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Home › Blog › Research › Benefits of Music To The Brain

April 4, 2018

Benefits of Music To The Brain

By Lia Peralta

updated 10/22/2021

Save The Music believes in the benefits of music in schools . Music has the potential to help students succeed in school, build self-confidence, and create leaders and well-rounded young people. Learning through music can improve a student’s academic performance, increase attendance, and improve test scores overall.

In Save The Music’s recent case study in Newark, New Jersey, schools with quality music education programs had a decrease in students being chronically absent from school. The value of a music program can mean that more students come to school more often, participate more in school activities, and look forward to something during the school day – music class.

We see that students who participate in a school music program have more social-emotional skills like grit, perseverance, and teamwork. Music can prove to be an important part of the school day to help students express themselves and work through feelings of stress and anxiety. This attributes to the social benefits of music education . Music education and social-emotional learning (SEL) intersect when students practice self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making ( SEL core competencies ). Embedded into the four major music education processes – create, present, respond, connect – students have the potential to become impactful leaders, creators, independent thinkers, and empowered young people.

Music shows something about who we are as people. Our identities can be communicated through what we play, create, and the music we share with others. We can illuminate our cultures through music and continue a legacy passed down by our families. With music education in schools, teachers can encourage students to use their voices, expressing themselves through music.

In West Virginia, Save The Music found that 83% of music teachers believed that their students who participate in music have increased their overall engagement in school. Additionally, active music programs in schools gave a sense of pride to the whole community. Music education has become a key thread in the fabric of the people who live in school districts with quality music education in schools.

The value of music education seen here is that students who participate in music-making, creativity, and artistic expression attend school more often and perform higher in other academic subjects. The importance of music in school also extends to social and emotional benefits, that each child develops the skills to conquer challenges of life situations in the music classroom and beyond.

Why is music education important ? Let’s explore more areas to answer this question.

THE BENEFITS OF MUSIC EDUCATION TO THE BRAIN: COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

There are positive outcomes and cognitive benefits of learning music . It has been shown to increase cognitive competence and development in students who participate in music in school. Playing music throughout life can also lead to a lower risk of developing dementia and increased brain resilience. Playing music activates many senses in the brain that increase thinking skills, including social and emotional awareness, and improve interpersonal communication. Reading music can improve general reading comprehension skills overall. Music sparks the brain and many parts of the brain are activated.

Practicing music is like a cross-fit workout for the brain! When we play and listen to music, it’s processed in many different areas of our brain. The extent of the brain’s involvement was scarcely imagined until the early 1990s, when functional brain imaging became possible. The major computation centers include (Source: This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel Levitin).

PREFRONTAL CORTEX

Creation of expectations, violation, and satisfaction of expectations.

MOTOR CORTEX

Movement, foot-tapping, dancing, and playing an instrument.

CORPUS CALLOSUM

Connects left and right hemispheres.

AUDITORY CORTEX

The first stages of listening to sounds and the perception and analysis of tones.

SENSORY CORTEX

Tactile feedback from playing an instrument and dancing.

VISUAL CORTEX

Reading music and looking at a performer’s or one’s own movements.

NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS

Emotional reactions to music.

HIPPOCAMPUS

Memory for music, musical experiences, and contexts.

Movement such as foot-tapping, dancing, and playing an instrument. Also involved in emotional reactions to music.

“Playing music is the brain’s equivalent of a full-body workout.”

– “While listening to music engages the brain in some pretty interesting activities, playing music is the brain’s equivalent of a full-body workout. The neuroscientists saw multiple areas of the brain light up simultaneously processing different information in intricate, interrelated, and astonishingly fast sequences. Playing a musical instrument engages practically every area of the brain at once, especially the visual, auditory, and motor cortices. As with any other workout, disciplined structured practice in playing music strengthens those brain functions allowing us to apply that strength to other activities.” (Anita Collins, How Playing An Instrument Benefits Your Brain , July 2014)

Playing music connects different parts of the brain, increasing efficient decision-making skills and more spontaneous creativity.

