capital including talking more with parents and teachers.
Jenlink (1993) conducted a qualitative study of a school’s attempts to raise the self-esteem of its at-risk students by emphasizing the school’s music program. The author concluded that the music program lessened students’ feelings of alienation, promoted individual growth, and provided a common bond between the home and the school. Further, participation in the select musical performing group promoted goal attainment, teamwork, leadership, academic achievement, feelings of success, and cultural exposure.