Research Supporting
Music Education in Public Schools
There are a number of studies that
show a connection between music and the development of the brain. Dr. Frank
Wilson is assistant clinical professor neurology at the University of
California School of Medicine,
A separate study shows that
performance in music develops the intellect. These musical activities train the
brain in aesthetic literacy and the students' perceptual, imaginative and
visual abilities (Sinatra, 1986). Whitwell (1977) deals with the left
brain/right brain issue. He says that when one talks about music, he is using
the left side of the brain. To utilize the right side of the brain, one must
creatively produce in an activity such as music. He says the "music is
independent, separate unique from of intellect, a form of intellect through
which man can communicate directly in its own inherent form" (p9). This
seems to confirm
Tedd Judd in a speech at the 1984
conference on the Biology of Music-Making entitled, "A Neurologist Looks
at Musical Behavior", comes to the conclusion that involvement in music
involves many parts of the interconnected brain (Roehmann, 1988). Dr. Jean Houston of the Foundation
for Mind Research says that children without access to an arts program are
actually damaging their brain. They are not being exposed to non-verbal modalities
which help them learn skills like reading, writing and math much more easily
(Roehmann, 1988).
Three major developments in recent
years that have strengthened the position in promoting music as a significant
and research supported discipline that ought to be at the core of the
curriculum. They are: (1) The extensive amount of Brain Research, much of it
using music to understand the human brain, encouraged by the 1990's being
proclaimed “The Decade of the Brain”; (2) Howard Gardner’s development of the
“Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, providing a model of human intelligence for
educational reform that gives music a significant place in the development of
educational programs; and (3) the highly publicized research of Frances
Rauscher, Gordon Shaw and colleagues at the University of California, Irvine on
“The Mozart Effect”, research that showed a causal relationship between music
and aspects of intelligence.
As music educators we received a
powerful emotional boost for music education in recent years as a result of the
release of the film, Mr. Holland’s Opus. Building on this momentum, it
is important to know where rational and scientific research data may be found
to support our beliefs that music is indeed important in the education of all
children. Having produced a 7 part video series in the 1980's on MUSIC AND THE
BRAIN, it is exciting to see the current and expanding interest in music and
the brain from a variety of perspectives as represented in the following
selected publications:
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June
11, 1990
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May
16, 1995 The New York Times: Science Times “The Mystery of Music: How IT
Works in the Brain”
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February
19, 1996 Newsweek “Your Child’s BRAIN: How Kids are Wired for Music,
Math & Emotions
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March/April
1996 Learning “Music: Exercise for the Brain”
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August
1996 Parents Magazine “Does Music Make Babies Smart?”
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September
17, 1996 Family Circle “5 WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR MUSIC IQ”
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October
1996 Discover “Music of the Hemispheres”
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January
1997 The American School Board Journal “The Musical Mind”.
A significant number of neurologists
are studying the relationship between music and brain development. One such
study published in Science in 1995 reported that musicians who learned
to play string or keyboard instruments before adolescence appear to have larger
areas of the brain devoted to touch perception of the fingers. In the journal Neuropsychologia
it was reported that musicians who started keyboard training before the age
of seven had 12% thicker nerve fibers in the corpus callosum, that part of the
brain that carries signals between the two hemispheres. Sharon Begley’s
article, “Your Child’s Brain...” in Newsweek reported that researchers
at the
At a January 1997, International
Alliance for Learning Conference called “Unleashing the Brain’s Potential” in
San Antonio, Texas, the majority of the presentations focused on the use of
music to accelerate learning, as initially developed by Dr. Georgi Lazanov, and
now used throughout the world as an important educational methodology, to
optimize memory and other cognitive processes. Educational Listening Centers
around the
To assist me in the process of
writing this article, while I’m reading and typing I am listening to “Classical
Rhythms” from Relax With the Classics
produced by LIND Institute, for which I served as consultant. The program notes
read, “The exceptional beauty of Baroque Music, combined with its power to
enliven the brain, is the hallmark of these Baroque allegro selections, which
will energize you both physically and mentally. In contrast to the slower
tempos of other RELAX WITH CLASSICS recordings, these faster allegro tempo
pieces activate the most alert brain state--the beta brain wave state, enabling
you to work, to study, to think, and to exercise with optimal energy and
productivity. The bright tempos and tonal qualities of the instrumentation have
been selected to help maintain a positive mental attitude.
