We already know that learning music as a child can help prevent cognitive decline as a person gets older, but now new research from Northwestern University working the Harmony Project in the US has found that children from disadvantaged areas are able to boost their reading and language skills by learning to sing or play a musical instrument, and these findings have been presented to the American Psychological Association .
Dr Nina Kraus, a neurobiologist from the university, led the study and her previous work focused on children from relatively affluent families, showing that children learning music could improve their focus, memory and concentration levels.
The Harmony Project is a nonprofit organisation that helps children from deprived areas in the US, helping them to develop by providing schools and youth centres with musical instruments and free music tuition.
In the latest study, Dr Kraus and her team studied the effects of five or more hours a week of music lessons - for a year or more - on children from more disadvantaged areas than her previous studies. At the beginning of this study, all of the children were recorded to have had similar IQ scores and reading abilities.
Whilst a decline in reading skill is often witnessed in children from poorer areas, when children in the study were able to enjoy regular music training, their reading levels held steadily and sometimes even rose slightly.
Another study group - school children in Chicago from similar backgrounds - took part in band or choir practice every day as part of a school music project, while their brainwaves were assessed to see how their brains responded to speech sounds.
It was found that after two years, the musical group had grown more accurate and faster at distinguishing one sound from another, compared with a non-musical control group, and particularly when background noise was integrated.
Dr Kraus explained that this means that music lessons might not be a 'quick fix' in helping to boost a child’s learning, it does show that learning music has a positive influence on their brain, affecting their ability to learn for the better.
“While more affluent students do better in school than children from lower income backgrounds,” she said, “we're finding that musical training can alter the nervous system to create a better learner and help offset this academic gap.”
It is thought that learning music remodels the brain in some way to improve the connection between sound and its meaning, in the same way as babies learning to speak. “Music automatically sharpens the nervous system’s response to sounds,” added Dr Kraus.
Of course, this research could apply to children from any background struggling with reading. So if your child is finding it hard to boost their reading skills, see how they get on after learning to play a musical instrument for a little while, or learning to sing, and they could come a long way.
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