piano lessons benefit children
Giving piano lessons to pre-schoolers significantly
increases their ability to perform the types
of reasoning required for excellence in
science and math, researchers at the University
of California, Irvine, and the University
of Wisconsin have found.
Surprisingly, lessons on using a computer
keyboard provided no similar benefit, the
team reported on February 28, 1998 in the
journal Neurological Research.
The study involved 78 California children
in preschools in Santa Ana, Long Beach and
West Covina, and the team found that the
beneficial effect was independent of socioeconomic
class and parental interest.
In this case, the researchers believe the
improvements in mental ability will persist,
perhaps for a lifetime, although they do
not have data to prove that.
The great improvement shown by the children
from the musical training "should be of
great interest to scientists and educators,"
said physicist Gordon L. Shaw of UC Irvine,
who is also on the staff of UCI's Center
for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.
The team recruited 3- and 4-year-olds from
three preschools. The children were randomly
divided into four groups. One group received
daily singing lessons and two 15-minute
private piano lessons per week at school.
A second group received only the group singing
lessons. Members of the third group received
two 15-minute private computer lessons each
week, while those in the fourth group received
no lessons at all.
At the beginning of the study, each student
received four different tests of mental
ability, including one that measures spatial-temporal
reasoning.
In the spatial test, students might be shown,
for example, a picture of a camel broken
into four pieces and asked to reassemble
it.
At the beginning of the study, all of the
students scored at the national norm on
the tests.
At the end of the six months, those who
received piano lessons scored an average
34 percent higher on the tests of spatial-temporal
ability.
The children in the other three groups showed
no improvement on any of the tests.
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