– “The heavy-tax of piano playing makes their minds efficient in every way. Studies show that when jazz pianists play, their brains have an extremely efficient connection between the different parts of the frontal lobe compared to non-musicians. That’s a big deal — the frontal lobe is responsible for integrating a ton of information into decision-making. It plays a major role in problem solving, language, spontaneity, decision-making and social behavior. Pianists, then, tend to integrate all of the brain’s information into more efficient decision-making processes. Because of this high-speed connection, they can breeze through slower, methodical thinking and tap into quicker and more spontaneous creativity.” (Jordan Taylor Sloan, Science Shows How Piano Players’ Brains are Actually Different From Everybody Elses’ , June 2014)

✓ Check out our guest blog post by Music Education Advisory Board member, Gabriella Musacchia, called “Music and Learning: Does music make you smarter?”

MUSIC EDUCATION FACTS

There has been an outstanding amount of research about young people who play and practice music and its positive outcomes. Music education in schools has profound effects on student performance and the development of well-rounded citizens. At Save The Music, we see students in music programs thrive and discover their creativity. We see them participate more in school activities and engage their families and communities in music education as well.

Explore the benefits of music education statistics below and find more information about the value of music education in Save The Music’s Advocacy Tools .

Studies show music learning yields several benefits to overall development and performance.

– Children who study music tend to have larger vocabularies and more advanced reading skills than their peers who do not participate in music lessons (Arete Music Academy. “Statistical benefits of music in education.” Arete Music Academy. Accessed July 17, 2014).

– Regardless of socioeconomic status or school district, students (3rd graders) who participate in high-quality music programs score higher on reading and spelling tests (Hille, Katrin, et al. “Associations between music education, intelligence, and spelling ability in elementary school.” Adv Cogn Psychol 7, 2011: 1–6. Web. Accessed February 24, 2015).

– Schools that have music programs have an attendance rate of 93.3% compared to 84.9% in schools without music programs (The National Association for Music Education. “Music Makes the Grade.” The National Association for Music Education. Accessed February 24, 2015).

– Research at McGill University in Montreal, Canada showed that grade-school kids who took music lessons scored higher on tests of general and spatial cognitive development , the abilities that form the basis for performance in math and engineering (http://nisom.com/index.php/instruction/health-benefits).

– A study of 8 to 11-year-olds found that, those who had extra-curricular music classes, developed higher verbal IQ, and visual abilities, in comparison to those with no musical training (Forgeard et al., “Practicing a Musical Instrument in Childhood is Associated with Enhanced Verbal Ability and Nonverbal Reasoning,” PLOS One, 2008).

– Children with learning disabilities or dyslexia who tend to lose focus with more noise could benefit greatly from music lessons (Arete Music Academy. “Statistical benefits of music in education.” Arete Music Academy. Accessed July 17, 2014).

– Young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year, compared to children who do not receive musical training (National Association for Music Education. “The Benefits of the Study of Music.” National Association for Music Education. Accessed July 17, 2014).

– Music and math are highly intertwined. By understanding beat, rhythm, and scales, children are learning how to divide, create fractions, and recognize patterns (Lynn Kleiner, founder of Music Rhapsody in Redondo Beach, CA).

– Playing a musical instrument strengthens eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills, and kids who study an instrument learn a lot about discipline, dedication, and the rewards of hard work. ( http://nisom.com/index.php/instruction/health-benefits ).

– Music training not only helps children develop fine motor skills, but aids emotional and behavioral maturation as well, according to a new study, one of the largest to investigate the effects of playing an instrument on brain development (Amy Ellis Nutt, “Music lessons spur emotional and behavioral growth in children, a new study says,” The Washington Post, January 7, 2015).

– Music training leads to greater gains in auditory and motor function when begun in young childhood; by adolescence, the plasticity that characterizes childhood has begun to decline. Nevertheless, our results establish that music training impacts the auditory system even when it is begun in adolescence, suggesting that a modest amount of training begun later in life can affect neural function (Adam T. Tierney, Jennifer Krizman, Nina Kraus, “Music training alters the course of adolescent auditory development,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2015).

