Article on the effects of music on literacy

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Music on Literacy

Numerous studies have suggested that music education helps children perform

better in school. Now, a new study by two professors at the C.W. Post Campus of

Long Island University has established a specific link between music education

and literacy.

The study of second-graders in New York City public schools showed students who

studied piano had better test scores in vocabulary and verbal sequencing than

students who did not.

" Our message to educators is, `If you're thinking about building a keyboard lab,

please put it next to the library,' " said ph Piro, an assistant professor of

education at C.W. Post who conducted the study along with Camilo Ortiz, an

associate professor of clinical psychology. " There is evidence that music

changes the brain, and an involvement with music has extra-musical effects. The

qualities that serve good performance in music also serve good performance in

literacy. "

" It certainly does raise the question of whether music instruction could be a

fundamental part of our curriculum and not viewed as something that's `extra,' "

Dr. Ortiz said. " I think the study of positive secondary effects from music

instruction is worthy of further study. "

The study is the first to specifically examine the impact of music education on

learning to read. It was published online in the journal Psychology of Music in

March and has been the subject of news coverage in Europe, Asia and Africa.

The schools in the study were near one another in New York and had similar

demographics and socio-economic status, but the 46 second-graders in the

experimental school were in their third year of instruction using Casio

electronic keyboards in two 45-minute sessions per week. The 57 students in the

control school had received no formal music instruction.

By the end of second grade, the music-educated students' test scores in such

skills as speaking, writing, reading, listening (vocabulary) and following the

progression of events (verbal sequencing) were significantly higher, the

professors reported.

The study also yielded clues about the most beneficial timing of music

education. At the beginning of second grade, both groups of students had the

same level of vocabulary and verbal sequencing skills, even though one group had

already received two years of piano instruction. The researchers said the recent

two-month summer break may have caused some benefits to diminish, and said two

years may not have been enough training for the extra-musical impacts to kick

in. But perhaps most importantly, " significant spurts of brain growth and gray

matter distribution " occur as children reach age 7, they reported.

" I think it makes a strong case that you cannot just randomly deliver music in

an approach in which you don't think out the specific relationships that music

and literacy share, " Dr. Piro said.

Funding for arts education is often at risk, especially during recessions, but

the study shows why it may be worthwhile, Dr. Piro said.

" I have yet to meet the teacher or the parent or the administrator who says we

can live without the arts, " he said.

http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/education/blog/2009/05/music_and_literacy.\

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