It is a little known fact that for many years computer manufacturer IBM would recruit college graduates from a quite unexpected major: music! This is because they found that music majors possessed a very high level of logical reasoning. Many of us do not make the link between music and thinking skills but when we look at what music really is then the picture starts to make more sense. We begin to realize that music, brain development, children go together!
Music, Brain Development, Children and Math
Music is intertwined with geometry, which is why it is not surprising that Pythagoras is known as much for his system of tuning in perfect fifths as he is for the relationship between the lengths of the sides of a right triangle. Music is not only a relationship between values but also a mapping of those values against time, which is instrumental in understanding concepts such as calculus. Interestingly, a study published in the journal Nature found that first graders exposed to musical games oriented toward sequential skill development scored higher in math skills that involved spatial reasoning.
Music, Brain Development, Children and Literacy
On top of mathematical skills, there is strong evidence that music is tied to literacy. In a 1993 study, a group of second graders who had difficulty acquiring vocabulary were taught new words under several different conditions; accompanied by music, accompanied by illustrations, accompanied by both, or accompanied by neither. The study found that vocabulary acquisition was better when accompanied by music, and was in fact best when accompanied by both illustrations and music. Gaining familiarity with a language through its component parts is called “phonemic awareness,” and it turns out that the related ability to break pieces of music down into their component parts aids in the ability to gain critical language skills.
dlp Music Outreach Seeks to Help At-Risk Kids
Of course, music programs for at-risk populations already do much to foster a sense of community and confidence for children, but there is abundant evidence that the acts of listening to and playing music are not just fun distractions; they are a crucial part of a young person’s mental development.
The dlp Music Outreach is committed to changing lives with the gift of music. This gift is needed by so many for so many reasons. Music, Brain Development, Children – indeed, they go together. Help us help children – spread the word about the dlp Music Outreach.
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