– Children who study a musical instrument are more likely to excel in all of their studies, work better in teams, have enhanced critical thinking skills, stay in school, and pursue further education (Arte Music Academy. “Statistical benefits of music in education.” Statistical-Benefits-Of-Music-In-Education. Accessed July 17, 2014).

– Taking music lessons offers a space where kids learn how to accept and give constructive criticism , according to research published in The Wall Street Journal in 2014 (Joanne Lipman, “A Musical Fix for American Schools,” The Wall Street Journal, October 10, 2014).

– Making music together, children learn to work as a team while they each contribute to the song in their own way. At the same time, music helps children learn that together they can make something larger than the sum of its parts (© 2015 Program for Early Parent Support (PEPS), a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization).

– More benefits of music for children include learning cooperation, sharing, compromise, creativity, and concentration – skills that become invaluable as they enter school, face new challenges, and begin to form new friendships and develop social skills (© 2015 Program for Early Parent Support (PEPS), a 501(C)(3) nonprofit organization).

– Kids who make music have been shown to get along better with classmates and have fewer discipline problems. More of them get into their preferred colleges, too (http://nisom.com/index.php/instruction/health-benefits).

> Source: NAMM Foundation’s “How Children Benefit From Music Education In Schools”

✓ For more research briefs and handy quotes to help make your case for supporting music education in schools, check out this list from the NAMM Foundation : MUSIC FACTS

Thank you to our partners and friends in music education for publicizing their vital research for us to share. Remember, however you use this fact bank, please remember to include the sources provided.

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The Importance of Music in Education

Welcome to our guide to the importance of music in education, which highlights the vital benefits children get from receiving musical instruction from an early age.  

Music is arguably the most life-enriching academic subject of them all. A universal language that triggers emotional responses and kickstarts creativity like no other, music is a fundamental pillar of arts education.

This article outlines the far-reaching benefits of music that stretch way beyond the subject itself and why music is an indispensable part of any academic programme.

13 Benefits of Music in Education  

Music can bring a series of important benefits to your child’s education, many of which you may not have considered before.

1. Improve language capabilities

Music and language have a deep and profound relationship. The link between musical instruction and better language development in young children has long been established.

Musical training stimulates and trains the same part of the brain that deals with understanding language. Children who have some exposure to musical education will, therefore, have a greater understanding of tone and how different segments of speech align. It can also be incredibly useful if your child is learning a second language.

2. Better cognitive abilities

Playing an instrument increases the use of your neural network. When compared to those who don’t play an instrument, there is some suggestion that musicians have a larger growth of neural activity.

A 2009 study in the New York Academy of Sciences showed how children who received musical instruction showed improved sound discrimination and fine motor tasks, with visible changes in those networks showing during brain imaging.

3. Better maths skills  

Children who undertake music in education are also enhancing their maths ability. A link between music and better control of spatial-temporal tasks, as pointed out here in the Journal of Aesthetic Education , means children are better equipped to learn key mathematical skills.

One theory says that learning rhythm is responsible, as maths involves picking up patterns and how visual elements go together.

4. Better test scores 

With better maths ability comes the potential for better test scores. A 2007 study from the University of Kansas found that students in primary schools with better musical programmes scored 22% higher in English and 20% higher in maths when compared to those in weaker musical programmes. This was regardless of the socioeconomic factors between the different schools.

5. Inspire creativity

Music is one of the most creatively stimulating tasks any person can undertake. If you want to spark your child’s creativity, there are few better things you can do than to encourage them to create their own unique music by picking up an instrument or engaging in their music class.

6. Refined hand-eye coordination

Learning an instrument to an elite level is no easy task. It takes considerable hand-eye coordination to learn almost any instrument. Those who master their craft are blessed with a unique skill; it’s something that can be applied to other areas of academia and general life.

Hand-eye coordination is important in many sports, especially bats or racquet sports like tennis or cricket. It can also help elsewhere in education, as writing skills and art require the hands and eyes to work together.

