Senior Capstone Research
Music is something that moves all of us. It provides the feeling that we are seen and heard when it often feels the opposite. It provides emotional connections, soothes us in our moments of trial, connects us to one another, and even aids in the improvement of our moods. The benefits of music are endless. We are all exposed to music at a younger age, and it has an impact on our learning and comprehension of information, especially classical music. Classical music has many benefits to the young brain, and this is what I aim to explore and inform about in this study.
The Original Question
How does participating in and listening to music alter our brain chemistry and lengthen our lifespans?
The Final Question
How does classical music affect the development and learning abilities of children pre-k to first grade aged children?
Topic Synopsis
Music is something we can all connect and relate to. Each of us has a different taste in music, a different feeling or emotion associated with our unqiue experiences. Music has many benefits to both one’s mental and physical health. From the very old to the very young and everything in between, contact with music is beneficial to all of us. When most of us are young, we are exposed to music is some shape or form, whether that be by playing it in the classroom or singing and dancing at home to our favorite movie soundtracks and other songs. What most of us don’t realize is how crucial music can actually be when it comes to the developing brain of a child, specifically classical. Certain crucial areas of the brain are shaped and may even grow bigger compared to children who aren’t exposed to classical music. It has also been known to significantly improve academic performance, quick learning abilities (ex: the ability to pick up on reading or a foreign language faster than most), communication/motor skills, and even an improved mood. What we are exposed to in our earliest years shape us the most, and music is one of the best ways to help educate and interest your child in healthy activities.
The purpose of this project is to shed light on the benefits of exposing children to classical music to promote healthy brain development and learning abilities in children.
Why It Matters
As a musician of over 10 years, music has had a significant role in my life that has changed it for the better. I grew up listening to a lot of classical music and was surrounded by music-loving people, and I really started to become curious about the mental impacts of music when my grandfather developed a severe case of dementia. Through the worst of his dementia, music was the one thing that he held to and made him happier. I think this topic is important for all of us to be aware of because music has touched each one of us in a very unique way, and it is a unqiue connection and experience to each person. Music does so many things for the mind and mental health, and by promoting the younger generations to find an interest and love for music, we can help them to creatively express themselves and expand their minds in their most crucial years. A lot of the younger generation is becoming adapt to technology so early, and it can impact their abilities to learn, to have motivation, to communicate, and to have creative expression. If we make the effort to understand how things like music shape their minds and them as people, we can better support their journies and creative minds as they grow and learn.
There are TWO primary groups of people that this specific study will benefit:
Parents and Children
The Research
Research Method 1: Data Visualization
The chart to the right displays a study that was done on a group of six-year-old children who were each sorted into to 4 different groups. A large group of kids were split into two music groups, one being keyboard lessons and the other being voice lessons. Another group of kids were split into two control groups, one group taking drama lessons and the other group having no lessons at all. The IQ scores of each group were measured before and after the lessons. It was found that the children in the music groups showed greater improvement in IQ when compared to the control groups.
To read the full article visit https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00711.x
This study examines the effects of using music intervention on the literacy scores of pre-school aged children. Varying areas of of literacy are examined throughout this study, and they include the following:
Picture Vocabulary
Relational Vocabulary
Oral Vocabulary
Grammatical Understanding
Sentence Imitation
Grammatic Completion
Word Discrimination
Phonemic Analysis
Word Articulation
It was found that the use of music intervention did significantly improve these scores.
To read the full article, visit https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/bulcouresmusedu.192.0007?searchText=&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DHow%2Bdoes%2Bmusic%2Baffect%2Bthe%2Blearning%2Babilities%2Bof%2Bchildren%253F&ab_segments=0%2FSYC-7052%2Fcontrol&searchKey=&refreqid=fastly-default%3A3c02396bdf782eea59446404a2ee5a21&seq=13
Research Method 2: Article Research
Article 1: Music Lessons Enhance IQ by E. Glenn Schellenberg
This article studies a group of 144 6-year-old kids who took various different lessons in the arts. Two groups were music lessons while the other 2 control groups were drama lessons or no lessons at all. They took the IQ scores of each group before and after taking the lessons and compared them. It was found that overall, the children who were in the 2 different music groups exhibited greater increases in IQ scores after lessons than the ones in the drama lessons or with no lessons at all.
Article 2: How Does Mozart’s Music Affect Children’s Reading? The Evidence from Learning Anxiety and Reading Rates with e-Books by Yen- Ning Su, Chih-Chien Kao, Chia-Cheng Hsu, Lu-Chun Pan, Shu-Chen Cheng, and Yueh-Min Huang
This article discusses a study done where Mozart music was played in the background while students were reading. They were aiming to see how it affected their learning anxiety levels, reading rates, and reading comprehension. 62 elementary aged students were involved in this study. The study exuded results displaying a positive impact on the reduction of learning anxiety as well as the increase in reading rates and comprehension while music was playing in the background.
Article 3: Effect of Music Instruction on Preschooler’s Music Achievement and Emergent Literacy Achievement by Maria Runfola, Elisabeth Etopio, Karia Hamlen, and Mary Rozendal
This article studies a group of preschool-aged children and how music intervention influences different aspects of their literacy achievements. Data was taken on various aspects, such as the scores of different areas of their vocabulary (relational, oral, picture, etc.) before music intervention and after music intervention was used. Data indicates that the mean scores for each showed a positive increase in scores after music intervention was used.
Research Method 3: Documentaries
Documentary 1: Music and Movement in Early Learning (2007)
This document discusses how music and movement are associated with developing different aspects of a young child’s brain. It goes into how kinethetic movement enriches a child’s memory process and enhances learning as well. A child’s ability to learn rhythms and do what is called cross lateral exercises using rhythm and music actually helps them to be more prepared for reading. Combining rhythm with movement helps stimulate the brain’s development and aids in memory development as well as language development for preschool and kindergarten aged children.
Documentary 2: Cognitive Benefits of Musical Training
This document discusses 12 different cognitive functions and structures that are improved by having musical training as a child. It goes over how music and math are related as well as music and language, memory, brain function, etc. Details include going into how rhythm is used to help the development of phonological skills and language processing in children. It also goes a little bit into how auditory and motor skills may be enhanced. The narrator discusses multiple studies done in the classroom and what data they reported. Overall, it goes into multiple cognitive improvements that are found when children are exposed to music vs. those that are not.
Prototype 1: Data Visualization Poster
First Iterations
Final Design
Prototype 2: Children's Illustrated Book
Sketches and Process
Final Product
