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Middle School Music Lessons Enhance Algebra Skills

A look at Maryland students’ achievement levels finds a correlation between music instruction in grades six to eight and success at algebra.


A new study says that if you want your children to excel in algebra, you should have them learn a musical instrument. (Ricardo Vasquez)
June 14, 2010 • By • 12 Comments
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Algebra, according to the Great Schools website, “is frequently called the gatekeeper subject.” It provides a solid foundation for later learning by teaching abstract reasoning skills. What’s more, its lessons apply to an increasing number of jobs in our technologically sophisticated society.

So how can you increase the chances your son or daughter will excel at algebra? A new study provides a surprising answer: Have them learn a musical instrument.

Researcher Barbara Helmrich of Baltimore’s College of Notre Dame examined a sample of 6,026 ninth-graders enrolled in six Maryland school districts. All had completed an introductory algebra course in either eighth or ninth grade and taken the HSA, a test that assesses how well they learned the subject.

Helmrich divided the students into three groups: Those who had received formal instruction on a musical instrument during the sixth, seventh and eighth grades; those who received choral instruction during those same years; and those who received no formal musical training.

She found the students who studied music significantly outperformed their peers. “Formal instrumental instruction impacted algebra scores the most,” she reports. “Choral instruction also affected scores, but to a lesser extent.”

This achievement gap was particularly pronounced among black students.

“For African Americans, the means of all three groups represented failing scores on the fifth-grade MSA,” she said, referring to a standard assessment of math knowledge and ability. “However, after the middle-school years, the means of both the instrumental and vocal groups represented passing HSA scores, whereas the mean of the group receiving neither instruction did not.”

While Helmrich notes the link between music instruction and algebra achievement “most likely lies in a combination of factors,” she argues the primary effect is a matter of enhanced brain development. Middle-school music instruction “takes place during a time (age 10-12) in which a proliferation of new synapses occurs in the developing brain,” she writes.

“This study corroborates the opinion that these new synapses are formed and strengthened, at least in part, by activities — music in this case — that are undertaken during early adolescence,” she adds.

The particularly robust results for African-American students suggests “offering music education in middle school might present an alternative strategy for narrowing the achievement gap” between students of different races, Helmrich writes in the Journal of Adolescent Research.

These findings emerge at a time when many budget-strapped school districts continue to cut arts education programs. California students must complete one year-long course in the arts or a foreign language to graduate, but in early June, the state assembly voted to allow students to substitute a “career technical education” course for that requirement.

If those technical courses involve any higher-level math, the legislation may be sadly ironic. This study strongly suggests that understanding constants and variables is enhanced by the study of congas and violins.

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About Tom Jacobs

Staff writer Tom Jacobs is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years experience at daily newspapers. He has served as a staff writer for The Los Angeles Daily News and the Santa Barbara News-Press. His work has also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Ventura County Star.

  • guest

    I have no idea, but has it even occurred to the author that this might be correlation, and not causation? It's entirely possible that music training causes improved mathematical response, but nothing described here indicates a carefully controlled experiment. It is entirely possible that the people who choose music are more mathematically inclined.

    • Jabbly

      This is a brief news articles about an essay about a study, not the essay itself. Careful readers will not confuse, or equate, the two. Your complaint is unfair unless you've read Helmrich's essay, which, having been published in a peer-reviewed journal, is not likely to have disregarded obvious questions.

  • http://learntolearn.com James Fadigan, Ph.D.

    Jabbly has a valid point. Until one examines the design of the research it is not possible to make comments on the design or it's conclusions. That's what the scientific method is all about. You can be assured that if the article was published in an acceptable journal the other 'pitbulls' of science who are both trained in research design and trained to provide the needed reviews and criticisms. Check the journal(s) that published the article.