In adulthood, your child will find them relying on their hand-eye coordination to do any number of tasks. Practical things like DIY are easier with good coordination. Allowing your child to improve it with music will benefit them for a lifetime.

7. Better memory

Improved memory is another well-established benefit of music in education. Learning an instrument, the language of music and the notes and lyrics that make up songs all require a flexing of memory.

Music is also one of the easiest things to store in your memory, often to our frustration. Songs get stuck in our heads, sometimes for days; a perfect display of how music can stick in our minds.

8. Encourage teamwork

Music is often considered a solo effort, but it’s unlikely your child will go through their musical education alone. In class or as an extracurricular activity, music is one of the best ways to learn vital life skills like teamwork. Be it in a band or singing group, teamwork is vital to creating good music.

9. Relieve stress

School is such an important time for children and at times it can be stressful – especially during tough examination periods.

Music has become a proven remedy to relieving stress, with research from Stanford University linking this to the beat of music. At 60 beats per minute, music can cause our brain to synchronize and cause alpha brainwaves – which are present when we are relaxed. Over a period of 45 minutes or so, it can help induce sleep too.

After a long day studying, a musical session is an easy way to relieve stress and take your child’s mind off of deadlines and exams.

10. Develop social skills

As an extension of improving teamwork, music is also a great way for your child to meet new people and create lasting friendships. Music is a great way to bring people together. If they decide to take up music as an extracurricular activity, they’ll be bonding with likeminded children who share their passion.

In a time when children are increasingly interested in communicating online and focusing on digital skills, music is a refreshing return to face-to-face contact.

11. Instil perseverance

Speak to anyone who has mastered a musical instrument or played in a successful band; musical excellence is hard to come by. It requires plenty of practice and a willingness to keep going.

To continue to improve and progress requires perseverance. A child understanding they have to work hard to achieve something is incredibly powerful and something they will lean on for the rest of their lives. There are few better ways to instil perseverance than through music.

12. Bring about a sense of achievement 

When your child does achieve a musical goal, they get the incredible satisfaction that comes from working hard to attain something. In that sense, music is a great confidence builder. Creating something as expressive and loved as music and seeing audiences on stage or family members at home enjoy it can be an incredibly rewarding experience.

Confidence is one of the most valuable skills a child can have and music is one of the best ways to allow it to flourish in your child.

13. Learn an enviable life skill 

How many times have you met an adult who says their biggest regret is not learning a musical instrument as a child? Musical skills they didn’t learn as a child become some of the most sought after in adulthood. Help your child to develop their skills in music from an earlier age and you’ll be giving them a gift that will bring them, and others, joy for the rest of their life.

At Nord Anglia Education, we understand the importance of creative arts like music, harnessing the subject to bring benefits that span our entire academic programme. Find out more about our music curriculum, or head to our schools page to a Nord Anglia Education school near you.

Want more of the latest insights into education?  Read our INSIGHTS publication here !

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At Education Through Music, we believe that every child, at every school, deserves access to high-quality music education. It is part of a well-rounded education , essential for students’ social and emotional well-being , and a critical tool for establishing equity and access .

To learn more about the importance of music education, listen here to ETM staff speaking about the value of music education and its impact on students’ lives.

Music education is part of a well-rounded education for all children as understood and supported by federal and state policymakers.

Click here or scroll down to learn more about Well-Rounded Education.

Music education supports students’ social and emotional well-being.

Click here or scroll down to learn more about Social and Emotional Well-being.

Our organization exists because systemic racism has created inequities in access to education. We strive to help level the playing field for children from under-resourced communities by ensuring that all children have access to high-quality music education, no matter their background or circumstance.

Click here or scroll down to learn more about Equity and Access.

