This from @jshe and @WeAreTeachers on Twitter:
They linked to a UK study by Janice on the Music Teacher’s Blog that had the following findings from Professor Susan Halem, University of London’s research:
- “Students who learned music over time, increased their general IQ by 7 points, while drama subjects only increased their IQ by 4.3points.
- Playing an instrument improves general behaviour because it requires a students to trust, respect and compromise with others
- Learning a musical instrument improves behavior, memory and intelligence
- Musically trained students retain up to a fifth more information”
I’ve always heard that there was a correlation between math and music — that somehow math “primed the neural pathways” that music also passes along – however, in a country (the US) seemingly starved for music education – it looks like that perhaps by removing the extra curriculars, not only have we taken some of the joy out of school – we may have also inadvertently hurt the test scores we are trying so desperately to raise.
Bring back the music.
Of course, there is always the question of correlation or causation, however, this research certainly requires a closer look.
education teaching music test scores learning news innovation school improvement extra curricular drama
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5 comments
I believe Music is always important, children (and adults) learn in different ways. We should be catering for as many of those learners as we can.
I’m so grateful that our school has a specialist music teacher as I would not be able to deliver the same quallity of program that she does. I haven’t tracked scores/grades to see improvement but I do know it helps some children with their understanding in other areas of the curriculum that they wouldn’t have otherwise had if the music teacher was not available.
I could not agree more about the power of music and I’ve blogged about it recently at http://gilmarmattos.posterous.com. I’d also like to share Barbra Streisand’s opinion about music http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVzl01bBl74 . In one of her CDs she also says that “music is the connective tissue among souls”.
You can find all kinds of “data” for supporting music programs in your school on the MENC website (Music Educator’s National Conference): http://www.menc.org .
What is mental retardation (MR) and do IQ scores help to clarify potential performance of a person who has bee?
Not sure about your question.
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