Literature Review on Music Education

Literature Review

This complex problem of music education has been studied for many years. Some disciplines go off of one another to conduct studies and analyze one’s results. Music educators tend to study how music education came to be. They are huge advocators for music education because of the benefits that come with the programs. Psychologists have studies done around the world to see what the affects of having knowledge in the subject of music are. With so many studies done, there are so many results gathered and interpreted to show that music is a key factor in learning. The finding have been controversial and have been argued against, just as any theory. Since there is more evidence for having music programs in schools, the negatives do not seem to withstand in the arguments.

Music educators and psychologist are not the only ones studying how music education affects children’s learning. Scientist also have studies to see exactly what part of the brain is working when the children are playing instruments. Politicians, alike, use test scores to figure out what programs to keep in the schools. If the program has no importance, they are cut off. Since music is not part of the core subjects in schools, it is an easy target for funding reduction. Many parts of the educational field also use music to implement lessons. In physical education classes, music is used for dances, and movement skills. The importance of music education is everywhere. Everyone that has ever heard a voice, has heard music. It is all around us and every discipline is relatable to the subject.

It has been argued that studying music enhances academic achievement. The research was brought to the attention of mainstream America with the belief that listen...

... middle of paper ...

...periment involved memorizing a word list with no background music; participants also recalled the words 48 hours later. Participants who memorized word lists with background music recalled more words demonstrating music provides contextual cues. This was not the only study done with background music. Rauscher (1993) conducted a study with elementary school children in which the students where put in a maze. The children were first put in the maze and were let free to find their way out. It look the students approximately 10 minutes to figure their way out. The second test was a different maze, but music was played meanwhile. Students averaged a time of 5 minutes to get through the maze. Afterwards, the students described that the music helped navigate through the maze because they felt relaxed. This was a great study to show that music also aids in spacial tasks.