  • Guest

    No educational decision in years has been made on the basis of a causal study! Causal studies require years of longitudinal data and no one funds that kind of work. Moreover, legislative and educational decisions are being made on data with a much less validity on a regular basis. This research continues to corroborate a wide variety of other data (state and national research) that suggests the same conclusion: the more music and arts education for a student – the higher they perform on all academic measures.

    • R. Thomas

      I agree that the results may be more correlation than causation. Previous research has shown that exposure to music and arts education often results in higher academic performance. There may be many reasons, but without an understanding of the scientific method used in Helmrich's study I can only say, "That's interesting."

  • paula mckaig

    As a music teacher, I have seen students who excel in math and who fail in math. I think the connection maybe that in their particular learning style, i.e. visual students tend to do well in math and music, where as kinesthetic learners do well in music, but not in math. Just my 2 cents.

  • grace

    I am a good pianist, having studied piano at a very early age. I was also a good student, except for math. I'm not kinesthetic either.

  • Catbus

    Did the study control for income and parents' occupation(s)? My first thought is to question whether the students who learn a musical instrument don't also come from homes where literacy, learning and culture are more highly valued. This would suggest better academic achievement across the board.

  • http://annakarin.tumblr.com/ Anna-Karin Frisk

    I don´t really know that much about the American culture concerning students participating in fomal instrumental training, but at least in Sweden it is mostly upper middle class students, with parents with academic examinas, who participates in intrumental classes. So, at least from a Swedish perspecttive, I would be very hesistant in concluding any causal correlations between these formal musical training and mathematical skills.

  • johnmccrory

    Questions about the study's methodology can probably be answered by reading Barbara Helmrich's 2008 PhD research dissertation on which the cited article is drawn (recall that it takes about two years from when an article is accepted by a journal to its actual publication). You can get the full text of that dissertation for free via ProQuest UMI Dissertation Publishing at http://j.mp/aC4ISH

  • Julius

    What’s funny is that I never see the flip… “Student’s who take math excel in music”. Why? Because we’re always trying to find reasons to promote music education, rather than letting the music BE the reason.

    These studies actually HURT music as a curricular staple as it makes it a supplementary task for mathematics improvement.

    The most important part:
    Imagine a world without music. Imagine not hearing Happy Birthday on your birthday, or nothing to sing along to after getting pedicures, Imagine not having music to work out to, or concerts to attend, or movies without music… Life would be very very boring and a lot less full of joy!

    Why is Joy secondary in our society behind monetary gains? I want my students to have happiness above ALL else.

    But this is just listening to music, right? What about making music? The main fault lies within the old ways of teaching music!

    The problem:
    Past musical pedagogy focused on interpreting symbols instead of teaching students to make music! Unless a kid actually had a chance to have a musical experience they never realized its importance! Man, who would think music is important if they just learned some symbols on a page? But ask any adult/kid who was exposed to making music freely in a safe and supportive environment and you won’t need to show them that music boosts math scores to have them understand why music is important!
    Over time, making music has become a small elitist activity, that makes people feel embarrassed when they make a mistake (because so many music teachers are focused on perfection instead of improvement) instead of being an activity for all to enjoy; whatever their level.
    It starts in early childhood. The reason so many people now consider themselves “unmusical” is because they didn’t have a proper enculturation to music. If we gave children the proper enculturation we’d have a society where at least the majority of us realize the importance of making our own music.

    The fact is, once you’ve made music in an environment where you feel supported and safe, 99.9% of us will want to do it again. Music is hardwired into each and every human brain! I know the argument, some people are “talented” in different ways. Well, time after time we’re told effort is more important than ability and the research behind this is quite compelling. Now we all might not become a John Coltrane or an a Ella Fitzgerald, but we can still make music and enjoy it in our own ways. How many people love to throw a ball around (with similarly skilled people) who aren’t Payton Manning? Not all, but definitely a majority.

  • colintgraham

    Check this out:
    Maybe the mathematics helped the music – it is correlation not causation
    Cognitive Acceleration (CASE and other projects) :P rojects :King's College London http://bit.ly/9Xoxym