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

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

[ConservativeMind]

High schoolers who take music courses score significantly better on exams in certain other subjects, including math and science, than their non-musical peers, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.

"It is believed that students who spend school time in music classes, rather than in further developing their skills in math, science and English classes, will underperform in those disciplines. Our research suggests that, in fact, the more they study music, the better they do in those subjects."

"Students who participated in music, who had higher achievement in music, and who were highly engaged in music had higher exam scores across all subjects, while these associations were more pronounced for those who took instrumental music rather than vocal music," he said. "On average, the children who learned to play a musical instrument for many years, and were now playing in high school band and orchestra, were the equivalent of about one academic year ahead of their peers with regard to their English, mathematics and science skills, as measured by their exam grades."

Apart from the strength of the associations, the researchers were most surprised by the consistency of the associations across all three subject areas (math, science and English).

"Learning to play a musical instrument and playing in an ensemble is very demanding. A student has to learn to read music notation, develop eye-hand-mind coordination, develop keen listening skills, develop team skills for playing in an ensemble and develop discipline to practice. All those learning experiences play a role in enhancing children's cognitive capacities and their self-efficacy," he said. "It is that high levels of music engagement for which we saw the strongest effects."

[MayflowerMadam]

“The whole concept of musical keys has a lot of math-like elements to it.”

Not so much the key, but the time signature. Considering time signature, music IS math. I knew fractions when I was four, before kindergarten.

[GingisK]

If you are crappy with music, you are also crappy in those other topics.

In the 50s and 60s IBM hired music majors to be trained as software engineers because they have a strong aptitude for programming and weren't spoiled by computer science schools.

[GingisK]

Not really. They were tested for talent with puzzles that were published in newspapers. Many who were selected turned out to be musicians.

[GingisK]

It is my experience that Asian kids are strongly driven at home. They certainly do seem to be smarter than their non-Asian counterparts. One very serious problem facing American kids is addiction to electronic gaming. They give no time to anything else.

[GingisK]

Aptitude is most certainly inherent. Talent takes practice. Talent never comes to those who don’t have some aptitude.

[gnarledmaw]

So engineering is like math turned up to \m/ 11 \m/!

[1Old Pro]

We’ve heard this before. I think that participating in music class and playing an instrument helps students on a number of levels. First, you are participating in another activity that is complex and beautiful and socializing at the same time - that teaches you a lot, just as sports does. AND, those who do neither are out smoking cigs and not really “pro-active” achievers. I just think there is more to it than the simple logic presented.

It’s like saying everyone who eats carrots dies.

[1Old Pro]

However, there are plenty of good “play by ear” musicians, who after years of trying *still* can’t read music.

Yep, look up guitarist Steve Morse, a virtuoso...can't read music.

[SkyDancer]

I got my information from a book about Alan Turing and it it they were looking for musicians; true some were selected from solving puzzles in the news.

[GingisK]

Interesting to know. Thank you for adding to my treasure trove of WWII information.

I still feel badly about how they treated Turing in the end. It was just callous and ignorant, and very Nazi like.

[SkyDancer]

Governments don’t like civilian hero’s. He was a great guy and made it possible for us to do what we’re doing right now, AlGore notwithstanding.

[bruin66]

The best programmer I ever worked with was a music major.

[dfwgator]

Lyle Mays, who played for years with Pat Metheny, quit the music business and became a Software Manager.

[DungeonMaster]

Except for drummers. :-D

[GingisK]

It seems that John Von Newman had at least equal influence on digital computing as did Turing. Turing was a reader of Von Newman's work. Turing's work was focused on machine based encryption and decryption. The Turing machine is specialized, but WAY cool. It was so obviously conceived by genius. Turing/Von Newman dragged us rather suddenly into the digital age.

I was shocked to learn how early in the electronics age the terms "digital" and "analog" were applied. "Digital" was applied immediately to on/off signaling with the introduction of the telegraph. (A finger, or digit, was used to do the signaling; hence, digital.) When the telephone debuted Alexander Bell applied the term "analog" because the vibrations in the electric current are analogous to the vibrations in the air.

All of what we have today came about through geniuses in the mere span of about 200 years. The history of technology is fascinating. Kids of today missed those wonderful vacuum tubes, most not knowing they ever existed.

[Comment Not Approved]

Music is math. Put my son in piano lessons as a kindergartner through sophomore year of HS. High school valedictorian, USNA 2013 grad, Part of reactor team on Carl Vinson. Did his payback and now works in tech in CA.

I learned in college that the neural pathways for music are the same for math. The brain develops those pathways as the child is growing. Made sense so I got the lessons for my son even though it was a PITA at times. Luckily he excelled at piano and enjoyed it. Not always the case.

[x]

Is it because music somehow develops mental abilities or is it because students who play an instrument either 1) come from families that are more accomplished than other families or 2) have high achievement drives of their own?

I'm not knocking those kids or putting down their achievements, just asking if the scientists have really considered that the causation may go the other way.

[Svartalfiar]

How much income does it take to teach a kid piano? And why do parents not do this?

Piano lessons look to average $50 an hour, usually once a week. For a lot of people, $200 a month is expensive, especially when most sports are a way cheaper, once-a-season payment. And every kid just multiplies that. Three kids is $600 a month, on top of any other activities/tuition. And piano is not a very active activity.

Now, how does your kid practice? Buying a piano is crazy expensive, I would guess at least $500, if even that low. Digital keyboards are around $1-200, but those aren't quite the same. Not very affordable for a lot of families.

[aspasia]

vs. 40,000 a year at college . . .

You have to pay to play.

[FXRP]

You can’t read music if you aren’t proficient with fractions. You learn to understand the relationship of numeric size (thirds vs halves vs quarters, etc.). What you play has history and geography associated with it. You learn about everything from Gregorian Chant to improvisational jazz.

In the school band just like sports, you learn to work as a team. You learn that practice is valuable in any field. You learn how to treat and maintain equipment.

I don’t think we had to invest any money for research to learn these things.

Personally, I recommend keyboards as a starting instrument. Understanding chord structures and scales is hard to learn on a single note instrument. Guitars are also a very good place to start.