H2O Magazine

Role of Music in brain development

“From the moment a parent first embraces their child, they are searching for ways to bring that child the best that life has to offer,” says LaRae Mills, Piano Teacher in Cottage Grove, MN.

Research over the past two decades has brought forth exciting revelations about the role that music plays in everything from in brain development to physical and mental health therapies.

According to the American Music Conference, children are effected by music have done research to show a tangible difference in both the academic and social development of children.

Kindermusik

Music’s Positive impact on child development

They site numerous studies that show the following crucial facts about music’s positive impact on child development:

· Middle school and high school students who participated in instrumental music scored significantly higher than their non-band peers in standardized tests.

· Music study can help kids understand advanced music concepts. A grasp of proportional math and fractions is a prerequisite to math at higher levels, and children who do not master these areas cannot understand more advanced math critical to high-tech fields. Music involves ratios, fractions, proportions and thinking in space and time.

· A McGill University study found that pattern recognition and mental representation scores improved significantly for students given piano instruction over a three-year period. They also found that self-esteem and musical skills measures improved for the students given piano instruction.

· Music participants received more academic honors and awards than non-music students, and that the percentage of music participants receiving As, As/Bs, and Bs was higher than the percentage of non-participants receiving those grades.

· Young children with developed rhythm skills perform better academically in early school years.

· Music training helps under-achievers.

(Source: American Music Conference)