MUSICAL TRAINING OFFSETS SOME ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT GAPS
Learning to play a
musical instrument or to sing can help disadvantaged children strengthen their
reading and language skills, according to research presented at the American
Psychological Association's 122nd Annual Convention
The findings, which
involved hundreds of kids participating in musical training programs in Chicago
and Los Angeles public schools, highlight the role learning music can have on
the brains of youth in impoverished areas, according to presenter Nina Kraus,
PhD, a neurobiologist at Northwestern University.
"Research has
shown that there are differences in the brains of children raised in
impoverished environments that affect their ability to learn," said Kraus.
"While more affluent students do better in school than children from lower
income backgrounds, we are finding that musical training can alter the nervous
system to create a better learner and help offset this academic gap." Up
until now, research on the impact of musical training has been primarily
conducted on middle- to upper-income music students participating in private
music lessons, she said.
Kraus's lab research
has concluded that musical training appears to enhance the way children's
nervous systems process sounds in a busy environment, such as a classroom or a
playground. This improved neural function may lead to enhanced memory and
attention spans which, in turn, allow kids to focus better in the classroom and
improve their communication skills, she said.
Many of Kraus's study
participants are part of the Harmony Project in Los Angeles, which was founded
by fellow presenter Margaret Martin, PhD. In her most recent research, Kraus
studied children beginning when they were in first and second grade. Half
participated in musical training and the other half were randomly selected from
the program's lengthy waiting list and received no musical training during the
first year of the study. Children who had no musical training had diminished
reading scores while Harmony Project participants' reading scores remained
unchanged over the same time span.
Kraus's lab also found
that, after two years, neural responses to sound in adolescent music students
were faster and more precise than in students in another type of enrichment
class. The researchers tested the auditory abilities in adolescents from lower
economic backgrounds at three public high schools in Chicago. Over two years,
half of the students participated in either band or choir during each school
day while the other half were enrolled in Junior Reserve Officer's Training
Corps classes, which teaches character education, achievement, wellness,
leadership and diversity. All participants had comparable reading ability and
IQs at the start of the study. The researchers recorded the children's brain
waves as they listened to a repeated syllable against soft background sound,
which made it harder for the brain to process. The researchers repeated
measures after one year and again at the two-year mark. They found music
students' neural responses had strengthened while the JROTC students' responses
had remained the same. Interestingly, the differences in the music students'
brain waves in response to sounds as described above occurred after two years
but not at one year, which showed that these programs cannot be used as quick
fixes, Kraus said. This is the strongest evidence to date that public school
music education in lower-income students can lead to better sound processing in
the brain when compared to other types of enrichment education, she added.
Even after the lessons
stop, the brain still reaps benefits, according to studies on the long-term
benefits of music lessons. In one study, Kraus's team surveyed college students
and asked them how many years they had music training. As they found with the
elementary school students, college students who had more than five years of
musical training in elementary school or high school had improved neural
responses to sound when compared to college students who had had no musical
training.
The Harmony Project
provides instruments for the students who participate five or more hours a week
in musical instruction and ensemble rehearsals. The project is year-round and
tuition-free based on income, said Martin. Many of the programs build full-time
bands in neighborhoods where the students live and the students agree to commit
to the program from elementary school through high school, she said.
"We're spending
millions of dollars on drugs to help kids focus and here we have a
non-pharmacologic intervention that thousands of disadvantaged kids devote
themselves to in their non-school hours -- that works," Martin said.
"Learning to make music appears to remodel our kids' brains in ways that
facilitates and improves their ability to learn."
The Harmony Project
has launched programs in other urban school districts, including Miami, New
Orleans, Tulsa, Kansas City, Missouri and Ventura, California.
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