How Music Lessons Lead To Success in School

Apart from giving your child a meaningful past time activity and equipping your child with a skill that can be enjoyed and admired by others presently and in the future, the benefits of Music goes far beyond the ones that are obvious. These benefits are quite often overlooked since they are garnered coincidentally. However, whether your child is destined to be the next big thing in the music industry or just the player an instrument for the appreciation of your family in the confines of your living room, there are still numerous benefits to be derived from exposing him or her to music lessons.

Research has shown that music has been helping thousands of children of various age, socio economic status, background, and disability to perform better in school. It is for this very reason that many developed and developing countries are pushing for more focus to be placed on music in the classroom.

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Music and Academic Success across the board

According to The Midland Chemist (American Chemical Society) Vol. 42, No.1, Feb. 2005, a careful study into the background of winners of the coveted Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science, and Technology revealed that almost 100% of them played one or more musical instrument. This ground breaking discovery has led the foundation to host music recitals for these Mathematics, Science, and Technology geniuses and have also raised much conversation of the link with music to successes in these areas.

Music and Preschool and Kindergarten 

Music has shown to greatly help children at the preschool level learn the fundamentals to academic success. Children are thought to recite their alphabet through music. They are even thought to count and spell word through some form of music. Even when the instrumental tune of the ABC song is being played, preschool children can effortlessly sing along while recalling the letters of the alphabet. edutopia.org claims that music creates a heighten condition of awareness and mental keenness, thus when words are paired with music, retention level is elevated.

Music in Elementary School

Dr. Christopher Johnson & Jenny Memmott in the Journal for Research in Music Education, June 2007 highlighted several researches that were done to determine the benefits of music to academic performance. These abled researchers after studying several schools reported that there was a positive correlation with music and higher academic achievement. 

The following are some interesting discoveries from their studies. They reliably reported that students who attend elementary schools that offered top- quality music programs scored at least 20% better in Mathematics and 22% better in English on Standardized Tests than their counterparts who attended schools with a less robust music program.

Music in Middle School

Studies have also proved that Music not only help children in early levels of education, but also as they progress in there later school years.  As a matter of fact, based on data gathered from the US Education department, students who had high levels of instrumental music involvement during their middle school years show far higher level of performance in Mathematics than those who had no exposure.

Music in High School

Music also has its place at the High School level, as it was discovered that the students who were exposed to any of its form, soar to academic success at a far higher rate than students who had little or no access. 

After analyzing 10 years of SAT data, Vaughn (2000) reported that students who took any form of arts scored higher on the SAT than students who did not. More specifically, it was reported that students who took music classes earned the highest math and verbal scores compared to their counterparts who did not.

Music Across Socio Economic Status

It was the Great Nelson Mandela that said that education is the only weapon that can transform a nation. In this case, music is often one of the only thing that encourages children of Low Socio Economic Status to stay in school so that they can acquire the only weapon that can help to take their families out of poverty.

There are times when music is the only positive thing in the lives of children, especially those that belong to low income families.

The Dana Foundation reported that music has helped children of a low Socio Economic background to remain in school, since it sometimes is the only motivating factor. It also reported that music has help to boost the performance of children who have parents with little or no education.

Additionally Catterall (2002) reported that students of low SES background that had high levels of involvement in Music performed better than their fellow peers who opted not to be involved in the arts. It was also noted that these very low SES students also outperformed students at the same level from High SES background. This is real evidence that music has the power to give hope even to the hopeless.

Music and the Disabled

Music has not only been a savior to children from low SES background but also to children living with Special Educational Needs.

According to Different Dream Living, Music therapy has scientifically proven to help kids with all forms of special educational needs in school. It has reported that kids with disabilities that were exposed to this form of therapy show significant improvement in speech and communication, large and fine muscle development, and overall academic success. 

Additionally, music is also seen as a major educational and therapeutic tool to stimulate focus in children with Special Educational Needs in the school system. This is according to disabled-world. It helps to stimulate improvement in both hearing and speech. 

The Bottom Line 

There is no doubt that there are many benefits to be derived from being exposed to music of any form. However, evidence suggests that a child being exposed to a musical instrument will yield far higher levels of improvements. The awesome thing about music is the fact that it doesn’t discriminate. It has proven to help children across the board, regardless of their age, background, ability, or disability. Therefore, if you want to give your child a head start in school, choose to expose your child to music.