Why Music Lessons?

Music students are outperforming non-music students on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). College-bound seniors with coursework or experience in music performance scored 52 points higher on the verbal portion and 37 points higher on the math portion of the SAT than students with no coursework or experience in the arts. (Source: The College Board, September 1997)

Music Is Beating Computers at Enhancing Early Childhood Development. Music training, specifically piano instruction, is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science. Learning music at an early age causes long-term enhancement of spatial- temporal reasoning. (Source: Frances Rauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1997)

Music Enhances Linguistic Skills. Music -- specifically song -- is one of the best training grounds for babies learning to recognize the tones that add up to spoken language. (Source: Sandra Trehub, University of Toronto, 1997)

Americans Say Schools Should Offer Instrumental Music Instruction as part of the regular curriculum. 88% of respondents indicated this in a 1997 "American Attitudes Towards Music" Gallup poll. (Source: Music Trades, September 1997)

Scientists, Therapists Agree: Music Heals More Than Just The Spirit.
Music benefits older adults. Active music-making positively affects the biology and behavior of Alzheimer's patients. (Source: Music Making and Wellness Project, a study conducted at the University of Miami)

Studying Music Strengthens Students' Academic Performance.
Rhode Island studies have indicated that sequential, skill-building instruction in art and music integrated with the rest of the curriculum can greatly improve children's performance in readi ng and math. (Source: "Learning Improved by Arts Training" by Martin Gardiner, Alan Fox, Faith Knowles, and Donna Jeffrey, Nature, May 23, 1996)

Music and Spatial Task Performance: A Causal Relationship. Music lessons, and even simply listening to music, can enhance spatial reasoning performance, a critical higher-brain function necessary to perform complex tasks including mathematics. (Source: Frances Fauscher, Ph.D., Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1994)

The Mozart Effect surfaced about four years ago when research uncovered that adults who listened to music of complexity for ten minutes or so experienced temporary increases in their spatial IQ scores. (Source: Frances Rauscher, Ph.D.,Gordon Shaw, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine,1993-1994)

12 Important Skills Your Child Learns by Studying Music:

Self-Confidence. Being able to go from learning notes and rhythms to producing meaningful music instills in your child a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence.

Coordination. Hand, eye, body posture and thought all working together are the ingredients of
playing an instrument. These coordination skills transfer to many other aspects of life.

Teamwork. Every child wants to be part of a group. Theory and musicianship classes, in addition to group performances and recitals provide just such unique opportunities.

Comprehension. Learning to perceive and derive meaning from musical sounds sharpens your
child's ability to comprehend abstractions.

Problem-Solving. Learning the basics of musical language and interpreting a work through performance teaches your child the ability to understand a problem and reach an appropriate solution.

Discipline. Learning all of the basics of music and applying them correctly takes perception and discipline.

Art Appreciation. The words beauty, serenity and excitement come to life with each musical experience. These feelings help every child appreciate all forms of the arts.

Logical Reasoning. When your child learns to analyze a musical work from all perspectives or to improvise within a certain musical style, both inductive and deductive reasoning grows stronger.

Communication. Music offers the ability to cultivate our feelings and thoughts through nonverbal
means and to respond to these nonverbal thoughts in others.

Conceptualization. Your child learns to classify by learning to identify different types and styles of music and to recognize how cultures use music for personal expression.

Making Value Judgments. Learning to comprehend, consider and evaluate in music can help your child make informed decisions and uphold value judgments in other aspects of life.

Using Symbols. Learning to read, write and interpret musical notation strengthens the use of other symbol systems such as mathematics and language.

Developing Music Skills

Children have many opportunities to develop music skills and attitudes through both formal and informal music experiences during the elementary school years. Investigators have conducted numerous excellent studies on the music teaching and learning of children in kindergarten through sixth grade. The focus of this article will be to summarize selected studies of interest from the last 30 years related to children's singing and listening, as well as on the effect of music instruction on specific skills and attitudes.Diane C. Persellin Trinity University

