The Life Enhancing Benefits You Get From Music Study

Why Music?

Inspiring, Eye-Opening Findings

The following list is a sampling of studies, providing some very interesting facts and statistics about the life-enhancing benefits you get from studying music.

* Music majors are the most likely group of college grads to be admitted to medical school.
~Lewis Thomas, Case for Music in the Schools, Phi Delta Kappa, 1994

* Students who participate in school band or orchestra have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs among any group in our society.
~ H. Con. Res. 266, United States Senate, June 13, 2000

* High school music students have been shown to hold higher grade point averages (GPA) than non-musicians in the same school.
~ National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988

* 78% of Americans feel learning a musical instrument helps students perform better in other subjects.
~ Gallup Poll, “American Attitudes Toward Music,” 2003

* Nine out of ten adults and teenagers who play instruments agree that music-making brings the family closer together.
~ Music Making and Our Schools, American Music Conference, 2000

* With music in schools, students connect to each other better-greater camaraderie, fewer fights, less racism, and reduced use of hurtful sarcasm.
~ Eric Jensen, Arts With the Brain in Mind, 2001

* 71% of Americans surveyed by the Gallup Poll believe that teenagers who play an instrument are less likely to have disciplinary problems.
~ Gallup Poll, “American Attitudes Toward Music,” 2003

* A study of 7,500 university students revealed that music majors scored the highest reading scores among all majors including English, biology, chemistry, and math.
~ The Case for Music in the Schools, Phi Delta Kappa, 1994

* Students who were exposed to music-based lessons scored a full 100% higher on fractions tests than those who learned in a conventional manner.
~ Neurological Research, March 15, 1999

* The schools that produced the highest academic achievement in the United States today are spending 20% to 30% of the day on the arts, with special emphasis on music.
~ International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IAEEA) Test, 1988

* Music enhances the process of learning. The systems they nourish, which include our integrated sensory, attention, cognitive, emotional, and motor capacities, are shown to be the driving forces behind all other learning.
~ Konrad, R.R., Empathy, Arts and Social Studies, 2000

* Teaching through the arts motivates children and increases their aptitude for learning.
~ Eric Jensen, Arts With the Brain in Mind, 2001

* During moments of musical euphoria, blood travels through the brain to areas where other stimuli can produce feelings of contentment and joy and travels away from brain cell areas associated with depression and fear.
~ Dr. Frederick Tims, reported in AMC Music News, June 2, 1999

* Students of lower socioeconomic status gain as much or more from arts instruction than those of higher socioeconomic status.
~ James Catterall et al., 1999

* 95% of Americans in a 2003 Gallup Poll believe that music is a key component in a child’s well-rounded education; three-quarters of those surveyed feel that schools should mandate music education.
~ Gallup Poll, “American Attitudes Toward Music,” 2003

* Martin Gardiner of Brown University tracked the criminal records of Rhode Island residents from birth through age 30, and he concluded the more a resident was involved in music, the lower the person’s arrest record.
~ Music Linked to Reduced Criminality, MuSICA Research Notes, Winter 2000

* With music instruction in schools, teachers found that students were less aggressive.
~ Konrad, R.R., Empathy, Arts and Social Studies, 2000

* Students of lower socioeconomic status who took music lessons in grades 8-12 increased their math scores significantly as compared to non-music students. But just as important, reading, history, geography and even social skills soared by 40%.
~ Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles,

* In 2003, 54% of American households reported having a least one musical instrument player, the highest figure since the study began in 1978.
~ Gallup Poll, “American Attitudes Toward Music,” 2003

* The College Entrance Examination Board found that students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on math than students with no arts participation.
~ College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001

* The world’s top academic countries place a high value on music education. Hungary, Netherlands, and Japan have required music training at the elementary and middle school levels, both instrumental and vocal, for several decades.
~ 1988 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IAEEA) Test

* Music training helps underachievers. Students lagging behind in scholastic performance caught up to their fellow students in reading and surpassed their classmates in math by 22% when given music instruction over seven months.
~ Nature, May 23, 1996

* College-age musicians are emotionally healthier than their non-musician counterparts for performance anxiety, emotional concerns, and alcohol-related problems.
~ Houston Chronicle, January 11, 1998

* Children given piano lessons significantly improved in their spatial-temporal IQ scores (important for some types of mathematical reasoning) compared to children who received computer lessons, casual singing, or no lessons.
~ Rauscher, F.H., et al., Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial-temporal reasoning, 1997

* U.S. Department of Education data show that students who report consistently high levels of involvement in instrumental music during the middle- and high-school years show “significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12.”
~ James Catterall, Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga, “Involvement in the Arts and Human Development,” 1999

* Children who have received music instruction scored higher marks on tests of their spatial and arithmetic skills.
~ Rauscher, F.H., Shaw, G.L., Levine, L.J., Wright, E.L., Dennis, W.R., and Newcomb, R., Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial-temporal reasoning, 1997

* The foremost technical designers and engineers in Silicon Valley are almost all practicing musicians
~ Dee Dickinson, Music and the Mind, 1993

Neuro-Science

A couple of years ago I saw an amazing 6-hour DVD lecture called “Brain Optimization”.
Neuroscience professor Richard Restak teaches many interesting things in “Brain Optimization”

At some point, he mentions that EVERYBODY should learn how to play an instrument.
A turns out, the dexterity training that comes with learning an instrument apparently is linked to memory AND IQ development.

Apparently, as Professor Restak points out: the dexterity training you get from learning guitar, keeps growing and developing your memory AND IQ to ever-higher levels, no matter your age.

This surprised me, as I had always thought that IQ is a genetically fixed feature, that is whatever it is.
Not true apparently: you keep getting more intelligent throughout your whole life when you play an instrument and keep challenging yourself on that instrument.

He explains really well in the DVD, why it is that dexterity training also has a really great impact on memory.

And all that, mind you, is just only from the dexterity part that comes with learning guitar.

Then there is also the spatial reasoning you get from having 6 strings, which is like managing 6 keyboards simultaneously.
The brain development and memory training, you get from having way more scale fingerings, patterns, and chord shapes than on a piano or any other instrument for that matter.

The concentration skills you train when learning a new song.

Sensory development: training your ear to notice things most other people can’t hear.

The impact of music studies on the brain is mind-blowing. (pardon the pun) 🙂

Conclusion

Hit me up anytime at vreny@zotzinmusic.com if you have any questions, or if you would like to book a lesson.

These free lessons are cool, but you will never experience the progress, joy, and results that my students experience in lessons when you’re learning by yourself from blogs and videos.

That is why people take lessons: way better results and progress, much more complete information, exposed to way more creative ideas than you can get from a blog or YouTube video.
There is only so much that self-study can accomplish.

If you want to see amazing results and progress in your guitar playing, buy your first lesson here and get started ASAP.