An awareness of the breadth and
depth of resources and approaches to the relationship of music to brain
function and development has been the purpose of the preceding section. Of
related interest and of equal importance in understanding the necessary role
that music can play in education is the work of Howard Gardner, a cognitive
psychologist from
In 1991,
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Linguistic intelligence:
The capacity to use words effectively, orally or written
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Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: The capacity to use numbers effectively and to reason
well
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Spatial Intelligence:
The ability to perceive the visual-spatial world accurately and to perform
transformations upon those perceptions
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Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Expertise in using one’s whole body to express ideas and
feelings and facility in using one’s hands to produce or transform things
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Musical Intelligence:
The capacity to perceive, discriminate, transform, and express musical forms
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Interpersonal Intelligence: The ability to perceive and make distinctions in the
moods, intentions, motivations, and feelings of other people
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Intrapersonal Intelligence: Self-knowledge and the ability to act adaptively on the
basis of that knowledge.
In the January 1997 article, “The
Musical Mind”,
While it is understood that music
education can have an important impact on musical intelligence, there is
accumulating a significant amount of research supporting the impact of music
education on all seven intelligences. This article will provide a few recent
selected examples for the purpose illustration. An important recent 1995
publication, Spin-Offs: The Extra-Musical Advantages of a Musical Education reviews
the research literature from 1970 to 1992 and should be consulted for
additional research.
Linguistic
A study by Hall in 1952, reported
that when examining 278 eighth and ninth graders, the use of background music
in study halls resulted in substantially more improvement of reading
comprehension than those that studied without music.
In a study by Ramey and Frances
Campbell of the University of North Carolina (as reported in “You Can Raise
Your Child’s IQ” in Readers Digest October 1996) preschool children
taught with games and songs showed an IQ advantage for 10 to 20 points over
those without the songs, and at age 15 had higher reading and math scores.
Logical-Mathematical
The Council on Basic Education
conducted a study comparing the amount of time spent on the arts by schools in
Germany, Japan, England and the United States, and found that not only did the
U.S. trail the other countries in time devoted and percentage of time devoted
to arts instruction, but that the U.S. trailed countries in math and science
scores.
A study in Rhode Island published in
the May 23, 1996 issue of Nature reported that first-graders who
participated in special music classes as part of an arts study saw their
reading skills and math proficiency increase dramatically. Students who studied
music appreciation scored 46 points higher on the math portion of the SAT in
1995, and 39 points higher if they had music performance experiences, than
those without music education.
Spatial
In a study by Frances Rauscher and
Gordon Shaw at the University of California, Irvine, that was presented in 1994
at the American Psychological Association, they reported that pre-schoolers who
took daily 30 minute group singing lessons and a weekly 10-15 minute private
keyboard lesson scored 80 percent higher in object-assembly skills than
students who did not have the music lessons.
Bodily-Kinesthetic
In a report of the significance of
singing in MUSICA Research Notes in Fall 1996 Weinberger cites research
of Kalmar dealing with the positive effects of singing in normal children in a
long term study, as she studied the effects of the Kodaly method of instruction,
and found significant effects on motor development and cognitive development of
those participating in the music program.
Musical
A report in The New York Times
International in May 1996 indicated that in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China
music is a more significant part of education for children than in the U.S.A.,
and the children in those countries are far more likely to have what some
regard as one of the most striking signals of a musical mind, absolute pitch.