• According to the Every Student Succeeds Act, music is an essential component of a well-rounded education.
• 88% of families agree it is important that their child’s school has a music program. 
• Quality general music education has been linked with the development of self-control, planning, and verbal intelligence: the life skills students need to make decisions, focus, plan, problem-solve, and juggle multiple tasks. It also fosters a motivation to learn music. (from Longitudinal Analysis of Music Education on Executive Functions in Primary School Children )

“I don’t think education is complete without music.” – ETM Partner School Principal

“Without music, I feel a piece of me is missing.” – ETM Partner School Student

• 70% of parents whose children attend ETM partner schools agree that learning music helps their child’s social development.
• 85% of ensemble students say they have made at least one new friend through ensemble.
• 79% of students say their music teacher or ensemble director cares about them as a person.
• 72% of students say their music teacher or ensemble director is someone they can go to if they need help with something.

“Music does help me a lot, and it’s helped me get through some really difficult times.” – ETM Partner School Student

“It’s empowering. It gives you a strength that no other activity can give you.” – ETM Partner School Student

• 40% of students in new partner schools report they have never before had a general music class
• 79% of families say it would be difficult for them to pay for private music lessons without a school music program
• 85% of ETM partner public schools’ student population comes from low-income households

“I think the music program is just excellent. My child loves the music class she is in because she knows many schools don’t have music in their area.” – ETM Partner School Parent

“ETM offers schools in low-income neighborhoods the opportunity for a quality music education and instrumental program.” – ETM Partner School Principal

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All data is from our 2018 Impact Report unless otherwise indicated.

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Why Music Education Is More Important Than Ever

Music hath charms to soothe our students’ social and emotional needs.

Kindergartners singing a special song to learn about nouns. The sound of recorders drifting down the school hallway. The high school choir singing the school alma mater at graduation. As teachers, we know how central music is to what we do—and now it’s more important than ever.

Music creates magic

As a music education teacher, I was overjoyed when my school was able to begin the year with our traditional back-to-school assembly for the first time in two years. Each year our school picks a “theme song.” Our fifth graders perform it at this assembly. Maybe it’s cheesy, but I love it. This year, as the soloists took turns leading a call-and-response to this year’s song, “It’s All Right,” something magical happened. The students in the audience all clamored to participate. From kindergartners to fifth graders, they craned their necks for better views and sang out to ensure their voices were heard. This was collaboration and teamwork. This was trust and respect. It was everything our administrators had just spent our summer professional development days telling us our students lacked and desperately needed our help in rediscovering.

Music education is trauma-informed education

The past few years have seen “trauma-informed teaching strategies” quickly become one of the most popular phrases in educational circles, and with good reason. However, we should take a moment to note the important role music education has always played in helping students cope with trauma. Research has long shown the positive connections between listening to and playing music and the ability of children to regulate their emotions . It also creates more welcoming, calming learning environments, boosting students’ learning in the classroom. Furthermore, studies indicate that music education boosts students’ problem-solving, vocabulary, and reading comprehension skills , which will help to alleviate some of our students’ difficulties in communicating with their peers. As we seek answers for the emotional, behavioral, and academic concerns in our classrooms, we can’t forget what already works: music education.

Music teaches SEL skills

While you might not realize it right away, music teachers have been implementing well-established SEL practices for many, many years. Music education programs , be they schoolwide music classes or performance-based electives like band, chorus, and orchestra:

• Teach and reinforce the importance of effective communication and collaboration.
• Respect and highlight different cultures and socioeconomic environments.
• Provide opportunities for visible improvement and growth.
• Foster feelings of accomplishment and achievement.
• Promotes responsible risk-taking as students prepare for and perform in front of audiences.
• Recognize the need for student leaders and develop those skills in students of all background and ability levels.
• Support intrinsically motivating practices that teach commitment and perseverance.

Music isn’t just an elective or “special” anymore

Playing an instrument or participating in a music class are not the only ways music can help our students. Music can be a highly effective tool in trauma-informed teaching strategies in every classroom. Teachers can use music to:

• Create welcoming, safe environments for students as they enter the classroom.
• Ease stress caused by periods of transition from one activity to the next.
• Serve as an auditory signal for appropriate amounts of processing time, collaboration, or brainstorming.
• Increase student buy-in and engagement by tying it to current curriculum.
• Assist students who are struggling with anxiety or stress .

