|
|
12 Important Skills Your Child
Learns by Studying Music
Ten-Year Study Shows Music Improves Test Scores
Music Lessons Help Students More Than Computer Training
Music Training Helps Underachievers
Piano Boosts Student Math Achievement
Music Students Score Higher on SATS
12 Important Skills Your Child
Learns by Studying Music
There is an undeniably strong correlation between
music education and the development of skills that our children need
to become successful in life. These skills will follow your child
on whatever path he or she chooses in life. Music lessons can have a
formative influence that may be second only to the love you give
your child. If you’re looking for a way to provide your child with a
source of life-long joy, satisfaction, and accomplishment, childhood
music education is an excellent first step.
Self-Confidence: Being
able to go from learning notes and rhythms to producing meaningful
music instills in your child a sense of accomplishment and
self-confidence.
Coordination: Hand, eye,
body posture and thought all working together are the ingredients of
playing an instrument. These coordination skills transfer to many
other aspects of life.
Teamwork: Every child
wants to be part of a group. Theory and musicianship classes, in
addition to group performances and recitals provide just such unique
opportunities.
Comprehension: Learning
to perceive and derive meaning from musical sounds sharpens your
child's ability to comprehend abstractions.
Problem-Solving: Learning
the basics of musical language and interpreting a work through
performance teaches your child the ability to understand a problem
and reach an appropriate solution.
Discipline: Learning all
of the basics of music and applying them correctly takes perception
and discipline.
Art Appreciation: The
words beauty, serenity and excitement come to life with each musical
experience. These feelings help every child appreciate all forms of
the arts.
Logical Reasoning: When
your child learns to analyze a musical work from all perspectives or
to improvise within a certain musical style, both inductive and
deductive reasoning grows stronger.
Communication: Music
offers the ability to cultivate our feelings and thoughts through
nonverbal means and to respond to these nonverbal thoughts in
others.
Conceptualization: Your
child learns to classify by learning to identify different types and
styles of music and to recognize how cultures use music for personal
expression.
Making Value Judgments:
Learning to comprehend, consider and evaluate in music can help your
child make informed decisions and uphold value judgments in other
aspects of life.
Using Symbols: Learning
to read, write and interpret musical notation strengthens the use of
other symbol systems such as mathematics and language.
TOP
Ten-Year Study Shows Music Improves
Test Scores
Regardless of socioeconomic background, music-making
students get higher marks in standardized tests. UCLA professor, Dr.
James Catterall, led an analysis of a U.S. Department of Education
database. Called NELLs88, the database was used to track more than
25,000 students over a period of ten years. The study showed that
students involved in music generally tested higher than those who
had no music involvement. The test scores studied were not only
standardized tests, such as the SAT, but also in reading proficiency
exams. The study also noted that the musicians scored higher, no
matter what socioeconomic group was being studied.
Reference: Dr. James Catterall, UCLA, 1997.
TOP
Music Lessons Help Students More Than
Computer Training
Research shows piano students are better equipped to comprehend
mathematical and scientific concepts. Preschoolers were divided into
three groups: One group received private piano keyboard lessons and
singing lessons. A second group received private computer lessons.
The third group received no training. Those children who received
piano/keyboard training performed 34% higher on tests measuring
spatial-temporal ability than the others - even those who received
computer training. "Spatial-temporal" is basically proportional
reasoning - ratios, fractions, proportions and thinking in space and
time. This concept has long been considered a major obstacle in the
teaching of elementary math and science.
Reference: Neurological Research February 28, 1997.
TOP
Music Training Helps Underachievers
Researchers find arts training not only raises
scholastic performance, but also improves student behavior and
attitude. In Rhode Island, researchers studied eight public school
first grade classes. Half of the classes became "test arts" groups,
receiving ongoing music and visual arts training. In kindergarten,
this group had lagged behind in scholastic performance. After seven
months, the students were given a standardized test. The "test arts"
group had caught up to their fellow students in reading and
surpassed their classmates in math by 22%. In the second year of the
project, the arts students widened this margin even further.
Students were also evaluated on attitude and behavior. Classroom
teachers noted improvement in these areas also.
Reference: Nature May 23, 1996.
TOP
Piano Boosts Student Math Achievement
Taking piano lessons and using math puzzle software significantly
improves math skills of elementary school children. Second-grade
students were given four months of piano keyboard training, as well
as time using newly designed math software. The group scored over
27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than children
who used only the math software. Music involves ratios, fractions,
proportions and thinking in space and time. The software - called
Spatial-Temporal Animation Reasoning (STAR) - allows children to
solve geometric and math puzzles that boost their ability to
manipulate shapes in their minds. The findings are significant
because a grasp of proportional math and fractions is a prerequisite
to math at higher levels, and children who do not master these areas
of math cannot understand more advanced math critical to high-tech
fields.
Reference: Neurological Research March, 1999.
TOP
Music Students Score Higher on SATS
In both verbal and math scores, high school student-musicians
outpace peers. The College Entrance Examination Board reports,
"Students of the arts continue to outperform their non-arts peers on
the SAT(R). In 1998, SAT takers with coursework/experience in music
performance scored 52 points higher on the verbal portion of the
test and 37 points higher on the math portion than students with no
coursework/experience in the arts." Longer arts study proved to
parlay into even higher test scores. The 1996 report observed,
"Those who studied the arts four or more years scored 59 points
higher and 41 points higher on the verbal and math portions
respectively than students with no coursework or experience in the
arts." Reference: Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The
College Board, compiled by Music Educators National Conference,
1998, 1996.
TOP
Click on the underlined categories below to find out
more:
-
Keyboard:
piano
-
Strings: cello, guitar (acoustic/electric/bass),
harp, viola, violin, cello, banjo
-
Voice: classical, Broadway, jazz, pop/rock
-
Woodwinds:
clarinet, saxophone, flute, piccolo,
recorder, oboe, bassoon
-
Brass: cornet, trumpet, flugel horn, french horn,
euphonium-baritone, trombone, tuba
-
Percussion: drumset, afro-Caribbean drums, mallet
instruments, symphonic percussion
-
Theory: music theory, ABRSM theory, composition,
improvisation, song-writing, jazz improvisation
Register Now! Submit Registration Information
To schedule a
trial lesson call 301.365.5888
|
Call Now for Current Openings:
301.365.5888
(Next to Montgomery Mall)
301.657.0763
(Next to Friendship Heights) |
