Does Musical Training Improve
School Performance? This was a research
question posed by Wetter, Koerner & Schwaninger, and they published a report of their findings in Instructional
Science: An International Journal Of The Learning Sciences (2009). Yet, as a
composer/playwright, and prior to my PhD coursework in Psychology, I had always thought the answer to this question was a
resounding “YES!” because from what I have observed in the last thirty years of
my life as an artist, it just seems like people who study the arts “know” more,
or “think” more. Yet, until scientific
evidence is collected, The Arts in education have very little to stand on, and,
in general, I find that education systems neither respect nor believe the voice
of the artist.
During
the last two years of my PhD coursework, I have focused my discussion posts
around The Arts and how necessary and beneficial they are to human
development. For my most recent discussion
post, I could not find an article with the right research methodology (multiple
regression) that could contribute to a potential dissertation topic about
lullabies, so I typed in multiple regression (the topic of the discussion) and
music into the database search engine, and up popped a very interesting article
that drew correlations between musical training and school performance (Wetter,
Koerner & Schwaninger, 2009).
In
a retrospective study, Wetter, Koerner & Schwaninger (2009) compared three
groups of students (Grades 3 through 6): those who practiced music and those
who did not, and those who participated in learning handicrafts. They were careful to test all subjects
(except sports) and took great care to consider socio-economic status
(SES). Using a multiple regression
analysis, they found a positive correlation between continuous musical training
and school performance, and that continuous musical training appears to help a
student achieve and maintain high levels over time.
Since
the researchers were interested in the duration of musical training, they
concentrated their study to participants from third through sixth grade. They hypothesized that students who have
studied longer would show greater strength than students who recently begin
musical practice. They present several sound
options for the interpretation of their results by first offering the
explanation that “there
are no significant pre-existing or initial neural, cognitive, motor, or musical
differences” (p. 371) between children before they choose to learn
an instrument. Secondly, they explain
how more affluent parents can afford extra-curricular musical activities that
enhance a child’s academic success, and third, they offer evidence that music
activates cerebral regions of the brain involved in the processing of
language. By considering and addressing
these elements in the design, the researchers were able to argue their points
effectively. The average scores
reflected the advancement of student academic performance when paired with
music instruction.
The
article offers evidence to support reasons why we must keep and increase a child’s exposure to
The Arts and encourage arts-based instruction in our classrooms. If music and/or arts education is not
provided to children, and especially to those in lower SES, where and when will
these children have an opportunity to learn?
Won’t they be left behind?
Based
on this study, if musical instruction boosts academic performance as Wetter,
Koerner & Schwaninger (2009)
suggest, then why is music the first to go when budgets are tight? Wouldn’t tax dollars be better spent on arts
instruction? It certainly would seem be
a more efficient (and responsible) approach.
So I challenge policy makers, parents and education administrators--everyone--with this question: What would happen if
our education systems made The Arts central in the design of its
curriculum? After all, isn’t one of the
primary goals of education to increase academic achievement? Without The Arts, it seems education will only be
working ‘hard instead of smart’.
References
Wetter, O., Koerner,
F., & Schwaninger, A. (2009). Does Musical Training Improve School
Performance?. Instructional Science: An International Journal Of The
Learning Sciences, 37(4), 365-374.
