Music Training and Brain Development:

A Systematic Review of Recent Research

Introduction

Music classes have always held a secondary place in this nation’s schools. They

have been referred to as “minor” subjects, “special” subjects, and “extracurricular

activities”. These terms reflect the “outsider” status that music classes have achieved.

In the medieval world, music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy were

considered the four “pillars” upon which education stood. Centuries earlier, when Plato

wrote about his vision of what education should be, the only two subjects he mentioned

were “. . . gymnastic, for the body, and music for the mind.”

Modern proponents of music education have tried to raise the public’s awareness

of the value of these classes. Their rationales as to why music classes are important

include “it develops teamwork and discipline”, “it is fun and relaxing”, “the

entertainment industry needs talent” and “the workplace is looking for creative people”.

They have quoted studies that indicate that music students do better on SAT exams than

non-music students, and that they achieve higher scores in other, “major” subjects. The

U. S. federal government, in the “No Child Left Behind” act of 2002 listed the arts as one

of the “core academic subjects” in public education. Still, music education is not a

priority. Our culture considers music to be entertainment; they do not equate it with

disciplines such as mathematics or science.

The fact is, the number of skills that a student of music needs to master is greater

than those needed to master any other subject. A relatively brief and incomplete list

would include the following skills (in no particular order):

1. The ability to graph relative frequencies and durations (ear training, dictation)
2. Understanding vertical (harmonies) and horizontal (pitches) sonorities (identifying
aurally and visually)
3. Understanding the relationship of the part to the whole (Playing in a band, singing a
fugue, etc.); Learning to collaborate
4. Decoding a system of symbols; Understanding an abstract language of pitch and
duration—beyond numbers or words; reading, analyzing, notating, categorizing, and
audiating music notation from single notes to complex chord progressions, and
rhythms from simple to complex
5. Spatial intelligence
6. Hand-eye coordination (playing an instrument, conducting)
7. Fine motor skills
8. Gross motor skills (conducting, trombone, percussion)
9. Accessing the emotions—experiencing and expressing
10. Multitasking—singing (or playing), reading and listening simultaneously.
11. Singing and playing technique—physiology, breathing, phrasing, articulation
12. Logic—theory, harmony, analysis, composition
13. Understanding and creating with an abstract means of expression; composition,
improvisation
14. Listening skills
15. Connection with beauty, humanity in historical, literary and social contexts
18. Memory development; follow musical forms and the development of thematic
material over long time periods
19. Increase word knowledge through systematic musical vocabulary development
20. Interpretation and performance of music from the written score
21. Evaluate and compare the structural and stylistic attributes of music from different
time periods and composers.
22. Identify instruments and blends of instruments aurally
23. Orchestration: being able to notate for specific instruments and groups of instruments
(transpositions, ranges, balance, color, etc.)
24. Perform unfamiliar music fluently (sight reading)
26. Understand harmonies, their forms, and their effects on melody, motion and emotion.
27. Improvisation—spontaneous composition
28. Second language development: there are many Italian, German and French terms used
in conjunction with a musical score.

In attempting to teach these skills, the music educator is faced with special

complications. One of the fundamental yet difficult-to-teach skills is decoding written

music. Music notation is much more difficult to decode than most languages, as its

meaning is abstract and there is much more information on the page to process. In

English, a basic linguistic element like the letter “a” may have a handful of different ways
of sounding depending upon the word of which it is a part, and that word may have

different meanings depending upon its context within a phrase. In tonal languages such as

Mandarin, the meaning of a particular sound changes as its pitch inflection is altered.

In music, however, every sound by itself has infinite meanings; meanings that

depend on the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and timbral context in which it is embedded.

One cannot fully understand the meaning of any sound or phrase within a piece of music

until the entire piece is understood. Musical meaning depends upon the relationship of

tones as they relate and interact with each other over time; and the possibilities are

literally endless. As an abstract art, music is not limited to representing things or ideas.

Tones, chords and rhythms do not represent anything but the structures they create,

invisibly, in the air. Unlike the word “tree”, a musical tone does not trigger an image of a

particular thing. The sentence “I see a tree.” has a concrete meaning. In music there is

no universal agreement on the meaning of the sounds. Sometimes there is agreement that

a particular passage is broadly “sad” or “happy”, but music communicates more than just

vague emotions. Music is a language, but it is much more than that.

Skills such as cursive writing, typing or playing a musical instrument require

practice within a carefully sequenced (simple to complex) course of study. Successful

math study for example, proceeds in this manner, with the basic symbols (numbers) being

learned first, and then ways of manipulating them (addition, subtraction, etc.). Successful

music training proceeds in a similar manner; however, even the most basic musical skills

are much more numerous and complex. For example, in mathematics, recognizing the

meaning of a number in isolation requires that the visual symbol be associated with a

fixed quantity. This can easily be made concrete using pictures or counting fingers.
A musical note in isolation represents one concept: rhythmic duration, or how long a

sound lasts. But rhythmic duration is not concrete; it is a relative concept that is

measured in relation to a steady constant (the beat). In order for a student to recognize

the difference between a quarter-note duration and a half-note duration, a beat must be

felt first. This skill, while many students have attained it before coming to school, is

based on an abstract concept: the beat functions as an invisible “ruler” or grid moving in

time against which the student must determine the duration of a note. In math, the

symbol “2” may be shown to represent two actual things (bears, apples, etc.) while in

music, the meaning of a quarter-note depends on the comprehension of an invisible

abstraction and the ability to compare the note’s duration to that invisible constant. As

music study progresses, the student learns that one cannot put a numerical value on a

particular note; Sometimes a quarter note will last one beat, sometimes two beats, and

sometimes one-half of a beat. It all depends upon the symbol that equals one beat. This

is an extraordinarily complex concept for a beginner to grasp, so many teachers have

resorted to first telling students that the quarter note always equals one beat. Later, they

teach the complicated truth. Unfortunately, sometimes students have difficulty

overturning “truths” that they have relied on and practiced with. If this material is not

carefully and slowly presented, students may become overwhelmed. The value of a note

is but one of a multitude of abstract concepts that challenge the mind of a music student.

When those concepts are combined with the physical practice of music, the brain

responds in a robust and varied manner.

The performance of music involves precise motor skills, keen aural acuity,

awareness of ones own performance in real time and split-second decision-making.

Music moves through time and its components are constantly changing in time as the

performer listens and applies creative adjustments in real time. Performing music

involves understanding and controlling many simultaneous variables such as tone,

volume, dynamics, articulation, blend, rhythm, pitch and harmony. In performance,

physical dexterity plays a role, as does emotional expression, communication skills and

much, much more. Christian Gäser, a researcher who dedicates much of his work in this

area, tried to illuminated this complicated activity:

Musicians are skilled in performing complex physical and mental operations such
as the translation of visually presented musical symbols into complex, sequential
finger movements, improvisation, memorization of long musical phrases, and
identification of tones without the use of a reference tone. Playing a musical
instrument typically requires the simultaneous integration of multimodal sensory
and motor information with multimodal sensory feedback mechanisms to monitor
performance. (2003)

The act of making music taps into a multitude of modalities and it all happens

simultaneously in an environment in which time is a crucial component. Music is a fully

engaging and enveloping subject. It is a multi-disciplinary discipline.

Very few mental activities even come close to the all-encompassing nature of

these musical skills. Therefore, it is recommended that the learning of music in schools

be rigorous and skill-based. Music should be offered in every school, on every level, and

recognized for the powerful discipline that it is.

© 2011 Richard Jay Hyman