Winning friends and influencing people through music: is it possible?

The idea that studying music improves a child’s social development isn’t new, but there’s finally incontrovertible evidence from a study conducted by the University of Toronto.

The study, published in the August issue of Psychological Science, was led by Dr. E. Glenn Schellenberg and examined the effect of extracurricular activities on the intellectual and social development of six-year-old children. A group of 144 children was recruited through an advertisement in a local newspaper and randomly assigned to one of four activities: piano lessons, singing lessons, drama lessons, or no lessons.

Two types of music lessons were offered in order to generalize the results, while groups that received drama lessons or no lessons were considered control groups to test the effect of music lessons on other art lessons that required ensembles of music. similar abilities and nothing at all. everything. The activities were provided for one year.

Participating children received IQ tests before and after the lessons. The results of this study revealed that the increases in IQ from before to after the test were greater in the music groups than in the other two. In general, these increases occurred in the subtests of IQ, index scores, and academic performance.

While music teachers across the country enthusiastically welcomed the new research, in fact, many other studies have previously shown a correlation between music study and academic achievement.

In 1997, renowned music researchers Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw, and their team at the University of California (Irvine) reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically improving children’s abstract reasoning skills—the skills needed to learn math and science. A group led by the same two scientists had previously shown that after eight months of piano lessons, preschoolers showed a 46 percent increase in their spatial reasoning IQ.

The March 1999 issue of Neurological Research published a report by another group of researchers, also from the University of California (Irvine), which found that second-graders received four months of piano keyboard training, plus time to play newly designed computer software. , scored 27% higher on tests of proportional math and fractions than other children.

Students with courses and experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT, according to a Profile of Program Takers published by the Princeton, NJ, College Entrance Examination Board in 2001. This The report indicated that students in music performance scored 57 points higher in verbal and 41 points higher in math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher in verbal and 44 points higher in math than students without artistic involvement.

Another part of this same study shows that longer music study means higher SAT scores. For example, students who participated in the arts for two years averaged 29 points higher on the verbal portion and 18 points higher on the math portion of the SAT than students with no arts courses or experience. Students with four years or more in the arts scored 57 points higher and 39 points higher in the verbal and math parts respectively than students without arts courses.

Another study also found support for a relationship between math achievement and participation in instrumental music instruction. The researchers found that students who participated in high school instrumental music instruction took an average of 2.9 more advanced math courses than students who did not participate.

In fact, several studies over the past 10 years suggest that teaching children music can increase their aptitude for math, reading, and engineering. (One explanation for improving math ability is that music theory is based on mathematical truths. Rhythms are divided into fractions: half notes, quarter notes, and eighth notes. Scales have eight tones, and the steps between them follow an equation.)

A 1998 McGill University study found that pattern recognition and mental representation scores improved significantly for students who received piano instruction over a three-year period. The researchers also found that measures of self-esteem and musical abilities improved for students who received piano instruction.

And data from the 1988 National Longitudinal Study of Education revealed that music participants received more academic honors and awards than non-music students, and that the percentage of music participants receiving A’s, A/B’s, and B’s was higher than the percentage of non-participants. receiving those grades.

In 1994, a report titled “The Case Study for Music in Schools” was printed in Phi Delta Kappan, the professional print magazine for education. It included details of research conducted by physician and biologist Lewis Thomas, who studied the college careers of medical school applicants. Thomas found that 66 percent of music students who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group.

The same report claimed that the best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry were, almost without exception, practicing musicians.

The world’s leading academic countries also place great value on music education. In a study of the ability of fourteen-year-old science students in seventeen countries, the top three countries were Hungary, the Netherlands, and Japan. All three include music across the curriculum from kindergarten through high school.

St. Augustine Bronx Elementary School, on the brink of failure in 1984, implemented an intensive music program, and today 90 percent of the school’s students are reading at or above grade level. And a ten-year study at UCLA followed more than 25,000 students and showed that making music improves test scores. Regardless of socioeconomic background, music-making students score higher on standardized tests than those without musical involvement. The test scores studied were not only standardized tests, such as the SAT, but also reading proficiency tests.

Music training also helps low-achieving students, according to research published in the journal Nature in May 1996. In Rhode Island, researchers studied eight public school first-grade classes. Half of the classes became “trial arts” groups, receiving ongoing training in music and visual arts. By kindergarten, this group had lagged behind in school performance. After seven months, the students received a standardized test. The “test arts” group caught up with their peers in reading and outperformed their classmates in math by 22 percent. In the second year of the project, art students further expanded this range. The students were also tested on attitude and behavior. The classroom teachers also noted improvements in these areas.

In 2005, it seems that the pace of scientific research into music creation has never been higher. The latest evidence from the University of Toronto confirms what many other researchers have already found: that music increases brainpower, academic performance, socialization skills, and emotional health.

It makes sense, when you think about it. People who learn to play an instrument are in groups: bands, choirs, orchestras, combos, worship teams, etc. And working and making music with others is sure to help connect with people and foster close bonds with other musicians.

So it seems that learning to play music, whether it’s guitar, piano, or some other instrument, actually contributes to your ability to “win friends and influence people.”