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For centuries people knew about the power and the importance of music, however the study of music was reserved for the privileged few. For most of the 20th century, a strong music program was considered to be an important part of a well-balanced education. With the advancement of bio-, neuro- & medical science it is clear that it is MUSIC that lays the foundation for later academic and career success. |
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So, think about it — as a parent, would you be interested in an activity that would not only help your child perform better in school, but also increase their chances for success later in life? And what if that activity was something your child actually enjoyed and wanted to take part in. Interested? |
| Sure, you're interested. And, surprise! This activity is not new, and as a matter of fact, you might have taken part in it yourself. It is the process of making music. And until recently, scientists didn't really understand the connection between music making and intelligence. |
| Many centuries ago, Plato said, "Music is a more potent instrument than any other..." And today, scientists have dubbed the 1990s as the "decade of the brain" because of the explosion in brain research. Recently, dramatic new research regarding the benefits of playing music might have altered Plato's views to read, "Playing music is a more potent instrument than any other for education and development." | |
| Scientists have long suspected a neurological connection between playing music and intelligence, but it was not until recently that specific data became available directly linking the two. Forte Academy's Founding family has a strong ties with medical community; there are lasting contacts and friendships dating from Boris's medical school days - to this day we receive incredible data and interesting info and scientific evidence related to the benefits of study of music. | |
| ► Academic & Behavioral Benefits of Study of Music | |
| ► Developmental Benefits | |
| ► Social & Health Benefits of the Study of Music: | |
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In simple terms, the brain's cortex, the center of our intellectual functions, represents 85 percent of brain mass, The remaining 15 percent of the brain, the limbic system, handles our emotional functions. Researchers at McGill University in Montreal found that music functions as a key link between the cortex and limbic systems, suggesting that it's virtually impossible to study or play a musical instrument without feeling a wide range of positive emotions such as joy, happiness, love and tenderness |
| From this research, Author Sharlene Habermeyer, in her book, Good Music, Brighter Children, concluded, "and when we allow these emotions to be a part of the learning process, our education becomes richer, more meaningful, longer lasting, and has greater impact in our lives!" | |
| Another study, performed at the University of Texas, found a direct relationship between the brain's ability to interpret musical notes and passages and written letters and words. | |
| And further research has documented that the sensory input section of a violinist's brain which registers and controls activity of the left hand was more highly developed than that of the brain area controlling the less active right hand. The research further discovered that the earlier the violinist had begun to play, the greater the sophistication and response characteristics of the left hand cortical area of the brain. | |
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Making Music Makes Us Smarter, Happier & Healthier (if you like to read...) |
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Repeatedly, neurological research proved the
TREMENDOUS IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC LEARNING TO BRAIN DEVELOPMENT AND
ACHIEVEMENT. Studies, including one by the University of California at
Irvine, showed that LEARNING MUSIC INCREASES THE ABILITY OF YOUNG CHILDREN
TO CREATE MENTAL IMAGES BY OVER 80%. This ability is THE ESSENTIAL of
MATHEMATICAL and ANALYTICAL THINKING!
One of the most
recent studies, conducted upon request of the US Department of
Education, included 28000 students seriously involved in study of
different musical instruments. Students were of different ages, social and
cultural background with a minimum of 2 years of continued PRIVATE musical
instrument study (various instruments).
AGAIN,
the result was: Students seriously involved in
private study of any musical instrument scored highest on mathematical AND
verbal aptitude tests, outperforming their classmates not involved in study
of music!
