Proven Science: Benefits

Proven Scientific Benefits of Piano Lessons

Brain Development

"Early music education exposure helps develop brain areas involved in language and reasoning... Recent studies clearly indicate that musical training physically develops the part of the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language, and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways."

Twelve Benefits of Music Education by Edsential

Students Scored 100% Higher on Fractions

"Students who were exposed to the 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 notation. The group was taught about the relationships between eighth, quarter, half and whole notes. Their peers received traditional fraction instruction."

Neurological Research, March 15, 1999

Higher Scores on Standardized and Reading Proficiency Tests

"A ten-year study, tracking more than 25,000 students, shows that music-making improves test scores. Regardless of socioeconomic background, music-making students got higher marks on 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."

Dr. James Catterall, UCLA 1997

Music Grads Make Up the Highest Percentage of Med School Admissions

"Music majors are the most likely group of college grads to be admitted to medical school. Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66 percent of music majors who applied to med school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. For comparison, (44 percent) of biochemistry majors were admitted. Also, a study of 7,500 university students revealed that music majors scored the highest reading scores among all majors including English, biology, chemistry and math."

The Comparative Academic Abilities of Students in Education and in Other Areas of a Multi-focus University, Peter H. Wood, The Case for Music in the Schools, Phi Delta Kappan, 1994

Playing Piano Keeps the Brain Healthy in Seniors

"Formal music study boosts memory and cognitive function, regardless of age or prior musical ability. Even folks in their 70s showed strong improvements in hand-eye coordination, hearing, and memory after barely half a year of learning music. These effects grow stronger over years of musical training even in subjects aged 80, proving that music stimulates the brain enough to keep it healthy and busy no matter how old you get."

PBS.org