The "Side" Benefits of Pursuing Vocal & Instrumental Music
2012 Concert Band students performing
at
Conestoga Mennonite.
Since 1990, research has consistently shown the following things to be true about students who are involved in musical performance:
1. Students who had played a band instrument for two or more years scored 10 percentile points higher in reading, and 12 percentile points higher in language than did their non-band peers. Students who participated in orchestra for two or more years had reading and language scores even higher.
2. A University of California (Irvine) study showed that after eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers showed a 46% boost in their spatial reasoning IQ.
3. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66% of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. Only 44% of biochemistry majors were admitted.
4. Band students score an average of 62 points higher on SAT tests.
5. The schools who produced the highest academic achievement in the United States today are spending twenty to thirty percent of the day on the arts, with special emphasis on music.
6. Just 15 minutes a week of private keyboard instruction, along with group singing at pre-school, dramatically improved a kind of intelligence needed for high-level math and science. If a child continued his/her involvement in these activities, this only improved with age.
7. It has been shown that high school music students have higher grade point averages than non-music students in the same school. (Mr. Rappoldt can vouch for that one. In one graduating class in Coatesville School District, 19 of the top 25 students in a class of 600+ played in the high school jazz ensemble.)
8. Through involvement in group music activities on the elementary, middle and high school level, individuals learn to support each other, maintain commitment and bond together for group goals.
9. A large percentage of US astronauts were involved in their school's musical performing groups. When asked what high school courses best prepared them for college and their trips to outer space, almost all indicated that is was the time they spent in musical performing groups. All indicated that musical rehearsals and performances taught them how to "think on their feet" and immediately adjust to the ever changing circumstances and challenges of live music. Such thinking is critical in space flight when you are flying through space at 17,500 mph.
1. Students who had played a band instrument for two or more years scored 10 percentile points higher in reading, and 12 percentile points higher in language than did their non-band peers. Students who participated in orchestra for two or more years had reading and language scores even higher.
2. A University of California (Irvine) study showed that after eight months of keyboard lessons, preschoolers showed a 46% boost in their spatial reasoning IQ.
3. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66% of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. Only 44% of biochemistry majors were admitted.
4. Band students score an average of 62 points higher on SAT tests.
5. The schools who produced the highest academic achievement in the United States today are spending twenty to thirty percent of the day on the arts, with special emphasis on music.
6. Just 15 minutes a week of private keyboard instruction, along with group singing at pre-school, dramatically improved a kind of intelligence needed for high-level math and science. If a child continued his/her involvement in these activities, this only improved with age.
7. It has been shown that high school music students have higher grade point averages than non-music students in the same school. (Mr. Rappoldt can vouch for that one. In one graduating class in Coatesville School District, 19 of the top 25 students in a class of 600+ played in the high school jazz ensemble.)
8. Through involvement in group music activities on the elementary, middle and high school level, individuals learn to support each other, maintain commitment and bond together for group goals.
9. A large percentage of US astronauts were involved in their school's musical performing groups. When asked what high school courses best prepared them for college and their trips to outer space, almost all indicated that is was the time they spent in musical performing groups. All indicated that musical rehearsals and performances taught them how to "think on their feet" and immediately adjust to the ever changing circumstances and challenges of live music. Such thinking is critical in space flight when you are flying through space at 17,500 mph.