Collecting, summarising and sharing evidence of the impact of music education
According to a recent research report, Sistema Scotland’s social change programme in Aberdeen – Big Noise Torry – has enhanced participants’ ability to learn in school, improved academic and behavioural skills, boosted school attendance rates, and improved their emotional wellbeing.
A study by Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia found that musically trained children had better melody, rhythm, and frequency discrimination, and were better at statistical learning.
A study by Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, is the first of its kind to show a connection between musical rhythm and grammar. It suggests that a child’s ability to distinguish musical rhythm is related to his or her capacity for understanding grammar.
New music education research from the USA claims that children who have confidence in their own musical abilities are more likely to continue their music education than those with a poor ‘musical self-concept’.
Some of New York City’s highest-performing students spend much of their time studying music.
According to research undertaken in Mexico with Boomwhackers, taking music lessons increases brain fibre connections in children and may be useful in treating autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
