Music Education is Good for Kids

Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on the development of the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity. The incorporation of music training from preschool to postsecondary education is common in most nations because involvement in music is considered a fundamental component of human culture and behavior.

And here are the facts:
Researchers at Keele University have reported that babies in the womb can hear and remember music as early as 20 weeks gestation. Babies showed signs of recognizing songs played to them in utero during the mothers' 20th-21st weeks of pregnancy. An Eastman research project found dramatic increases in language development and memory skills between those children exposed to music and literature in utero and their siblings who were not.

In a study of fifty-two premature babies and newborns with low birth weight at the Tallahassee Memorial Regional Medical Center in Tallahassee, Florida, a researcher reported that playing sixty-minute tapes of vocal music, including lullabies and children's songs, reduced hospital stay an average of five days. Mean weight loss of babies was also about 50 percent lower for the group of babies listening to music, formula intake was less, and stress levels were reduced.

A researcher at the University of California at Irvine has found that music and language are inseparably linked as a single system in the brain. This system is acquired in the earliest stages of infancy and continues as the child processes the sounds of human voices around him.

A research project conducted with three-year-olds in a Los Angeles preschool tested children's spatial reasoning after eight months of keyboard and singing lessons. The children who had received the music training increased their spatial-temporal reasoning by 46 percent as compared to a 6 percent increase in the control group that received no training.

Researchers studying the link between music and intelligence divided preschool children into four groups: one group received private piano lessons, the second had private computer training, while the remaining children were divided among a singing-only group and a no-lesson group. After six months of training, the groups were tested. Those in the piano group had the most dramatic improvement in spatial-temporal reasoning: their scores increased by 34 percent.

Studying music strengthens students' academic performance. 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 reading and math.

A study conducted in 1982 by Delehanty found that first graders learn to read and write within a few weeks when learning lessons to music.

Researchers have proved that music training is a powerful tool for increasing spatial-temporal reasoning skills, the skills crucial for greater success in subjects like
math and science.

A two-year Swiss study involving 1,200 children in 50 schools showed that students involved in the music program were better at languages, learned to read more easily, showed an improved social climate, showed more enjoyment in school, and had a lower level of stress than non-music students.