In January 1998, then-Governor Zell Miller stood at the podium inside the Georgia capitol asking state lawmakers to fund an unusual project. Armed with a recording of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Miller proposed giving a classical music CD to the mother of every newborn baby in the state.
Ever since, the idea that music makes kids smarter has gained currency among American policymakers and the general public alike. It is bolstered by a growing body of recent research that suggests a linkage between studying music and increased intellectual skills and academic achievement, particularly in math. Movies like Mr. Holland’s Opus and Music of the Heart add an emotional dimension to its hold on the American imagination, particularly at a time when budget cuts have drastically curtailed school music programs.
Some claims, however, are clearly overblown: “Bach in the bassinet and Beethoven with the bottle. Next stop, the Ivy League!” advertises the recording company that eventually agreed to fund Governor Miller’s CDs for Georgia newborns.
A researcher and author of several prominent music studies cautions against such obvious overstatements. “I find that ‘Mozart makes you smarter’ thing is quite a bit of a leap,” says Frances Rauscher in an Education Week article by Debra Viadero. (Go to full article) Hyperbole notwithstanding, the findings are promising, Rauscher concludes: “I think the evidence is solid enough to say, ‘Let’s improve and expand our music education programs for young children.’”
Click below for WKCD’s mini-collection of musical facts, figures, and survey results, including:
a digest of research results that detail the benefits of music education, compiled in 2002 by MENC: The National Association for Music Education
survey highlights from: a 2003 Gallup Poll on music making by Americans of all ages, a 2002 Pew Charitable Trusts survey on public support for the performing arts, and a profile of public school string and orchestra programs by the American String Teachers Association.
Music Education Digest of Research
The digest of research presented below is excerpted from Benefits of Music Education Brochure, Spring 2002, compiled by MENC: The National Association for Music Education.
The benefits of music education for children and older students include:
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Success in developing intelligence
We can demonstrate that some measures of a child’s intelligence are indeed increased with music instruction. Once again, this burgeoning range of data supports a long-established base of anecdotal knowledge to the effect that music education makes kids smarter. What is new and especially compelling, however, is a combination of tightly-controlled behavioral studies and groundbreaking neurological research that show how music study can actively contribute to brain development:
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“Music is one way for young people to connect with themselves, but it is also a bridge for connecting with others. Through music, we can introduce children to the richness and diversity of the human family and to the myriad rhythms of life.”
— Daniel A. Carp, Chairman and CEO, Eastman Kodak Company
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- A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. — Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997
- 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
- “The musician is constantly adjusting decisions on tempo, tone, style, rhythm, phrasing, and feeling—training the brain to become incredibly good at organizing and conducting numerous activities at once. Dedicated practice of this orchestration can have a great payoff for lifelong attentional skills, intelligence, and an ability for self-knowledge and expression.” — Ratey John J., MD. A User’s Guide to the Brain. New York: Pantheon Books, 2001.
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Success in school
Any music teacher or parent of a music student can call to mind anecdotes about effectiveness of music study in helping children become better students. Skills learned through the discipline of music, these stories commonly point out, transfer to study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills useful in every part of the curriculum. Another common variety of story emphasizes the way that the discipline of music study—particularly through participation in ensembles—helps students learn to work effectively in the school environment without resorting to violent or inappropriate behavior. And there are a number of hard facts that we can report about the ways that music study is correlated with success in school:
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“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.”
— former President Bill Clinton
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- Data from the National Education 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.— NELS:88 First Follow-up, 1990, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington DC
- Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation. — College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.
- Students in two Rhode Island elementary schools who were given an enriched, sequential, skill-building music program showed marked improvement in reading and math skills. Students in the enriched program who had started out behind the control group caught up to statistical equality in reading, and pulled ahead in math. — Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles, as reported in Nature, May 23, 1996
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“During the Gulf War, the few opportunities I had for relaxation I always listened to music, and it brought to me great peace of mind. I have shared my love of music with people throughout this world... and all of this started with the music appreciation course that I was taught in a third-grade elementary class in Princeton, New Jersey. What a tragedy it would be if we lived in a world where music was not taught to children.”
— retired General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
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- According to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource Center, students who can be classified as “disruptive” (based on factors such as frequent skipping of classes, times in trouble, in-school suspensions, disciplinary reasons given, arrests, and drop-outs) total 12.14 percent of the total school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students involved in music classes meet the same criteria as “disruptive.” — Based on data from the NELS:88 (National Education Longitudinal Study), second follow-up, 1992.
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- A study of 811 high school students indicated that the proportion of minority students with a music teacher role-model was significantly larger than for any other discipline. 36% of these students identified music teachers as their role models, as opposed to 28% English teachers, 11% elementary teachers, 7% physical education/sports teachers, 1% principals. — D.L. Hamann and L.M. Walker, "Music teachers as role models for African-American students," Journal of Research in Music Education, 41, 1993
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“Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them— a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music.”
— former President Gerald Ford
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Success in society and life
Perhaps the basic reason that every child must have an education in music is that music is a part of the fabric of our society. The intrinsic value of music for each individual is widely recognized in the many cultures that make up American life—indeed, every human culture uses music to carry forward its ideas and ideals... And the value of music in shaping individual abilities and character are attested in a number of places:
- The very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry are, nearly without exception, practicing musicians. — Grant Venerable, "The Paradox of the Silicon Savior," as reported in "The Case for Sequential Music Education in the Core Curriculum of the Public Schools," The Center for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, New York, 1989
- Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66% of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. 44% of biochemistry majors were admitted. — As reported in "The Case for Music in the Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994
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“Music has a great power for bringing people together. With so many forces in this world acting to drive wedges between people, it’s important to preserve those things that help us experience our common humanity.”
— Ted Turner, Turner Broadcasting System
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- Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs). — Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Report. Reported in Houston Chronicle, January 1998
>> Go to survey results
