The Benefits of Music Education

Posted by Chad Criswell Jun 19, 2007

It has long been said that participating in music increases academic achievement in other areas. Anecdotal evidence of this ideas has been touted by dozens of officials, even by President Bush. True research based evidence of this positive effect has been less prevalent, leading to what some consider a lack of true music advocacy in our public schools. Schools in which music, despite the perceived benefits, continues to be considered a non-essential subject. Now it appears that a new study made public by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) has found data that may help change this perception. But the study goes beyond simply stating that music has a positive academic benefit. This study provides evidence that high quality music education programs increase the academic benefits by a larger margin than low quality music education programs.

In a study of 4,739 elementary and middle school students the results were very interesting. Among elementary schools:

• Students in top-quality music programs scored 22 percent better in English and 20 percent better in mathematics than students in deficient music programs. These academic differences were fairly consistent across geographic regions.
• Students at the four elementary schools with high-quality music programs scored better than students participating in programs considered to be of lower quality.

At the middle school level the study shows an even stronger correlation:

• Students in top-quality instrumental programs scored 19 percent higher in English than students in schools without a music program, and 32 percent higher in English than students in a deficient choral program.
• Students in top-quality instrumental programs scored 17 percent higher in mathematics than children in schools without a music program, and 33 percent higher in mathematics than students in a deficient choral program.
• Students at schools with excellent music programs had higher English test scores across the country than students in schools with low- quality music programs; this was also true when considering mathematics.
• Students in all regions with lower-quality instrumental programs scored higher in English and mathematics than students who had no music at all. Students who participated in low-quality choral programs generally scored the lowest.

These results reiterate the need for top quality music educators in our schools. Better music programs result in better academic achievements. For educators seeking ways to improve their teaching techniques, now is the time to do so. The benefits for both teacher and student can no longer be denied.

The complete results and commentary on this study is available on the NAMM web site.