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Music doesn't just soothe the soul , it also raises the IQ! |
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In recently published study, the University of Toronto professor and his team conducted a study in which some 6-year-old children were given piano or voice lessons, other received drama lessons and others received no lessons. He found the IQ of the music students rose nearly three points higher than those in other groups.( Article published in the Psychological Science, August 2004) |
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(click on .jpg image for article in full) |
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This study, as many other did, once again has confirmed the ASTONISHING impact of MUSICAL INSTRUMENT STUDY on a child's development. |
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WHAT DOES MUSIC REALLY DO TO OUR CHILDREN? |
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Not only
will music study help YOUR CHILD in the area of MATHEMATICS but also in
READING, COMMUNICATIONS AND MEMORY!!! And, aside from its academic value,
there are MORE REASONS to give your child (OR
YOURSELF) a music education: |
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WHAT CHILD DEVELOPMENT EXPERTS THINK ABOUT PIANO TRAINING... |
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...and the JOY of MUSIC Making are simply
GIFTS for LIFE! |
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So, think about it — as a parent, would you be interested in an activity that would not only help your child perform better in school, but also increase their chances for success later in life? And what if that activity was something your child actually enjoyed and wanted to take part in. Interested? |
| Sure, you're interested. And, surprise! This activity is not new, and as a matter of fact, you might have taken part in it yourself. It is the process of making music. And until recently, scientists didn't really understand the connection between music making and intelligence. |
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From recent issue of USA TODAY: "Musical training can be a big help in getting to the top of business and politics, according to most congressmen and Chief Executive Officers of Fortune 500 companies. Ninety three percent of more than 1,000 CEO's and congressmen interviewed during this survey said playing a musical instrument as a child helped them develop "character and leadership skills." |
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A recent Rockefeller Foundation Study concluded that students seriously trained in music (for minimum of 10 years) have the highest rate of admittance to medical schools, followed by biochemistry and the humanities. |
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A comprehensive series of skill tests were run on 5,154 fifth graders in 75 of the Boston, MA elementary schools. In EVERY SINGLE TEST AREA, kids who were learning to play a musical instrument received higher marks than their classmates. And, the longer the school children had been in the instrumental programs, the higher they scored. |
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The American Music Conference reports that music-makers are more likely to go on to college and other higher education than non-music music makers...52% more likely. The AMC also reports that music-makers watch less TV and are more optimistic about their futures than non-music makers. |
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It is also interesting to note that music making is being found to benefit the seniors as well. A survey of people in their 70’s showed that those who regularly participated in hobbies that were intellectually challenging, like reading or playing a musical instrument, during their younger adult years tended to be protected from Alzheimer’s disease. This research was done by Dr. Robert Friedland, whose study appeared this year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Zaven Khachaturian, senior medical adviser to the Alzheimer’s Association, said the study is important because it supports other research showing that the onset of Alzheimer’s is delayed by education and by intellectually demanding activities like music making. |
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SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE related to the benefits of piano/music study... |
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| ...mounts.
Repeatedly, neurological research proved the
TREMENDOUS IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC LEARNING TO BRAIN DEVELOPMENT AND
ACHIEVEMENT. Studies, including one by the University of California at
Irvine, showed that LEARNING MUSIC INCREASES THE ABILITY OF YOUNG CHILDREN
TO CREATE MENTAL IMAGES BY OVER 80%. This ability is THE ESSENTIAL of
MATHEMATICAL and ANALYTICAL THINKING!
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| One of the most
recent studies, conducted upon request of the US Department of Education,
included 28000 students seriously involved in study of different musical
instruments. Students were of different ages, social and cultural
background with a minimum of 2 years of continued PRIVATE musical instrument
study (various instruments).
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| AGAIN, the
result was: Students seriously involved in private study of any musical
instrument scored highest on mathematical AND verbal aptitude tests,
outperforming their classmates not involved in study of music - even those
involved in extracurricular computer training!
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Those and numerous other studies conducted all over the world, are unanimously confirming the ASTONISHING impact of MUSICAL INSTRUMENT STUDY on child's development. |
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It has long been maintained
that music training produces significant non-musical educational benefits.
In the last ten years, important scientific and educational research has
provided convincing evidence of the extrinsic value of music education.
