Monday, December 7, 2009

Musical Talented Adolescents Have Better Potential To Do Better In School

An article I found at ScienceDaily explains how musical participation, such as playing an instrument and studying music theory, will increase the chance for children to become smarter in math and reading.
“This topic becomes an issue of equity at both the family and school levels,” the authors conclude.

“This has major policy implications for federal, state, and local agencies, as well as knowledge that can help families allocate resources that are most beneficial to children.”
Music is positively associated with academic achievement, especially during the high school years. However, some adolescents don't participate in music or can't afford and/or have a low access to music.

I'm a musician and I can tell you that, yes, reading music and participating with music does help your reading and your math skills, because ultimately, when you're reading music or constructing a composition, you're using the same part of your brain as if you were reading a book or doing a math problem, that's my theory anyway.

3 comments:

  1. I agree with this 100%. I think that your link is broken though, I can't get to the article.

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  2. I think that this article is very true, and I agree with it 100%

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  3. Two comments:

    1. I'm having the same problem as Chase. Make sure you double-check your links before posting.

    2. I'd like to see more of a summary of how they came to this conclusion. What type of research was involved? How did they decide music that music benefits academic achievement.

    Having made those two criticisms, I'd like to add that this is a great post because of its relevance to you personally, and obviously to several of your classmates. This is the sort of stuff that I love to see on this blog. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

    22/25

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