Archive for November, 2009

Music Software Children

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Music Software Children

Win Friends and Influence People Through Music – Is It Possible?

The idea that studying music improves a child's social development is not new, but in the end it is not incontrovertible proof of a study by the University of Toronto.

The study, published in the August issue of Psychological Science was led by Dr. Glenn E. Schellenberg, and examined the effect of extra-curricular activities in the intellectual and social development of children six years of age. A group of 144 children were recruited through an ad in local newspapers and randomly assigned to one of four activities: piano lessons, singing lessons, drama lessons, teachings or not.

There are two types of music lessons were offered to in order to generalize the results, while the groups receiving drama lessons or classes not considered control groups in order to test the effect of music lessons in art classes requiring similar skill sets and nothing at all. Activities were provided for one year.

Participating children were given IQ tests before and after lessons. The results of this study revealed that increases in IQ from pre-to post-test were higher in the music groups than in the other two. Generally these increases occurred in IQ subtests, index scores, and academic achievement.

While music teachers across the country enthusiastically welcomed the new research, in fact, many other studies have previously shown a correlation between music study and academic performance.

In 1997, researchers from well known music Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw and his team at the University of California (Irvine) reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically improving the skills children's abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science. A group led by the same two scientists had earlier showed that after eight months of piano lessons, preschoolers showed a 46 percent increase in their spatial reasoning IQ.

The question March 1999 Neurological Research published a report of another group of researchers, also at the University of California (Irvine), who found that students second grade given four months of piano keyboard training and playing time newly designed software, scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than other children.

The students with the courses and experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT, according to a profile examined program released by the Princeton, New Jersey, College Entrance Examination Board in 2001. This report states that students in music performance scored 57 points higher on verbal and 41 points higher in math and students in music appreciation scored 63 points 44 points higher in verbal and math, students who did not participate in the arts.

Another part of this same study showed that study and music means more SAT. For example, students participate in the arts for two years an average of 29 points higher on the verbal portion and 18 points higher on the part of SAT math students who have no training or experience in the arts. Students with four or more years in the arts scored 57 points and the highest points 39, respectively, verbal and math than students with no arts courses.

Another study also found support for a relationship between performance in mathematics and participation in instrumental music instruction. The researchers found that students who participated in music instruction instrumental in high school had on average 2.9 more advanced math courses then the students who did not.

In fact, several studies the past 10 years suggest teaching kids music can increase their aptitude for mathematics, reading, and engineering. (An explanation higher capacity in mathematics is that music theory is based on mathematical truths. Rhythms are divided into fractions – half notes, the black notes. Scales have eight tones, and the steps between them follow an equation.)

A McGill University study in 1998 found that pattern recognition and ratings mental representation improved significantly for students given piano instruction over a period of three years. The researchers also found that self-esteem and musical skills measures improved for students to receive instruction in piano.

And data from the National Education Longitudinal Study 1988 revealed music participants received more academic honors and awards than non-music students, and the percentage of participants who receive such music, like or B and B was greater than the percentage of non-participants receiving those grades.

In 1994 a report entitled "The Case Study of Music in schools "was printed in Phi Delta Kappa, the professional print journal for education. It included details of research carried out by the doctor and biologist Lewis Thomas, who studied the degree of applicants for medical school. Thomas found that 66 percent of music majors who apply to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group.

The same report states that the very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley industry were, almost without exception, practicing musicians.

The top academic countries also place a high value to music education. In a study of the ability of the fourteen-year-old science students in seventeen countries, including the first three countries are Hungary, the Netherlands and Japan. All three include music throughout the curriculum from kindergarten through high school.

St. Augustine Bronx elementary school, to fail in 1984, implemented an intensive music program, and today 90 percent of school students are reading at or above grade level. And a child ten-year UCLA study tracked more than 25,000 students, and showed that music making improves test scores. Regardless of socio-economic music-making students get higher marks in standardized tests than those who had no music involvement. The test scores studied were not only standardized tests, such as the SAT, but also in reading proficiency exams.

Music training helps under-achievers, well, according to research published in the journal Nature in May 1996. In Rhode Island, researchers studied eight public school grades the first classes. Half of the classes became "Arts test groups, receiving ongoing music and visual arts training. In kindergarten, this group had lagged behind in educational achievement. After seven months, students were given a standard test. The art of the "evidence" of the group had reached their fellow students in reading and surpassed their classmates in math by 22 percent. In the second year of the project, the arts students widened this margin even further. Students were also evaluated on attitude and behavior. The teachers noted improvement in these areas as well.

In 2005, it appears that the pace of scientific research into music making has never been greater. The latest evidence of the University of Toronto confirms what many other researchers have already detected – that music enhances intellectual ability, academic achievement, social skills and emotional health.

It is logical, when think about it. People who learn to play an instrument are in groups, bands, choirs, orchestras, combos, worship teams, etc. And working and making music with others can only help relateabilty with people and foster close ties with fellow musicians.

So it seems that learning to play music, either guitar, piano, or some other instrument, not really contribute to its ability to "win friends and influence people."

About the Author

Duane Shinn is the author of the popular free 101-week online e-mail newsletter titled
“Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Chord Progressions”
with over 84,400 current subscribers.

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