As reported in “The Musical Mind” by Susan Black, neuromusical investigations
are producing evidence that infants are born with neural mechanisms devoted
exclusively to music. And perhaps, even more importantly, studies show that
early and ongoing musical training helps organize and develop children’s
brains.
A report by John Langstaff and
Elizabeth Mayer in Learning, March/April 1996, presented a rationale for the
importance of music education in early childhood. By approximately age 11,
neuron circuits that permit all kinds of perceptual and sensory discrimination,
such as identifying pitch and rhythm, become closed off. Not using them dooms
the child to be forever tone deaf and offbeat.
Interpersonal
A study done in 1978 by McCarty,
McElfresh, Risce and Wilson, reported that a pattern of inappropriate student
behavior on a school bus was changed by playing music. Research at the Harvard
Project Zero as reported by Colwell and Davidson, suggests that arts activities
for all students on Fridays and Mondays reduces the absentee rate on those
days.
Intrapersonal
Martha Mead Giles found in a study
reported in the Journal of Music Therapy that music and art instruction
may be an important link to children’s emotional well-being. In an Update:
Applications of Research in Music Education report, Fall/Winter 1994,
research was cited that in addition to an enhancement of self-concept as an
outcome of music education, trust and cooperation, empathy, and social skills
were also shown to be benefits of a music education.
Historically music education and
music therapy researchers have provided a clear evidence that music and music
education does have a measurable impact on individuals. However, it was the
research efforts of Frances Rauscher (now at the University of Wisconsin,
Oshkosh), Gordon Shaw and colleagues, at the Center for the Neurobiology of
Learning and Memory at the University of California at Irvine dealing with the
causal relationship between music and spatial task performance that resulted in
the creation of the term “The Mozart Effect” and the proclamation that music
can and does indeed make you smarter. A new book, The Mozart Effect, by
Don Campbell, is to be released later this year.
The October 1993 issue of Nature included
the report of a study done by Rauscher, Shaw and Ky that found that listening
to 10 minutes of Mozart’s piano Sonata K.448 over a period of time increased
spatial IQ scores in college students. A further study on spatial performance
and music found that the spatial reasoning skills of 19 preschool children who
were given 8 months of music lessons far exceeded the spatial reasoning
performance of 15 children who had no musical training. Whereas the effect of
listening to Mozart lasted only a short time (about 15 minutes), the results of
the study with preschool children suggested to the researchers that music can
improve intelligence for long periods of time, maybe even permanently.
In 1995, Rauscher and other
researchers replicated and extended their findings concerning the Mozart effect
and reported the results in Neuroscience Letters. In the most recent study,
they used the same task as in their first experiment but extended the types of
listening experienced. Seventy-nine college students were divided into three
groups: silence, the same Mozart as used in the 1993 study and a work by Philip
Glass. Only the Mozart group showed a significant increase in spatial IQ score.
Rauscher and Shaw developed their
research based on a neurobiological model that posits that music will enhance
higher brain functions. There are certain synaptic connections being made
through music training that are similar to those required for abstract and
spatial reasoning.
What we as musicians knew
experientially and intuitively, scientific studies on the brain, intelligence
and music are confirming that we hold in our hands as music educators a
powerful tool, a key that may unlock the door to developing the great potential
residing in the human brain. May this sampler whet your appetite to taste more
from this table of knowledge?
References
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Armstrong,
Thomas. Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom.
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Barth,
P. Perspectives: The Arts and School Reform, Seeking An International
Perspective. Winter 1993. Council on Basic Education
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Begley,
Sharon. “Your Child’s BRAIN,” Newsweek February 19, 1996. pp. 55-59
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Black,
Susan. “The Musical Mind,” The American School Board Journal. January
1997. pp. 20-22.
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Blakeslee,
Sandra. “The Mystery of Music: How it Works in the Brain,” The New York
Times: Science Times. May 16, 1995
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Colwell,
Richard and Lyle Davidson. “Music Intelligence and the Benefits of Music
Education,” NAASP Bulletin. November 1996. pp. 55-64
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Cutietta,
Robert; Harmann, Donald and Linda Miller
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Gardner,
Howard. Frames of Mind.
