When administrators have to take a look at school budgets music programs often suffer the most compared to other programs. In an educational system concerned with test scores, the arts are often the first programs that are cut, because they are seen as providing little benefit. But research actually shows that there are very powerful benefits of music education for children.
Here are five benefits of music education:
1) Helps Brain Development
Research shows that music training can help strengthen the brain of developing children in several areas. Recent studies from the Brain and Creativity Institute at USC showed that there are multiple benefits of music training for children. Neuroscientists monitored the brain development of children learning to read and play music and found that music training accelerates development in areas of the brain that involve sound processing, language development, speech perception and reading skills.
Another study showed children who received 15 months of music practice and instruction showed beneficial changes to the brain in areas associated with sound discrimination and fine motor skills.
2) Benefits Language Skills
Musical training has been shown to increase language skills in several areas. Several studies have been done that show music training strongly benefits literacy and verbal memory. One study showed that children who received 4.6 years of music training showed enhanced vocabulary and reasoning skills compared to a group of children who did not receive music training.
3) Improves IQ
Studies have shown that children who are given music lessons have increased IQ scores compared to children who are not given music lessons. One study conducted by E. Glenn Schellenberg at the University of Toronto at Mississauga showed that six year olds who were given piano and voice lessons weekly for nine months had higher IQ scores when tested compared to groups who did not receive these music lessons.
4) Improves Test Scores
Researchers at the University of Kansas analyzed elementary school data and found that schools with great music education education programs had higher scores on standardized testing compared to schools with poor quality music programs.
Music education does not just benefit young children, it may benefit teens too. One study that researched how the arts might improve SAT scores showed that students who take any kind of art course in high school have higher SAT scores than students who do not take art courses.
5) Improves Spatial Reasoning Skills
Research has also found a correlation between music training and spatial intelligence in children. The University of Oregon released a study that measured spatial intelligence in children who received music training and found that there were significant improvements as compared to a group who did not receive music training. From their study they concluded that music training may provide cognitive abilities in areas of non-verbal IQ, numeracy, and spatial cognition. They highlighted how numeracy and spatial cognition are important for math abilities, so music training may be important for improving math skills.
Conclusion
The five benefits highlighted in this post show the powerful positive effects that children can gain from music education programs. The benefits are well documented and more studies are being released constantly that show similar findings. Music education needs to stay in schools for the benefit of all our children.