Music educators have always believed that a child’s cognitive, motivational, and communication skills are more highly developed when exposed to music training. Now, study after study proves that music instruction is essential to children’s overall education because it improves their academic performance. The positive effects of music education are finally being recognized by science, verifying what music teachers have always suspected.

1. MUSIC EDUCATION IMPROVES
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Dr. Richard Ellis,
Fayetteville State University
and
JML Piano

2. MUSIC EDUCATION IMPROVES
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Music educators have always believed that a
child’s cognitive, motivational, and
communication skills are more highly
developed when exposed to music training.
Now, study after study proves that music
instruction is essential to children’s overall
education because it improves their
academic performance. The positive effects
of music education are finally being
recognized by science, verifying what music
teachers have always suspected.

3. MUSIC EDUCATION IMPROVES
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Since the dawn of civilization, music has been an
integrated part of a child's education, as everyone has
realized the potential that sounds have in shaping the
mind of a young pupil. In most countries in the world
today, music lessons are still offered in schools as
part of the basic curricula, along with sports and
drawing. The Ancient Greeks recognized the
importance of all these activities being performed
alongside mathematics and physics, because they
complemented each other.

4. MUSIC EDUCATION IMPROVES
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Many studies have been performed to examine the affect of
musical instruction on the brain. For example, researchers
at the University of Munster, Germany, (1998) reported that
music lessons in childhood actually enlarge the brain. The
auditory cortex is enlarged by 25% in musicians compared
to those who have never played an instrument. According to
the study by Frances Rauscher of the University of
California, Irvine, (1997) links between neurons in the brain
are strengthened with music lessons. Dr. Frank Wilson’s
study (1989) involving instrumental music instruction and
the brain reveal that learning to play an instrument refines
the development of the brain and the entire neurological
system.

5. MUSIC EDUCATION IMPROVES
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
 Grade school music students also show increased learning in math
and reading. The Public Schools of Albuquerque, NM, conducted a study
which found that instrumental music students, with two or more years of
study, scored significantly higher in the California Test of Basic Skills,
(CTBS), than did non-music students. High school students also achieve
greater academic excellence when exposed to music training. A study by
Mission Veijo High School in Southern California (1981) shows that the
overall grade point average of music students is consistently higher than
the grade point average of their non-music peers. The music students
achieved a 3.59 average while the non-music students achieved a lower
2.91 average.

6. MUSIC EDUCATION IMPROVES
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
SAT scores of students who took part in music instruction
surpassed students with no music training. Data collected from
students taking the SAT, indicated that students taking music and
arts averaged scores that were higher than non music students by
60 points on the verbal section and 43 points on the math section.
Additionally, data revealed that for every year a student
participated in music instruction, their SAT scores improved.
Students with four or more years of music study received an average
score of about 544 as opposed to a score just above 482 for those
with half a at least one semester of music instruction, thus showing
a strong correlation between music and academic success. (For
more information see MENC Web Page)
Source: The College Board, Profile of College- Bound Seniors National
Report for 2001.

7. MUSIC EDUCATION IMPROVES
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Just 15 minutes a week of private keyboard instruction, along with group
singing at pre-school, dramatically improved a kind of intelligence
needed for high-level math and science, suggests a new study.
Music lessons appear to strengthen the links between brain neurons and
build new spatial reasoning, says psychologist Frances Rauscher of
University of California-Irvine.
"Music instruction can improve a child's spatial intelligence for long periods
of time - perhaps permanently, " Rauscher told the American
Psychological Association meeting here.
Her study compared 19 pre-schoolers who took the lessons and 14
classmates enrolled in no special music programs. After eight months,
she found:
A 46% boost in spatial IQ's for the young musicians
6% improvement for children not taught music.
"If parents can't afford lessons, they should at least buy a musical
keyboard.... or sing regularly with their kids and involve them in musical
activities," Rauscher says.

8. MUSIC EDUCATION IMPROVES
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
The University of Montreal researched brain imaging techniques to study
brain activity during musical tasks. Researches concluded that sight-reading
musical scores and playing music “activate regions in all four of the cortex’s
lobes” and “parts of the cerebellum are also activated during those tasks.”
(Source: J. Sergent, E. Zuck, S. Tenial, and B. MacDonnall (1992). Distributed
neural network underlying musical sight reading and keybpard performance.
Science, 257, 106-109.)
Researchers in Leipzig discovered through the use of brain scans that
musicians had larger planum temporale, the region of the brain associated
with reading skills. Also, musicians had a thicker corpus callosum, the nerve
fibers that connect the two halves of the brain. (Source: G. Schlaug, L.
Jancke, Y. Huang, and H. Steinmetz (1994). “In vivo morphometry of
interhemispheric asymmetry and connectivity in musicians.” In I. Deliege
(Ed.), Proceedings of the 3rd international conference for music perception
and cognition (pp. 417-418), Liege, Belgium.)

9. MUSIC EDUCATION IMPROVES
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
The scientific evidence is abundant, obvious, and
compelling; there are strong connections between music
instruction and greater student achievement.
Regardless of age, exposure to music helps to develop and
fine-tune the workings of the brain.
Music training, whether instrumental, vocal, or music
appreciation, helps develop a child’s cognitive and
communication skills. Music education is linked to higher
test scores, grade point averages, and success in college.

10. MUSIC RESOURCES IN FAYETTEVILLE
TO RENT INSTRUMENTS AND PIANOS
JML Music (Pianos Only)
1024 Robeson St.
Fayetteville, NC 28305
323-9187
Edwards Music Company (Good source for instruction
books)
910 868-1185
524 N Mcpherson Church Rd
Music & Arts Ctr (Good source for instruction books)
5075 Morganton Rd Ste 10b
910 864-8808