A Canadian study has yielded positive results linking musical education with better grades in other high school disciplines such as math, science and English.
An increasing number of adolescents go to the emergency room for problems related to anxiety or stress. Specifically, school failure is usually one of the main reasons. For this reason, it is essential to investigate new study methods or techniques that allow developing the learning capacity of young people..
Martin Guhn, Scott Emerson and Peter Gouzouasis, specialists in cognitive science and neuroscience, are aware that the percentage of school failure and psychological problems in adolescents has increased significantly in recent years. That is why they have carried out an investigation that has allowed them to discover the existence of a direct relationship between musical training and obtaining good grades in other subjects.
The study
This research, published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, includes a review of academic records in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Specifically, the qualifications of students who were in their last three years of secondary education were studied, so the sample is made up of more than 100,000 students.
Of the total number of students who were studied, only 13% participated in some music course learning to play one or more instruments. Although it was started from the basis that dedication to this activity could imply a limitation in the performance of other subjects, the results have shown a completely different reality.
According to Peter Gouzouasis, the more committed they are to music, the better their performance in other subjects. All the students who dedicated their time to learning to play an instrument obtained very high marks in the other disciplines. In fact, most of them had achieved that their academic level corresponded to that of an academic year above their peers, especially in English, mathematics and science.
Therefore, it is not simply a matter of passing the subjects, but that all students who dedicated part of their time to be instructed in music education acquired a outstanding academic level, standing out above the rest of their peers.
The most outstanding musical activities
Specifically, it has been detected that there is a correlation between good grades and the following musical activities:
These results would fit with other studies that suggested that students could achieve negative results in math, science or English if music programs in schools were eliminated or reduced.
The researchers point out that the musical discipline is very demanding, allowing them to develop skills for teamwork, coordination, sharp listening and practice. This high commitment to music allows them to transfer and apply all the skills acquired to other subjects., favoring their performance in them and increasing the rating they obtain.
However, it is a topic that requires more in-depth research to understand why this relationship occurs..
The latest data published in Spain show a positive trend in favor of music education. From 2005 to 2018 there has been an increase of 37.4% in the number of enrolled students, from 239,381 to 328,906. These data could serve as the basis for future research, granting a greater presence of the musical discipline in educational programs in order to improve the academic performance of the youngest.
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