Music And Learning: Music Programs In School Accelerate Brain Development

New findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) revealed that learning music in high school can help with brain development.

Researchers at Northwestern University discovered just how learning an instrument can help aid in the success of academic achievements, as well as accelerate neurodevelopment, overall.

"While music programs are often the first to be cut when the school budget is tight, these results highlight music's place in the high school curriculum," Nina Kraus, senior study author and director of Northwestern's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at the School of Communication, said in a statement. "Although learning to play music does not teach skills that seem directly relevant to most careers, the results suggest that music may engender what educators refer to as 'learning to learn.'"

For the study, researchers recruited 40 high-school freshmen living in the Chicago area, and they followed the students until their senior year. Throughout this time, close to half of the students were enrolled in band classes that lasted about two to three hours a week with instrumental group music instruction in school. The other half, on the other hand, were enrolled in junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), which emphasizes fitness exercises during a comparable period. Both of the groups attended the same schools in low-income neighorhoods.

Findings revealed that the music group showed more rapid maturation in the brain's response to sound, also demonstrating prolonged heightened brain sensitivity to sound details. All participants also showed improvements in language skills tied to sound-structure awareness. However, improvements were greater for those in music classes than those in ROTC.

Despite how there are ofentimes numerous funding shortfalls for the arts in schools, the findings show just how important music training can be for brain development and language skills.

"Our results support the notion that the adolescent brain remains receptive to training, underscoring the importance of enrichment during the teenage years," the authors concluded.

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