Something that can enhance your mood, and make you relaxed, focused, and proficient is none other than Music. Music is magical. It has the potential to boost concentration, mindset, and performance. In the context of academics, high school students who take music courses score significantly better on math, science, and English exams than their non-musical peers, according to a study.

When school officials need to make budget cuts, they sometimes start by looking at music classes since it’s widely believed that pupils who focus more on music would score worse in math, science, and English.

“Our research proved this belief wrong and found the more the students engage with music, the better they do in those subjects,” said UBC education professor and the study’s principal investigator, Peter Gouzouasis. The study was published in the Journal of Educational Psychology.

Students who learned to play a musical instrument scored higher

“The students who learned to play a musical instrument in elementary and continued playing in high school not only scored significantly higher but were about one academic year ahead of their non-music peers with regard to their English, mathematics, and science skills, as measured by their exam grades, regardless of their socioeconomic background, ethnicity, prior learning in mathematics and English, and gender.”

Gouzouasis and his team examined data from all students in public schools in British Columbia who finished Grade 12 between 2012¬ and 2015.

The data sample comprised over 112,000 students who had at least one standardised exam in math, science, and English. The researchers had access to pertinent demographic data on these students, such as gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status in the neighbourhood, and previous experience with numeracy and literacy skills.

Pupils were taking music if they had completed at least one instrumental music course from the standard curriculum.

Qualifying music courses include concert band, vocal jazz, orchestra, jazz band, concert choir, and conservatory piano. These courses require prior instrumental music expertise.

Instrumental music more effective than vocal music

Researchers discovered that people who studied instrumental music as opposed to vocal music had more significant predictive correlations between music education and academic ability.

The results imply that a student’s learning in school benefits greatly from the transfer of abilities obtained in instrumental music.

“Learning to play a musical instrument and playing in an ensemble is very demanding,” said the study’s co-investigator Martin Guhn, an assistant professor in UBC’s School of Population and Public Health.

Music learning experiences enhance cognitive capacities, executive functions

“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, and more, play a role in enhancing the learner’s cognitive capacities, executive functions, motivation to learn in school and self-efficacy.”

Given that many school districts have prioritized reading and numeracy over other subjects, especially music, the researchers hope that students, parents, teachers, and administrative decision-makers will take note of their findings.

“Often, resources for music education — including the hiring of trained, specialized music educators, and band and stringed instruments — are cut or not available in elementary and secondary schools so that they could focus on math, science, and English,” said Gouzouasis. “The irony is that music education — multiple years of high-quality instrumental learning and playing in a band or orchestra or singing in a choir at an advanced level — can be the very thing that improves all-around academic achievement and an ideal way to have students learn more holistically in schools.”

Story Source:

Materials provided by the University of British Columbia. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Martin Guhn, Scott D. Emerson, Peter Gouzouasis. A population-level analysis of associations between school music participation and academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 2019; DOI: 10.1037/edu0000376

Page citation:

University of British Columbia. “Music students do better in school than non-musical peers.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 June 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190624111504.htm>.

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Name of the Organisation: Music as Therapy, India

Music as Therapy is based in Hyderabad. Since 2015 it supports caregivers to introduce music for children with learning disabilities and autism. Most recently the institute has been considering the ways music might help local carers for people living with dementia.

Website: https://www.musicastherapy.org/country/india/

Contact : info@musicastherapy.org