Benefits of Music Study

  • The College Entrance Examination Board found that students involved in public school music programs scored 107 points higher on the SAT's than students with no participation.
                     - Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board,
                       compiled by the Music Educators National Conference 

  • Secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances (alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs).
                     - Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Houston Chronicle, January 11, 1998

  • U.S. Department of Education data on more than 25,000 secondary school students found that students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show "significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12."
                     - U.S. Department of Education NELLS88 Database

  •  In a 2000 survey, 73 percent of respondents agree that teens who play an instrument are less likely to have discipline problems.
                     - Americans Love Making Music – And Value Music Education More Highly Than Ever, American Music 
                       Conference, 2000.

  • Students who can perform complex rhythms can also make faster and more precise corrections in many academic and physical situations, according to the Center for Timing, Coordination, and Motor Skills
                     - Rhythm seen as key to music’s evolutionary role in human intellectual development, Center for Timing,                               Coordination, and Motor Skills.

  • A ten-year study indicates that students who study music achieve higher test scores, regardless of socioeconomic background.
                     - Dr. James Catterall, UCLA.

  • Students who are rhythmically skilled also tend to better plan, sequence, and coordinate actions in their daily lives.
                      - “Cassily Column,” TCAMS Professional Resource Center, 2000.

  • In a Columbia University study, students in the arts are found to be more cooperative with teachers and peers, more self-confident, and better able to express their ideas. These benefits exist across socioeconomic levels.
                      - The Arts Education Partnership.

  •  College admissions officers continue to cite participation in music as an important factor in making admissions decisions. They claim that music participation demonstrates time management, creativity, expression, and open-mindedness.
                     - Carl Hartman, “Arts May Improve Students’ Grades,” The Associated Press.

Music Majors & Admission to Medical School

"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."
Sources: "The Comparative Academic Abilities of Students in Education and in Other Areas of a Multi-focus University," Peter H. Wood, ERIC Document No. ED327480