Does musical training improve school performance?

Abstract

In a retrospective study, we compared school performance of 53 children practicing music (group 1) with 67 controls not practicing music (group 2). Overall average marks as well as average marks of all school subjects except sports were significantly higher in children who do (group 1) than in those who do not practice music (group 2). In a multiple regression analysis, musical training, parent's income, and educational level (grades) correlated significantly with overall average marks. A slight decrease of overall average marks over 4 years from grades 3 to 6 was found in the control group only. Musical training evidently correlates with children's better performance at school, but is obviously part of a multifactorial dependence. Continuous musical training appears to help achieve and maintain school performance at a high level over time. Schlaug et al. 1995a, b). Two studies have suggested that this enlargement of cerebral structures might have implications on cognitive functions (Chan et al. 1998;Ho et al. 2003). KeywordsIn a study which involved random assignment, Schellenberg (2004) even found a positive overall effect of musical training on IQ scores in school children. In 2006, the same author reported positive associations between the duration of music lessons and IQ scores as well as between music lessons and academic performance. These very general associations found in a Torontonian sample of volunteers mark the starting point for our study. We want to find out if (a) Schellenberg's findings can be validated with a representative sample of Bernese (Swiss) children; (b) if musical training is associated with better overall school performance in grades 3 to 6; (c) if this effect is domain-specific or if it is rather general and extending over several school subjects and (d) if the association of music and school performance disappears if socio-economic factors are taken into account as well. In order to provide an in-depth analysis of school performance and thus extending the findings by Schellenberg (2006), we evaluated average marks per school subject in addition to overall average marks. Data of four different grades were analyzed in order also to estimate the association between the duration of musical training and school performance. Methods

Elvis Has Left the Building: Correlational but Not Causal Relationship between Music Skill and Cognitive Ability

“…Similarly, Forgeard et al (2008) reported that music discrimination skill correlated with phonological processing ability in a group of dyslexic and typically-developing children. In line with these studies, Wetter, Koerner, and Schwaninger (2009) reported a positive relationship between engagement in musical activities and overall academic attainment.…”

A dual step transfer model: Sport and non‐sport extracurricular activities and the enhancement of academic achievement

“…Conscientiousness (self‐discipline, organisation and achievement‐orientation) and openness‐to‐experience (the tendency to have an active imagination, to prefer change and variety over routine, to be intellectually curious) were suggested as two examples of capacities that music training promoted. A greater influence from EC music practice on overall school mark was seen in Grade 6 students (age 12) who had been practising for longer than Grade 3 students (age 9; Wetter et al ., ). Showing a similar dose–response relationship, the effect size of the impact upon the overall Ohio Proficiency Test score was greater in the Grade 9 students (aged 15 years) than in Grade 4 (age 9; Fitzpatrick, ).…”

“…The wisdom of the ages encapsulated in the concept of mens sana in corpore sano (healthy mind in a healthy body) has received considerable attention in the research literature, and assumes a causal relationship leading from the healthy body to the healthy mind. Significantly, sport and non-sport EC activities have been shown to provide low to moderate benefit to academic results in terms of effect size (Camp, 1990;Shephard, 1997;Sallis et al, 1999;Schellenburg, 2004Schellenburg, , 2006Wetter et al, 2009;Bradley et al, 2013). However, despite the proliferation of studies, until recently little conceptualisation existed over how this benefit may be caused and the actual benefits of participating in school sport and non-sport extracurricular activities (Shulruf, 2010).…”

Seeing the Bigger Picture: Investigating the State of the Arts in Teacher Education Programs in Australia

“…Interestingly, this continues to happen in spite of research that clearly indicates how allowing students' opportunities to participate in arts programs has been shown to boost academic achievement (Bamford, 2006;Catterall, Chapleau & Iwanaga, 1999;Wetter, Koerner, Schwaninger, 2009;Vaughan, Harris & Caldwell, 2011) particularly in relation to the areas of Government focus and funding -literacy and numeracy. Music instruction in particular, has been shown to significantly increase spatial-temporal reasoning skills (Hetland, 2001), encourage mathematical reasoning (Vaughan, 2001), improve numeracy (Hunter, 2005;Spillane, 2009) and mathematics (Bamford, 2006;Catteral, Chapleau & Iwanaga, 1999;Hunter, 2005;Uptis & Smithrim, 2003;Vaughan, Harris & Caldwell, 2011).…”