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UC Irvine study shows that exposure to music enhances early childhood development of brain

Preschoolers Given Piano Lessons Scored Higher on Tests of Reasoning Skills Than Classmates Who Received Computer and Singing Lessons 

A study by UC Irvine researchers shows that piano lessons significantly improve the reasoning skills of preschool children.

The results of the two-year study -- published in the February issue of the journal Neurological Research -- provide the strongest evidence to date that exposure to music at an early age can enhance the early childhood development of the brain, said UCI physics professor Gordon Shaw, the principal investigator for the study.

The UCI study showed that preschool children who received basic piano keyboard instruction scored an average of 34 percent higher on tests of their reasoning skills than children who were given computer and singing lessons.

"What this means for parents is that they should consider giving their children piano lessons as early as age three or four," Shaw said. "Our study is not the last word on the subject, but it's a big step forward in showing the importance of music to learning and the need for music training programs for all grade levels."

http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=267  

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"Overall, those children who received the piano/keyboard   training performed 34% higher on tests measuring               spatial temporal ability..."

PIANO LESSONS: Investing in your children

Overall, the children who received the piano/keyboard training performed 34% higher on tests measuring spatial temporal ability.

The February 19, 1996 issue of Newsweek magazine contains two eye-opening articles. The first article entitled, "Your Child's Brain," revealed a study that was led by psychologists Dr. Gordon Shaw and Dr. Frances Rauscher at UC Irvine. It was found that after giving nineteen preschoolers either singing or piano lessons, the children's "spatial reasoning had dramatically improved". Compared with children who had not received music lessons, as displayed by their ability to work mazes, draw geometric figures or shapes and copy patterns of two- color blocks "Music," says the UC team, "excites the inherent brain patterns and enhances their use in complex reasoning tasks."

The second article, "Why do schools flaunt Biology?" goes into greater detail about neurons, synapses, and axonal connections. Detailed, but not impossible to understand. We recommend that you drop by your local library and read the articles in full

Another fascinating study done by the same UC team revealed that, "music lessons, specifically piano instruction, is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children’s abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning math and science." Published in the February 1997 issue of Neurological Research, these findings are the result of a two-year experiment with four groups of preschoolers.

In the experiment, one group of preschoolers received private piano/keyboard lessons. Another group was given singing lessons, while the third group received private computer lessons. The fourth group received no training. Overall, the children who received the piano/keyboard training performed 34% higher on test measuring spatial-temporal ability. Obviously, music enhances brain functions needed for mathematics, science, and engineering.

These findings can change the way educators view the core school curricula, as music tends to "nurture" the intellect and produces long-term improvements.

Dr. Rauscher stated, "It has been clearly documented that young students have difficulty understanding the concepts of proportion (heavily used in math and science) and that no successful program has been developed to teach these concepts in the school system."

As a result, Dr. Shaw added, "The high proportion of children who evidenced dramatic improvement in spatial-temporal reasoning as a result of music training should be of great interest to scientists and educators."

What the UC team's studies indicate is that music training generates the neural connections used for abstract reasoning like those necessary for understanding mathematical concepts. Neural connections are responsible for all types of intelligence and a child's brain will develop to its full potential only with exposure to enriching childhood experiences. Early experiences determine which brain cells (neurons) will connect with other brain cells and which will die away,

Drs. Shaw and Rauscher, through earlier studies, have reported a "casual relationship between music training and spatial-temporal ability enhancement in preschoolers (1994) and among college students who simply listened to a Mozart sonata (1993, 1995)!

Although piano lessons are a fundamental way to give a child a broad appreciation of music, the benefits are largely non-musical.

Incidentally, it is not important for a child to play a song to perfection. What is important is for a child to develop to the best of his or her abilities. The piano is the "educational tool" that can help accelerate a child's development.

Children that take piano lessons learn valuable qualities such as concentration, coordination and confidence. These qualities have been termed the "three C's", and they can help children reach their full potential.

Complete concentration is required when studying piano. In lessons, a child learns to read two lines of music and uses both ears, arms, legs, feet and all ten fingers with the brain sending a different message to each of the body parts, causing them to work together. No other activity allows these skills to be used so constructively!

Coordination of the mind and muscles is also developed with piano lessons, transferring into many daily activities, which can include improved hand-eye coordination, greater sports enjoyment, and the fuller use of both sides of the brain.

Confidence is then developed as a child begins to experience the benefits of concentration and coordination. It is very rewarding for a child to complete a difficult task, allowing him or her to feel good about the accomplishment.

In other words, the "three C's" can help build a foundation that will cause a child to grow and benefit now and also in the future.

In 1991, a pilot piano/keyboard project had some remarkably convincing results. In fact, it was described boldly as, "a revolution in the art of teaching." School officials and business leaders had nothing but praise for the project that was started in 1990, for first and second graders.

Davis Elementary of Greenwood, Mississippi was chosen due to the ample room available, making it easier to implement the program. The program was modeled after a similar program in Japan, with the results being the same... positive.

As you can see in the bar graph, there were substantial increases in both reading and especially math. Without lessons, there was only a marginal increase for both. The percentile increases were based on the SAT scores taken before and after the program.

