music education

Music Education: A Source For Brain Power

In today’s society, people are constantly looking for new ways to have students produce more from their public education. Some argue that more funding is the answer, while others say that better learning facilities will help. Studies recently conducted show that a simple change in the curriculum will produce the outcome that people are searching for. The simple change is music education. Music education has been shown to improve general academic skills as well as social skills in children. If music classes are added to a child’s schedule, they will begin to show an increase in learning that educators are looking for. Get rid of the ideas of more funding and better facilities, all the students need is a simple music course in their everyday lives.

Recent studies prove that music education is an effective way to increase the way children perform in overall academics. Jenny Yoon makes it clear in her dissertation to Biola University, that the effects of music education are only positive. Many studies show the connection of music education to academics, test scores, and grades. Research has shown great benefits between music and standardized tests. A study was taken with 5,000 children that took the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS). One fourth of the students were taking part in some kind of music class. In the end, the one fourth of

Sanchez 2 the enrolled students scored higher overall on the test than the other students. The study also showed that if they continue with music education, they would achieve higher than other students. Furthermore, those students enrolled in music classes “score fifty-one points higher on the verbal section of the SAT and thirty-nine points higher on the mathematics section.” (Yoon 9)

A current experiment conducted by Eugenia Costa-Giomi (spring’99) showed incredible results with children and the effect piano lessons had on this group. The test made it clear that children who took piano lessons showed a greater increase in academic ability, than those who didn’t take them at all, or even children that dropped out of lessons. The test showed that after two years of instruction, the child who took the lessons showed great increase in general and spatial test scores. The students who dropped out and didn’t take lessons,...

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