Re: new thread - old topic ( NOT BBb vs. CC)


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Posted by Doug Whitten - long on March 03, 2003 at 11:31:02:

In Reply to: new thread - old topic ( NOT BBb vs. CC) posted by JoeS on March 02, 2003 at 23:24:15:

There is indeed a large body of literature that links music education to academic success. Some of the information gleaned in this body of research has practical applications, some does not, and some is a perversion of research findings in the interest of profit. Here are a couple of major findings in the body of literature:

Mozart effect - this is the most well known and celebrated fables in the educational cannon. The real research found that in college students, listening to a specific piano piece by mozart prior to taking a test of spatial reasoning increased their spatial reasoning IQ by a significant amount (5%, I think). Unfortunately the effect only lasted about ten minutes. Rauscher, et al (the researchers), are not the ones making the claims that listing to mozart has any lasting effect on any type of IQ or learning. What is known as the "Mozart Effect" is actually a business making unsupported claims in order to sell CDs of Mozart to mothers looking for ways to make their babies smarter. The "real" research does not make the grandiose claims most of us have heard about.

However, some good research was done in Wisconsin where one of kindergarteners were given basic keyboard instruction, while another was not. At the beginning of the school year (before piano instruction) both classes had the same spatial reasoning abilities(essential element to math and science). At the end of the year, the class which had keyboard training scored over 40% higher than the control group on basic math skills... which is a lot. The district (Kettle-Moraine) has since adopted piano training for all students in elementary school and the district is always one of the top performers in the state on standardized tests. There are other similar studies using string instruments yielding similar results. It important to note that no correlations were made between success at a music instrument and academics... also, the strength of any musical learning on academics is most noticable in the early years, as well as on children living in poverty.

The largest body of evidence that reports that music has a positive effect on academics comes from a longitudinal study that looked at the SAT scores, standardized test scores, and other predictors of collegiate success for students over a ten year span (using the NELS 88 database). This research clealy shows that students that are involved in the arts have much higher than average test scores, are accepted into better colleges, have better grades, and are more likely to be retained in college. I know of no research that disagrees with theses findings, however, the effect may be more due to "creaming" than the arts themselves. That is, the people who participate in band or orchestra are often from more affluent families. I personally believe that "creaming" does definitely exist, but it does not account for all of the academic gains of music students, especially considering that the hightened academic effect of music is most pronounced among minority and low SES students.

I agree that music students are most enriched by music when they are learning it for its own sake. If there are valid correlations between music and math skills, they exist almost exclusively at the lower grade levels. Therefor, as music educators, we need to emphasize to our administrators that it is the effect of music on the soul that makes it worthwhile. For many teenagers, like myself, playing in the band was the only reason I stayed in school. For some, music is an emotional and artistic outlet, while for others it is the sense of belonging to the ensemble that keeps them in band (choir, strings). Regardless of why they stay in music, it is far more important than just a correlation to higher math scores.


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