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Giles,
Martha Mead. “A Little Background Music, Please,” Principal. November
1991
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Giles,
Martha Mead. “A Music and Art Program to Promote Emotional Health in Elementary
School Children,” Journal of Music Therapy. XXVIII (3) 1991. pp. 135-148
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Keister,
Edwin Jr.; and Keister, Sally Valente. “You Can Raise Your Child’s IQ,” Readers
Digest. October 1996
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Langstaff,
John and Elizabeth Mayer. “Music: Exercise for the Brain,” Learning.
March/April 1996
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Shreeve,
James. “Music of the Hemispheres,” Discover. October 1996. pp. 90-100
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WuDunn,
Sheryl. “A
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Studying
music encourages self-discipline and diligence, traits that carry over into
intellectual pursuits and that leads to effective study and work habits. An
association of music and math has, in fact, long been noted. Creating and
performing music promotes self-expression and provides self-gratification while
giving pleasure to others. In medicine, increasing published reports
demonstrate that music has a healing effect on patients. For all these reasons,
it deserves strong support in our educational system, along with the other
arts, the sciences, and athletics. Michael
E. DeBakey, M.D., Leading Heart Surgeon,
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Music
has a great power for bringing people together. With so many forces in this
world acting to drive wedges between people, it's important to preserve those
things that help us experience our common humanity. Ted Turner, Turner Broadcasting System
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Music
is one way for young people to connect with themselves, but it is also a bridge
for connecting with others. Through music, we can introduce children to the
richness and diversity of the human family and to the myriad rhythms of life. Daniel A. Carp, Eastman Kodak Company
Chairman and CEO
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The arts are essential elements of education
just like reading, writing, and arithmetic…Music, dance, painting, and theatre
are keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment. Children
should be handed these keys at an early stage. William Bennett, Former
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Casals
says music fills him with the wonder of life and the 'incredible marvel' of
being a human. Ives says it expands his mind and challenges him to be a true
individual. Bernstein says it is enriching and ennobling. To me, that sounds
like a good cause for making music and the arts an integral part of every
child's education. Studying music and the arts elevates children's education,
expands students' horizons, and teaches them to appreciate the wonder of life. U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W.
Riley, July 1999
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The
nation's top business executives agree that arts education programs can help
repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st
century. "The Changing Workplace
is changing Our View of Education." Business Week, October 1999
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Music
making makes the elderly healthier.... There were significant decreases in
anxiety, depression, and loneliness following keyboard lessons. These are
factors that are critical in coping with stress, stimulating the immune system,
and in improved health. Results also show significant increases in human growth
hormones following the same group keyboard lessons. (Human growth hormone is
implicated in aches and pains.) Dr.
Frederick Tims, reported in AMC Music News, June 2, 1999
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Music
education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around
them a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement.
The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete
education that includes music. Gerald
Ford, former President, United States of America
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During
the Gulf War, the few opportunities I had for relaxation I always listened to
music, and it brought to me great peace of mind. I have shared my love of music
with people throughout this world, while listening to the drums and special
instruments of the Far East, Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Far
North and all of this started with the music appreciation course that I was
taught in a third-grade elementary class in
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v The purpose of education is not to create biological computers but to develop well-rounded, humane citizens with the skills to lead healthy, happy, productive and fulfilling lives. Toward this end, every student at every level should have access to a balanced, sequential, high-quality program of music instruction in the school. The College Board Academic Preparation for College
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Music
is about communication, creativity, and cooperation, and, by studying music in
school, students have the opportunity to build on these skills, enrich their
lives, and experience the world from a new perspective. Bill Clinton, former President, United States of America
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v Music has the power of producing a certain effect on the moral character of the soul, and if it has the power to do this, it is clear that the young must be directed to music and must be educated in it. Aristotle, Politics
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Music is the universal language of mankind. Henry