Making music education a priority

As administrators and teachers reimagine what school needs to look like moving forward, music education must play a critical role. One of the ways that we can support this is by properly funding our music classrooms and school performance spaces. Easier said than done, right? But actually, now is the perfect time to secure funding for these programs. In 2020, the U.S. Congress created the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund to address learning loss caused by the pandemic. Music and performing arts classrooms can apply for money to purchase supplies and resources. 

While applications and approaches may differ, the social and emotional benefits of music are universal and irrefutable. As we work to repair the damage caused by the past few years, the need for evidence-based strategies is more important than ever. Let’s ensure that we harness the amazing power of music education to help our students as we move forward. 

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Why Is Music Education Important?

This topic is one of the most important ones that occupy the waking hours of all passionate musicians and educationalists. Over successive years here in the UK, there appears to have been a deliberate attempt by politicians to dissolve education in The Arts in favor of a core curriculum that draws its focus on Science, Mathematics, and the English Language. While I am not in any way suggesting the absence of value in these subjects when they are placed and promoted in a manner that is detrimental to Arts, I feel there is a dilemma that requires action.

Why Is Music Education Important

There has been a significant body of research extolling the benefits of a musical education over at least the last three decades. The benefits of participating in music from the very early stages of life, and in some cases, pre-natal, are well documented. These benefits include things like the development of language and reasoning, increased coordination, furthers emotional development, memory, develops creative thinking, spatial intelligence, and teamwork to highlight but a few key areas.

The unique element that music education seems to offer is developed in areas that few other subjects do and noticeable improvement with ability in these different subjects. If you remain unconvinced so far, then take a moment to reflect on what Chinese philosopher and poet Confucius wrote: “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.”

One of the paramount considerations when thinking about music education is that it offers children the opportunity to participate in music; to be actively involved. This to my mind is of particular relevance today when so many of the activities that children engage in are passive and undertaken through an interface such as a phone, iPad, or computer. Even though tens of thousands of children listen to music, it is being presented with a chance to participate in music and its creation that is extremely valuable. It allows interacting with other participants, uses your imagination, and develops new skills. This, in turn, can lead to improved self-esteem, alongside simply having a lot of creative fun.

Consider the skills that are used when you learn to play an instrument. For any instrument you may choose, it requires a whole raft of abilities, all of which grow and develop during the learning process. Hand-eye coordination, reading musical notation, (essentially a learning a new kind of language), working with melody, harmony and rhythm are but a small selection of skills you acquire during instrumental learning. Learning an instrument involves engaging in a deeper way of listening to and participating in music. If you have the chance to play your instrument with a teacher or other students, then the benefits increase and the demands on the individual student in conjunction. This requires considerable focus from the student, and this alone can yield huge and lasting value across all the subjects that children study at school.

All the work and concentration involved may sound counter-productive, especially after of during a busy day. Still, numerous musicians at all levels find that the practice of playing or indeed writing music can be genuinely relaxing. For many, it is that concentration alongside the heightened awareness of practice that brings a more relaxed state. Perhaps it is also the knowledge that you are positively occupied in a creative activity that can create calm and a sense of peace. If you watch a jazz musician when they are deep into a solo passage, improvising freely from their hearts and minds, you may notice their eyes are closed, and a look of focused serenity covers their face. It could be viewed even as a kind of meditation allowed to flourish through the play of rhythms, melodies, and harmonies with each other.

The curious aspect of music is that it is us that make it. By this, I mean that a scientist can tell you the frequency of a pitch or series of pitches, but it is the human brain that constructs these pitches into a melody. Likewise, the musical elements that create a composition taken as individuals’ components can be explained in a variety of ways through science, but only when they are assigned meaning by human beings do they truly become what is recognized as music. This gives the music an extraordinary place in the human psyche that travels back to our furthest ancestors. The inclusion of music into any learning environment is utterly essential, even a fundamental human need.

Music can break down social barriers and can push aside prejudice. Consider how jazz began to bring together the black and white community in America at the turn of the 20 th Century. This is a generalization in some respects, but the integration of two distinct genres of music into what became called ‘ragtime’, made a significant contribution to the dissolution of segregation. In education, music offers a forum for children of every ability and background to join in, be part of something creative, form new friendships, and develop a vast range of essential skills.

