According to a study published by the American Psychological Association, high school students who take music classes perform significantly better on exams in other subjects such as math and science than their nonmusical peers.
How Music Students Outshine Their Peers in Math, Science, and English:
“In public education systems in arts courses, including music courses, are frequently underfunded in comparison to what are often referred to as academic courses, including math, science, and English,” said Peter Gouzouasis, PhD, of the University of British Columbia, an author of the study of more than 100,000 Canadian students. “It is believed that students who spend their school time in music classes rather than improving their skills in math, science, and English will perform poorly in those subjects. Our findings suggest that the more they study music, the better they perform in those subjects.”
The researchers looked at school records for all students in British Columbia who began first grade between 2000 and 2003, finished the last three years of high school, took at least one standardized exam in math, science, or English (10th or 12th grade), and had appropriate demographic information (e.g., gender, ethnicity, neighborhood socioeconomic status).
Of the more than 112,000 student records examined, roughly 13% had taken at least one music course in grades 10, 11, or 12. Qualifying music courses included concert band, conservatory piano, orchestra, jazz band, concert choir, and vocal jazz. General music or guitar courses did not qualify because they required no prior music experience and, in the case of general music, no music-making or practice, according to Gouzouasis and his co-authors, Martin Guhn, PhD and Scott Emerson, MSc, both from the University of British Columbia.
“Students who participated in music, who had higher achievement in music, and who were highly engaged in music had higher exam scores across all subjects, while these associations were more pronounced for those who took instrumental music rather than vocal music,” he told me. “On average, the children who learned to play a musical instrument for many years, and were now playing in high school band and orchestra, were the equivalent of about one academic year ahead of their peers with regard to their English, mathematics and science skills, as measured by their exam grades.”
Aside from the strength of the associations, the researchers were most surprised by their consistency across all three subject areas. These associations remained significant even after the researchers controlled for demographic factors such as gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and prior achievement on comparable seventh-grade exams.
Gouzouasis believes that some skills learned in band, orchestra, and conservatory music lessons transfer very well to adolescent learning in school.
“Learning to play a musical instrument and performing in an ensemble is extremely demanding. A student must learn to read music notation, develop eye-hand-mind coordination, keen listening skills, teamwork for ensemble playing, and discipline to practice.
“All of those learning experiences help to improve children’s cognitive abilities and self-efficacy,” he explained. “We believe that the effects we see are due in part to the fact that children who have participated in school music for many years typically receive quality music instruction and must meet the high standards of performing at the high school band or orchestra level. In fact, we saw the most significant effects with high levels of music engagement.”
The researchers hope that their findings will be shared with students, parents, teachers, and educational administrators, as many school districts have historically prioritized numeracy and literacy over other areas of learning, particularly music.
“Music education resources, such as the hiring of trained, specialized music educators and band and orchestral instruments, are frequently reduced or eliminated in elementary and secondary schools. The argument has frequently been that we must devote all of our resources to math, science, and English,” Gouzouasis explained. “The irony is that music education — multiple years of high-quality instrumental learning and playing in a band or orchestra or singing in a choir at an advanced level – may be the very thing that improves all-around academic achievement and an ideal way to have students learn more holistically in schools.”