Music students score better in math, science, English than non-musical peers

Medical XPress ^ | June 24, 2019 | American Psychological Association

[Svartalfiar]

How are piano lessons ‘vs’ college tuition? You’re gonna be paying $40M+ for it whether you can half-ass a piano or not.

[Rebelbase]

I’ve pondered that music is an audio expression of math.

[aspasia]

From Plato we can get one answer: it's the difference between piano lessons and good piano lessons. Or between education and good education. Nobody wants bad teacher, whether in piano or liberal arts. Common sense says if you're willing to pay $40,000 for higher ed, don't do it half-assed.

[aspasia]

I do agree that sports programs should be separate from the schools, too. Private leagues have teams.

Programs separate from the school system are always the go-to for anyone looking to excel. As far as music, it's normal to get a private teacher outside of the school. Which is fine.

[Tired of Taxes]

Agreed!

[Svartalfiar]

Right, but what does that have to do with piano lessons specifically? I’m not seeing your connection between them and good college?

[aspasia]

You’re more likely to realize a greater gain per dollar. So if you’re willing to go to college, there’s a compelling reason to drop the “too expensive” excuse for music lessons.

[Svartalfiar]

You’re more likely to realize a greater gain per dollar. So if you’re willing to go to college, there’s a compelling reason to drop the “too expensive” excuse for music lessons.

You can't just drop the 'too expensive' 'excuse'. Too expensive is based on a family's budget, not on whether or not the children want to go to college, and if mommy and daddy might pay for that. Piano lessons year-round would be over $2000, bare minimum. At once a week, double it for two-a-week - $4M a year. Baseball season is maybe $30 for a glove, and say $100 for league fees. Same with soccer, basketball, etc. That's almost year-round sports, 2-3 practices a day and one game a week in-season, for less than $500 per kid. HUGE budgetary difference. And, throwing the ball around the backyard is something any dad can do. Pickup game with the neighborhood kids? Any park/open field. But what dad can just play piano with the kids? One with enough money to afford a piano in the house, and can take turns 'playing' with the kid. Not a group activity either.

I'm not saying piano lessons are bad, I'm just saying many families aren't going to see the value in them when there's other cheaper options that provide a lot more use of time and physicality. Not to mention not that many kids even would want to go learn piano.

[aspasia]

You put up a good argument for devaluing musical training. I suggest you’re arguing on the wrong side.

[sparklite2]

Unless you’re majoring in music, I say spending college level tuition on something you should have done in K-12 is foolish.

[aspasia]

Foolishness is a great cash cow.

Post-secondary programs are great workaround. That plus AP exams. So music students should test out of first year of music theory, just like STEM students should be testing out of Calculus 1 & 2.

[AnAmericanMother]

The key, intervals, and cadences also have mathematical elements.

The Renaissance composers, especially the big names like Josquin and Busnois and Ockeghem, worked out mathematical puzzles in their music. Story is that Guillaume DuFay's motet "Nuper Rosarum Flores", written for the dedication of the Florence cathedral, with Brunelleschi's great dome, duplicates in its intervals and structure the proportions of the dome itself. Ockeghem wrote a Mass "cuiusvis toni" - "in any key (mode) you like." You could play it in any key and it would work.

The amazing thing was that they could make the music sound so good while working out all these mathematical puzzles.

[AnAmericanMother]

That is a neat story! If you want to play, sing, or hear good music, the Episcopalians are the place to go.

We are doing our possibles to bring our local Catholic parish back up to par -- they jettisoned the entire musical tradition at Vat II (idiots! they invented it!)

I was kidding around with my former choirmaster, and said, "Hey! You stole our music!" - he didn't miss a beat: "You weren't using it."

[AnAmericanMother]

You can get fairly decent upright pianos (good enough to learn on - better a good upright like a Sohmer than a lousy grand) off local yard sale sites and FakeBook sale pages for a couple hundred.

The piano market is DEAD. Everybody's buying the high end electronic keyboards instead. Steinway only made a few grands this year - and lesser piano companies are bulldozing pianos into landfills. Literally. Some people pay to have them hauled away.

You do have to pay to have it tuned regularly though.

[litehaus]

“I wonder who does better in math - music or chess players?”

Grandson (7 YO) has been playing chess for a few years,,Garnered numerous ribbons and medals AND 7 1st place trophy along the way at various tournaments..Not bad at math either(courtesy genes from his daddy who got them from his mother)

[Svartalfiar]

You put up a good argument for devaluing musical training. I suggest you’re arguing on the wrong side.

I'm not saying musical lessons are a bad idea, I'm just giving some practical examples for why piano lessons might not always make much sense.