Studies claiming that playing music gives youngsters an academic boost have circulated for decades, but now their results are being called into question.
Researchers from Fujita Health University and the London School of Economics have compared dozens of previous studies to conclude that music in fact has no impact on students’ language or mathematics skills. The authors Giovanni Sala and Fernando Gobet spotted a pattern in the research: When participants were randomly assigned to groups who learned music and control groups who studied another skill such as dance or sports, the musical advantage vanished.
How does music help kids learn?Music educator and author Anita Collins recognises a trend towards higher-quality studies in the field of music education research. “A field naturally moves towards the gold standard of randomised longitudinal studies, which is what we should be focussing on.”
To Collins, Sala and Gobet’s research is an important reminder for educators and journalists alike to be specific when they talk about the effects of music learning, not to make general statements like “music makes kids smarter” but to focus on “why” students who play music tend to have better academic outcomes.
Collins explores why music students perform better at school in her new book The Music Advantage. Music stretches children’s attention spans, teaches them to persevere in the face of frustration, feeds self-confidence and nurtures social skills. These skills help support learning in all areas.
Learning music also has the incredible advantage of making children better at music, a skill that opens up a lifetime of enjoyment.