Numerous neurological research studies published in the last few years show
that children who participate in piano instruction demonstrate a dramatic
improvement in spatial-temporal reasoning abilities - abilities crucial to
the comprehension of math and science concepts. This is understood to be a
result of the visual-linear representation of the spatial
relationships between pitches found on the keyboard, and the fact that
two significantly different and challenging mental processes are working
simultaneously while playing a piano keyboard. |
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The following paragraphs summarize important recent studies: ► A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that piano training is superior to computer or singing instruction in enhancing children’s abstract reasoning skills. Neurological Research, Vol. 19, Feb. 1997, Shaw, Rauscher, et al ► Under-achieving first grade students in two Rhode Island elementary schools who were given an enriched, sequential, skill-building music program showed marked improvement in reading and math skills. Nature, May 23, 1996, Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles ► A McGill University study found that scores on pattern recognition and mental representation tests improved significantly for students given piano instruction over a three-year period. The McGill Piano Project, Costa-Giomi, E., April 1998 ► An Auburn University study found significant increases in overall self-concept of at-risk children participating in a music and arts program. Project ARISE: Meeting the needs of disadvantaged students through the arts, Auburn University, 1992, Barry, N.H. ► In the kindergarten classes of Kettle Moraine, WI school district, children who were given piano instruction scored 48% higher on spatial-temporal skill. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Volume 15, Issue #2, Sept. 2000, Rauscher, F. and Zupan, M. ► An analysis of the US Dept. of Education NELLs88 database, compiled over a period of ten years, showed that students involved in music scored higher than those with no music involvement in standardized tests and proficiency exams. Catterall,J., UCLA, 1997 |
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Success in society, of course, is predicated on success in school. Any music teacher or parent of a music student can call to mind anecdotes about effectiveness of music study in helping children become better students. Skills learned through the discipline of music, these stories commonly point out, transfer to study skills, communication skills, and cognitive skills useful in every part of the curriculum. Another common variety of story emphasizes the way that the discipline of music study — helps students learn to work effectively in the school environment without resorting to violent or inappropriate behavior. And there are a number of hard facts that we can report about the ways that music study is correlated with success in school: According to statistics compiled by the National Data Resource Center, students who can be classified as "disruptive" (based on factors such as frequent skipping of classes, times in trouble, in-school suspensions, disciplinary reasons given, arrests, and drop-outs) total 12.14 percent of the total school population. In contrast, only 8.08 percent of students involved in private music classes meet the same criteria as "disruptive." — Based on data from the NELS:88 (National Education Longitudinal Study), second follow-up, 1992. Students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: 52 points higher on the verbal and 36 points higher on the math for music performance, and 60 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math for music appreciation than students with no music study participation. — 1998 College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers, The College Entrance Examination Board, Princeton, New Jersey Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 showed that 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. — NELS:88 First Follow-up, 1990, National Center for Education Statistics, Washington DC Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66% of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. 44% of biochemistry majors were admitted. — As reported in "The Case for Music in the Schools," Phi Delta Kappan, February 1994 A study of 811 high school students indicated that the proportion of minority students with a music teacher role-model was significantly larger than for any other discipline. 36% of these students identified music teachers as their role models, as opposed to 28% English teachers, 11% elementary teachers, 7% physical education/sports teachers, 1% principals. — D.L. Hamann and L.M. Walker, "Music teachers as role models for African-American students," Journal of Research in Music Education, 41, 1993 Students who participated in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking skills. — National Arts Education Research Center, New York University, 1990 Success in school and in society depends on an array of abilities. Without joining the intense ongoing debate about the nature of intelligence as a basic ability, we can demonstrate that some measures of a child’s intelligence are indeed increased with music instruction. Once again, this burgeoning range of data supports a long-established base of anecdotal knowledge to the effect that music education makes kids smarter. What is new and especially compelling, however, is a combination of tightly-controlled behavioral studies and groundbreaking neurological research that show how music study can actively contribute to brain development: A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. — Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997 Students in two