Content Mutual

By Giovanni Sala, University of Liverpool and Fernand Gobet, University of Liverpool | Photo Credit: PublicDomainPictures

No proof music lessons make children any smarter

Music is one of the most beautiful and powerful creations of humankind, and its powers are well known – making us happy and sad or relaxed and excited. And more generally, music can induce powerful feelings – as Bono the lead singer of the band U2 put it, “music can change the world because it can change people”. But how much is this really true?

We often assume that encouraging a child to play a musical instrument or to listen to certain types of music will have a wider impact on more than just their musical taste. Parents, teachers and educators alike often believe that musical aptitude can help a child in other areas of life, and can facilitate the development of cognitive skills.

Several studies have made the claim that music training enhances children's cognitive and academic skills. And previous experiments have, for example, tested if singing or playing the keyboard can impact a child's intelligence or learning.

But these experiments have seen rather mixed results, and have been unable to conclusively say whether playing an instrument or engaging with music really can make a difference to a child's education.

So with this in mind, we recently carried out a review of the scientific literature on the use of music with children. And the results were clear, if disappointing – music is...

Log-in to view the full article

The World's 1st Quality Content Exchange

There's no proof music lessons make kids smarter

Our platform enables you to manage and monetize your copyrighted works the way you want.