Making Music Makes You Smarter

Your student’s first choice is going to be whether to participate in music or not. While the number of activities for students continues to grow, music should not be ignored as it is vital to development of skills in leadership and teamwork, personality growth, and the proven results that making music makes you smarter.

High school music students score higher on SAT’s in both verbal and math than their peers. In 2001, SAT takers with coursework/experience in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal portion of the test and 41 points higher on the math portion than students with no coursework/experience in the arts. Source: Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, compiled by Music Educators National Conference, 2001

A ten-year study, tracking more than 25,000 students, shows that music-making improves test scores. Regardless of socioeconomic background, music-making students get higher marks in standardized tests than those who had no music involvement. The test scores studied were not only standardized tests, such as the SAT, but also in reading proficiency exams. Source: Dr. James Catterall, UCLA, 1997

Students who were exposed to music-based lessons scored a full 100 percent higher on fractions tests than those who learned in the conventional manner. Second – grade and third – grade students were taught fractions in an untraditional manner by teaching them basic music rhythm notations. Source: Neurological Research, March 15, 1999