Over my thirty-nine years of teaching music, both privately and in the public and private school settings, I have noted that the students who are involved in learning music are usually the most motivated students, often take the higher level academic courses, receive higher grades, seem more intellectually curious, and consistently receive more academic honors than those not involved. This past year at Herricks High School, for example, 95% of the top academic achievement awards (based on College Board results) were awarded to students heavily involved in school music.

Now, the question is “Do smart kids take music classes?” or “Does music make you smarter?” There are several scientific reports that indicate that music excites areas of the brain that assist the transfer of information across the corpus callosum. This is the spongy material that separates the two hemispheres of the brain (see links below).

Most compelling is the research recently completed at Johns Hopkins, Beth Israel and Harvard University, funded by the Dana Foundation, and presented in Baltimore in May, 2009. The study shows that students involved in instrumental music from a young age develop more neural synapses across the corpus callosum (dividing the two hemispheres of the brain) than children who do not study music. This process better affects a merge of left-brained (rational thought) with right-brained (conceptual thought) activity. The left-right transfer naturally happens, to some extent, in the developing adolescent brain. With the addition of consistent and long-term, musical excitement, this process appears to be accelerated and more developed. It does not happen to the degree noted in any other area of activity. Further, the research shows that the longer a student continues with instrumental study, the more synapses are created. There is even reason to believe that the brain activity continues throughout life should the child discontinue music study in late adolescence.

There are several activities that also occur in the routine life of the developing musician that seem to assist in other aspects of his or her life.

1) Establishment of routine – A developing musician, through an established routine or practice, error correction, re-practice, etc… establishes a regular routine which sets a template for resolving other issues that school and life might pass his way. Approaching a math or science problem in the same manner, and not expecting an immediate solution, will produce a more thoughtful process toward a correct answer.

2) Self-discipline – A developing musician realizes that there is not an immediate solution for many problems. A consistent return to the problem, repeated practice, and looking at a problem from different perspectives, will often produce positive results. The ability to stick with a problem for a long period of time, and to not get easily frustrated, is a benefit of regular and productive musical practice.

3) Social Interaction – Young musicians, especially those involved in school music programs, take part in a social model of team work to produce a common result, (highly-nuanced concepts such as learning how to play in tune, blending, or matching timbre, relative dynamic contrasting, agreeing on tempo, etc…) can only be achieved through acute listening, adjustment and performance, through a highly complicated series of verbal and non-verbal negotiations between musicians and, usually, a conductor. These lessons set an ideal model for interpersonal relationships as well as, later, ideal workplace relationships.

4) Understanding of the world – The developing musician has the opportunity to experience history of the world’s many cultures through learning and performing various types of music (from hearing scales and modes of other cultures, to the deep understanding inherent in learning a major work, say of Shostakovich or Mahler).

5) Listening skills – The developing musician develops a more refined aural sense. This applies directly to all of school and life experience.

6) An analytical/emotional connection - Music-makinginvolves complex analytical understandings of(musical) symbology, application of fractional mathematics in real time, and at the same time a deeply, personal emotional involvement. Very few other activities engage us to this extent.

7) Music making is fun! – The process of making music is a joyous one. Usually, the music period during the school day is the one to which most students look forward. The process of making music is beyond the social, and scientific benefits. The result of making music makes us feel better as humans; it often elevates us to a higher level of understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Many times we do not realize why or how this happens, we just know that is does. The ability of an extrinsic activity such as music, to elevate us, evokes a universal human reaction, shared only by great art, theatre and writing.

Music, of course, stands on its own as a valuable and historic part of every culture in the world. We are learning more every day as to the power of music making and why it is as much a part of being human as is talking, walking, eating and sleeping. Regardless of what happens with music education in the future, music will always be with us. But these compelling reasons regarding the additional benefits of music study and music making, especially applied to activities and outcomes we hope to see in all our young people, is defense enough to keep strong and active music programs alive in our nations public and private schools.

John Clarke McNeur

January 2014

Related Websites

http://www.brams.umontreal.ca/plab/research/dossiers_vulgarisation/newsweek_musicmind/newsweek_musicmind.html?Story_ID=329414

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=music+effects+on+the+brain+MENC&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&oi=scholart

http://www.dana.org/news/artseducationinthenews/detail.aspx?id=21838

http://www.dana.org/news/features/detail.aspx?id=21762