Rhode Island elementary schools who were given an enriched, sequential, skill-building music program showed marked improvement in reading and math skills. Students in the enriched program who had started out behind the control group caught up to statistical equality in reading, and pulled ahead in math. — Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles, as reported in Nature, May 23, 1996 Researchers at the University of Montreal used various brain imaging techniques to investigate brain activity during musical tasks and found that sight-reading musical scores and playing music both activate regions in all four of the cortex's lobes; and that parts of the cerebellum are also activated during those tasks. — Sergent, J., Zuck, E., Tenial, S., and MacDonall, B. (1992). Distributed neural network underlying musical sight reading and keyboard performance. Science, 257, 106-109. Researchers in Leipzig found that brain scans of musicians showed larger planum temporale (a brain region related to some reading skills) than those of non-musicians. They also found that the musicians had a thicker corpus callosum (the bundle of nerve fibers that connects the two halves of the brain) than those of non-musicians, especially for those who had begun their training before the age of seven. — Schlaug, G., Jancke, L., Huang, Y., and Steinmetz, H. (1994). In vivo morphometry of interhemispheric assymetry and connectivity in musicians. In I. Deliege (Ed.), Proceedings of the 3d international conference for music perception and cognition (pp. 417-418). Liege, Belgium. A University of California (Irvine) study showed that after eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers showed a 46% boost in their spatial reasoning IQ. — Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Ky and Wright, "Music and Spatial Task Performance: A Causal Relationship," University of California, Irvine, 1994 Researchers found that children given piano lessons significantly improved in their spatial- temporal IQ scores (important for some types of mathematical reasoning) compared to children who received computer lessons, casual singing, or no lessons. — Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L., Levine, L.J., Wright, E.L., Dennis, W.R., and Newcomb, R. (1997) Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial temporal reasoning. Neurological Research, 19, 1-8. 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. — Costa-Giomi, E. (1998, April). The McGill Piano Project: Effects of three years of piano instruction on children's cognitive abilities, academic achievement, and self-esteem. Paper presented at the meeting of the Music Educators National Conference, Phoenix, AZ. Researchers found that lessons on songbells (a standard classroom instrument) led to significant improvement of spatial-temporal scores for three- and four-year-olds. — Gromko, J.E., and Poorman, A.S. (1998) The effect of music training on preschooler's spatial-temporal task performance. Journal of Research in Music Education, 46, 173-181. In the Kindergarten classes of the school district of Kettle Moraine, Wisconsin, children who were given music instruction scored 48 percent higher on spatial-temporal skill tests than those who did not receive music training. — Rauscher, F.H., and Zupan, M.A. (1999). Classroom keyboard instruction improves kindergarten children's spatial-temporal performance: A field study. Manuscript in press, Early Childhood Research Quarterly. An Auburn University study found significant increases in overall self-concept of at-risk children participating in an arts program that included music, movement, dramatics and art, as measured by the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale. — N.H. Barry, Project ARISE: Meeting the needs of disadvantaged students through the arts, Auburn University, 1992 Social & Health Benefits of the Study of Music: Each of us wants our children — and the children of all those around us — to achieve success in school, success in employment, and success in the social structures through which we move. But we also want our children to experience "success" on a broader scale. Participation in music, often as not based on a grounding in music education during the formative school years, brings countless benefits to each individual throughout life. The benefits may be psychological or spiritual, and they may be physical as well: Music making makes the elderly healthier.... There were significant decreases in anxiety, depression, and loneliness following keyboard lessons. These are factors that are critical in coping with stress, stimulating the immune system, and in improved health. Results also show significant increases in human growth hormones following the same group keyboard lessons. (Human growth hormone is implicated in aches and pains.) — Dr. Frederick Tims, reported in AMC Music News, June 2, 1999 Music education opens doors that help children pass from school into the world around them — a world of work, culture, intellectual activity, and human involvement. The future of our nation depends on providing our children with a complete education that includes music. — Gerald Ford, former President, United States of America During the Gulf War, the few opportunities I had for relaxation I always listened to music, and it brought to me great peace of mind. I have shared my love of music with people throughout this world, while listening to the drums and special instruments of the Far East, Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Far North — and all of this started with the music appreciation course that I was taught in a third-grade elementary class in Princeton, New Jersey. What a tragedy it would be if we lived in a world where music was not taught to children. — H. Norman Schwarzkopf, General, U.S. Army, retired |