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Taking music instruction and playing an instrument boosts high school students’ scores in their academic courses.  This study of some 112,000 Canadian high school students just published in the Journal of Educational Psychology is a biting indictment of local school boards that frequently vote to eliminate music programs in favor of taxpayer-supported sports.

The data also showed that children who learned to play a musical instrument in elementary school and continued to play into high school scored one academic year ahead in all subjects when compared with their non-playing peers.  This superiority in math, science, and literary studies was independent of socioeconomic level, ethnicity, or prior academic performance.

Musical training enhances eye-hand-mind coordination, listening skills, and discipline all of which have impact on general academic studies.  Playing in an ensemble perfects the same teamwork skills that derive from sports.

If you want your children to excel in school, be certain that music is a part of their lives.  Lobby your school officials for music programs, and spend money on music lessons instead of toys.

Martin Guhn, Scott D. Emerson, Peter Gouzouasis. A population-level analysis of associations between school music participation and academic achievement.. Journal of Educational Psychology, 2019; DOI: 10.1037/edu0000376

#Music #math #science, literature #education