Singing
For young children participating in music class the ability to sing in tune often determines the feeling of success or failure. How to help children find their singing voices and sing in tune has long been a topic of music research (Goetze, Cooper, & Brown, 1990). Most of the selected studies reported here deal primarily with children in kindergarten through second grade.
Best Models. To determine the best example when instructing children, various types of vocal and instrumental models have been tested. While children who are accurate singers usually respond well to nearly any kind of model, uncertain singers find some models easier to imitate than others. Hermanson (1972) found that the human voice has a more positive effect on vocal accuracy than an instrumental model. Children echo with greater accuracy when the model’s voice is female rather than male (Hendley & Persellin, 1996; Sims, Moore, & Kuhn, 1982; Yarbrough, Green, Benson, & Bowers, 1991), a child’s voice rather than an adult’s voice (Green, 1990), and a voice without vibrato rather than with vibrato (Yarbrough, Bowers, & Benson, 1992). Singing accuracy may be enhanced through learning modalities such as visual aids and physically showing high and low pitch relationships with the teachers’ and students’ hands (Apfelstadt, 1986; Cousins & Persellin, 1999; Murphy & Persellin, 1993; Persellin, 1993; 1994; Youngson & Persellin, 2001

Reinforcement. Children who receive verbal and/or visual feedback regarding the accuracy of their singing improve significantly more than children who did not receive feedback (Dennis, 1975; Jones, 1971; Welch, 1985). Children need to receive specific feedback to know whether they are singing accurately in order to modify their singing.

Individual Versus Group Singing. Are children more accurate singing alone than with other children? Investigators have found that four through seven-year-olds are more accurate singers when singing alone rather than within a group (Goetze, 1986; Rutkowski, 1996; Smale, 1988). Kindergartners who received both group and individual instruction are more accurate singers than those who received only group instruction (Rutkowski, 1996). Children need many opportunities to sing both with the class and by themselves in order to become more accurate singers. When individual instruction can be included as part of a music curriculum, children show even greater improvement in vocal accuracy.

Listening to Music
Listening to music involves many skills including perception, comprehension, and analysis of music. Fewer studies have been conducted on the skill of listening to music compared to singing and other performance skills. It is, however, is a fundamental music skill and a requisite for all other music skills (Woody, 2002). Children are open to listening to broad genres of music until the third or fourth grade. At that time, their interest in popular music increases and their interest in “nonpopular” or “classical” music decreases (Greer, Dorrow, & Randall, 1974; LeBlanc, 1981).

Tempo. A series of studies indicates that fifth and sixth graders prefer music with a fast tempo (LeBlanc, 1981; LeBlanc & Cote, 1983; LeBlanc & McCrary, 1983). LeBlanc and McCrary found that when four similar examples of music were presented, students preferred music performed at faster tempos. LeBlanc (1981) suggested that teachers play music with faster tempos when introducing a new type of music to older children. Sims (1987) agreed and found not only does interest in popular music increase, but that interest in fast tempo emerges during the third grade.

Preparation for a concert. Preparation and follow-up of a concert experience enhances the learning outcome. Sixth grade students who had received instruction before and after or just before a concert performed significantly better on tests measuring musical elements and style perceptions than students who only attended the concert (Shehan, 1986). This research is supported by similar conclusions in Hedden’s review of studies that dealt with listening experiences related to concert experiences (1980).

The Effect of Music on General Learning and Attitudes
Music is its own discipline and need not to be justified to strengthen other skills or understandings. The learning of music, however, may also have a broader effect, one beyond the aesthetic merit of music.

The effect of music instruction on spatial skills. Music instruction can supply intellectual, emotional, and physical components critical to children’s development. During the last ten years, investigators have suggested that music instruction may have an effect on spatial skills or the ability to visualize an object from different perspectives. Hetland (2000), in a meta-analysis, examined 15 studies relating music instruction and spatial skills. These studies were conducted by a variety of research teams using various treatments. Hetland found that active instruction in music appears to have a small but significant effect on spatial skills for preschool and elementary-aged children lasting as long as instruction continues up to two years. Effects of music training, however, did not persist for long after music instruction ceased. The testing instruments used in these assessments are imperfect; low reliability of the testing measures used in many of these studies continues to be a concern. More research in this area is needed.

The effect of piano instruction on self-esteem. A McGill University study (Costa-Giomi, 1999) found that children who had taken three years of piano instruction had significantly higher self-esteem than children who were not enrolled in piano lessons. These results were not related to family income, sex, family structure, or parental employment. In addition to piano lessons, students in this study owned a new piano, played in recitals, and received individual attention from a caring teacher. While these elements could also have had an impact on the improvement in self-esteem, the overall effect of piano instruction could not be disputed.

Conclusion. This is an exciting time to explore research on musical development and music instruction of children. Interest in how children learn and value music has increased dramatically in parents, educators, and the music industry in the past twenty years. As investigators continue to conduct new studies and to replicate current studies, a strong foundation of musical understanding will be developed which will strengthen music education for generations to come.

References
Apfelstadt H. (1986). Learning modality: A potential clue in the search for vocal accuracy. Update: The Applications of Research in Music Education, 4:3, 4-6.