Music Department Sidebar
Mrs. Rotessa Wahing
Academic Effect of Music on Children
Some studies have found that music instruction can also affect certain mathematical
abilities. Researchers compared the proportional reasoning scores of several groups
of children (ages 7 to 9 years), including one group who received computer-generated
spatial-temporal training alone and another group who received the same spatial-temporal
training coupled with piano keyboard instruction (Graziano, Peterson, & Shaw,
1999).
The proportional reasoning of the children was then tested. Although both groups
scored higher than a control group, the group that included piano training scored
significantly higher than the group that did not. 
A more recent study found that at-risk children who received two years of individual keyboard instruction scored higher on a standardized arithmetic test than children in control groups, including a group that received computer instruction to rule out a possible Hawthorn effect (Rauscher & LeMieux, 2003).
Children who received singing instruction also scored higher than controls.
Children who received instruction on rhythm instruments performed best on a mathematical reasoning task.