Music connects people by celebrating cultural differences through the commonality of the art itself. In broad terms, this kind of musical fusion can link almost any unconnected genres of music by recognizing the similar elements of rhythm, melody, form, texture, dynamics that underpin all music. Come of the most notable compositions of the 19 th , 20 th, and 21 st -century compositions have been conceived through the influence of other cultures. It has become a central part of the continuing evolution of music and children, through music education, can be part of this.

Imagine for a moment what the world would be like without music. For me, it’s impossible to imagine, but if the music were not art, then there would be such a cultural black hole as to require a reinvention of what it means to be human. If you find this an unacceptable position, then think about the music industry, the enormous revenue it generates, the jobs it provides, and the wide variety of entertainment and culture it offers. According to ‘ UK Music ’, the ‘true’ value of the economic music industry is £3.5 billion. This takes into account the revenue that can be traced and adequately accounted for, but never the less represents a significant figure in one country alone.

Music education should be at the very heart of our learning community. Without music, the world could not function, and as Nietzsche claimed, “(Music’s) main purpose, however, is to lead our thoughts upward, so that it elevates us, even deeply moves us”.

2 thoughts on “Why Is Music Education Important?”

Why cannot the UK learn from the hard lessons learned here in the US? In spite of the stacks and stacks of research validating what is in this article, school districts cut music first as a result of their fiscal irresponsibile practices and test scores do not improve. Ugh. Music in Europe and Asia is a major factor, I believe, is what gives you guys the edge in education.

Great job drawing our attention to the many benefits music education offers the academics at large. I’ll like to add how pluralistic societies are affected by varying religious beliefs on the use of music. However, music has a track-record of triggering academic excellence coupled with ease.

Given this, I strongly employ all stakeholders to embrace the possibilities it offers.

Great job and well done with this article and site at large!

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How Music Primes the Brain for Learning

To reap the benefits of music on learning, kids need consistent and abundant musical practice, according to the latest cognitive research.

Ten years ago, musician Angélica Durrell began teaching a small group of Connecticut high school students how to play different percussion instruments, including the charango and toyos —musical instruments native to Central and South America, where many of the students had recently immigrated from. They learned to play Pachelbel’s Canon and then moved on to master “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” the sixties doo-wop hit by The Shirelles, singing the lyrics in both English and Spanish.

Within a few years, the after-school music program—aimed at Latino students, many of whom were struggling academically—became renowned in the school district, recast from a “nice-to-have” extracurricular into a strategic tool for addressing some of the district’s persistent challenges. Durrell’s students, teachers and school leaders noticed, were attending school more consistently, their English was improving, and they seemed increasingly comfortable making friends.

Today, Durrell’s non-profit program Intempo serves more than 3,000 students each year in Stamford and Norwalk schools, underscoring music’s profound impact on learning from both a cognitive and a social and emotional learning (SEL) vantage point. “We went from approaching it from a music perspective,” Durrell says, “to approaching it from an immigrant inclusion, language acquisition, and grade-level reading-acquisition perspective.”

Consistent exposure to music, like learning to play a musical instrument, or taking voice lessons, strengthens a particular set of academic and social-emotional skills that are essential to learning. In ways that are unmatched by other pursuits, like athletics for instance, learning music powerfully reinforces language skills, builds and improves reading ability, and strengthens memory and attention, according to the latest research on the cognitive neuroscience of music.

Experts are hoping this body of evidence might alter the current state of music education in schools—which is extremely uneven and, in some places, downright nonexistent. In a 2014 survey from Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit advocacy organization, teachers reported that 1.3 million elementary students didn’t have music classes in their schools, and nearly 4 million didn’t have a visual arts class. More recently, data from the 2016 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed improvements in some areas, though arts participation and access varied greatly by region . For example, while 68 percent of eighth-graders had music class in 2016, students in the Northeast were twice as likely to attend music class compared with students in the South and the West, where only one-third of students had access to music classes.