The results were pretty amazing when you consider that the lessons were given to a group of twelve to fifteen students just once a week. Sound familiar? It's just like the piano lessons many students receive today with piano teachers around the world. With private one-on-one lessons the results would probably be even better, especially for those who are encouraged to practice regularly.

According to an article by public relations chairman for the Sounds of Aloha chorus and the Hawaii’s men's barbershop chorus, Tom Hutton, entitled, "Music improves school grades," the social development that results from a child who receives music instruction are only the tip of the iceberg."

The real results are in academic achievement. The article points out, "Particularly in a child's early formative years, the impact of music instruction and activity on mental development is dramatic." There is also some evidence that the benefits are particularly pronounced in "slow learners."

Students with music backgrounds have consistently exceeded the national average on SAT scores by 19-31 points on the verbal portion and 14-23 points on the math portion, according to the College Entrance Examination Board.

The investment you make now can translate into scholarship money later because of the higher SAT scores, saving you money in the long run.

As a parent, you only have a short amount of time to influence and mold your children in a positive way for the future.

We're not sure who wrote the following, but we think it effectively sums everything up…

Copyright © 2001 British Columbia Registered Music Teachers Association Last modified: October 09, 2007      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   How to give your child a lifelong interest in music By Melinda Bargreen Seattle Times music critic SUSAN JOUFLAS / THE SEATTLE TIMES SUSAN JOUFLAS / THE SEATTLE TIMES SUSAN JOUFLAS / THE SEATTLE TIMES SUSAN JOUFLAS / THE SEATTLE TIMES   With the fall season well under way and the "back to school" frenzy slightly abated, a lot of parents are thinking about their children's musical education: When, and whether, to start kids on music lessons? And which instrument? How early is too early, and how do you get them to practice? You may not be obsessed with getting your youngster to the center stage of Carnegie Hall — indeed, we hope you are not! — but musical literacy is a wonderful goal for every child. And you never know when early exposure to music may uncover a vein of talent that leads on to a real gold strike. Books can be, and have been, written on the subject of launching a child's musical education. We don't have that scope here, but we can give you some points to get you started. 1. First of all, make good music a part of your whole family's life. Even if you don't sing or play an instrument, you can play music in the home and take the family to the occasional concert. This doesn't have to cost a lot of money: KING-FM broadcasts for free (98.1 on your FM dial, or streaming over the Internet via www.king.org). Many concerts are free, too, or at least free to children, from recitals and chamber events in local churches to free-kids-with-paid-adult-admission tickets to many professional events (such as Seattle's Gallery Concerts, www.galleryconcerts.org). Kids love what they know — as parents realize when they read that beloved bedtime story for the zillionth time. 2. Every child is different, and only you can tell when your child is ready for music lessons. Some are ready at 3; others are ready at 10. Generally, string and piano students tend to start earlier, and wind-instrument players are more likely to start a little later. Think about your child's attention span: Can she sit still and concentrate for extended periods? Does he love to climb up on a piano bench and "play" it? Are your children fascinated by music when they have the opportunity to hear it? Do they tell you they want to play an instrument? Sometimes a single musical event will "flip a switch" in a child's fertile mind. The remarkable oboist Alex Klein, who grew up in a small Brazilian town with limited musical possibilities, attended an orchestra concert as a little kid and heard the oboe; he pointed to the instrument and said, "I want to play that one," and was motivated enough to travel a seven-hour bus ride to his lessons. 3. Make a careful match of your child and the instrument. If you have a piano available, that's an obvious choice; your youngster will learn a lot about music by playing chords and learning two different clefs (bass and treble), and the piano is good both as a solo and ensemble/accompanying instrument. But not all kids love the available instrument (including Uncle Harry's old trombone or that clarinet someone left lying around in the attic). One of our children started out on one instrument and soon said, "I just don't like it," and it turned out that another instrument was the answer. Consider your own tastes, too: If you can't stand the sound of the saxophone, or the thought of student-level violin playing is like chalk squeaking on the blackboard, parents can suggest instruments that they already know they like. Remember also that the instrument has to be appropriate to the size of your child; the contrabassoon is not a great starter instrument for a 5-year-old. 4. Find a great teacher. How? Word-of-mouth is one way; ask everybody you know who is involved with music, "Who's a great teacher for beginning cello?" or "Whose violin students are doing really well?" School band and orchestra teachers usually have a pretty good list of teachers who work well with kids. Many fine teachers are members of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), and there is excellent information about finding teachers on their Web site: www.mtna.org (click on "Resources" and then on "choosing a music teacher"). Also check out the chapters of the MTNA in your city; the Seattle one (www.seattlemta.net) has a helpful link to teacher referrals. Very young students are the specialty of the Suzuki program (www.suzukiassociation.org), which starts youngsters as early as 3 or 4 years old. 5. Finally: support your child's efforts and make sure he practices. If I had a nickel for every nonmusical adult who has told me, "I wish my parents hadn't let me give up on music lessons," I'd have a whole lot of nickels. Set up dedicated practice times for your youngsters, and make sure you hold them to it. The teacher's recommendation and your child's age (and your own good sense) will decide how much practice time is necessary to achieve continued progress. An imaginative, experienced teacher will have suggestions about how to make practice fun. Analogies to other endeavors, whether it's learning a video game or becoming a good soccer player, will remind your kids that it's worthwhile putting in effort to improve — and a valuable life lesson, too. Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattltimes.com Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~