Now, following months of pandemic-related learning disruptions, organizations that track arts education like the federally-funded Arts Education Partnership say it’s difficult to even get a handle on who’s learning music at school.

The Cognitive Benefits of Music

The key to understanding music’s advantages, researchers say, lies in how the brain processes sound, the raw material of music, language, and—perhaps counterintuitively—learning to read. The sounds that come in through our ears travel along an anatomically complex “auditory pathway” that’s deeply connected to parts of the brain that determine how humans move, how we think and speak, what we know, and what we pay attention to. “The hearing brain is vast,” explains neuroscientist Nina Kraus, author of the new book  Of Sound Mind , in an interview with Edutopia . “People think of the hearing brain as being a silo within the brain. In fact, our hearing engages our cognitive, sensory, motor, and reward systems. That’s huge. From an evolutionary perspective, being able to make sense of sound is ancient and has engaged all these different perspectives.”

What makes music learning so powerful is how it engages all those different systems in a single activity. To play the violin, for example, a student needs to coordinate their motor, cognitive, and sensory systems to be able to put their fingers on the correct strings and move the bow at the right time; to read musical notes on a sheet of music and know what sounds they represent; and to hear if the pitches and rhythms are correct and coordinating with other players at the right time. Then there’s how the sound of music makes the student feel, which lights up the brain’s reward system. Engaging all these different systems makes learning how to play music one of the richest and deepest brain activities that humans perform. “Teachers resoundingly tell me that children who play music also do better in school,” Kraus writes. Young musicians also tend to have stronger language and reading skills than non-musicians because their brains have spent more time actively “engaging with sound.”

The type of instrument doesn’t matter: flute, violin, accordion, piano, voice—even abundant exposure to music can make an impact. “What is important is that engaging with sound changes and strengthens how the brain responds to sound,” Kraus says.

Music as Academic Strength Training

At Durban Avenue School in Sussex County, New Jersey, music teacher Shawna Longo calls out a particular rhythm, and then her kindergarteners play it on their Boomwhackers , tuned percussion tubes that come in different sizes and colors to symbolize different pitches. “Now only the red ones! Do ‘I like pepperoni pizza,’” she calls out, and the children play ta-ta-tee-tee-tee-tee-ta-ta. “They can only play when I hold up their color,” she says. “They have to learn when to wait, and when to play.”

The ability to keep a steady beat and anticipate the next beat, research has shown , are reliable indicators that a child is ready to learn to read. But keeping rhythm isn’t the only musical skill that paves the way for language development and reading, notes education researcher Anita Collins in her new book, The Music Advantage .

Learning to read music—decoding musical notation and connecting it to sounds—activates the same “phonological loop” in the brain as when kids learn to read words, deepening sound-word connections. Collins describes the process in her book:

• The eye sees a symbol on the page, whether it’s an eighth note D or a letter t at the start of a word

• The brain hears the sound, pulling it from the memory of music and speech sounds all brains possess

• The brain instructs the body to make that sound, whether it’s hands playing an instrument or the mouth shaped to make the t sound

• The brain listens to be sure the correct sound was made, and then makes adjustments

(From page 54 of The Music Advantage )

Processing sound strengthens the same areas of the brain that are responsible for learning language and learning to read—and while neuroscientists are still teasing out the how and the why, Collins writes that the latest research indicates that “music and reading may well be complementary learning activities,” with music functioning as a robust tool to improve language learning.

The Sound of Social Cohesion

When Covid-19 lockdowns first spread across the globe in March 2020, multiple videos showed people in Italy singing together from their balconies. At a time of extreme stress and isolation, Italians turned to music to connect with their neighbors.

Music and song are among the most basic ways humans have connected with one another for thousands of years. “Music lives in the oldest part of our brain,” Collins tells  Edutopia . “Music and song are at least as old as language and the spoken word.”

In a landmark 2018 study , researchers from the University of Toronto found that an adult singing and moving to a musical beat with a one-year-old child in tow increased social cohesion: the child was more likely to help when the adult later “accidentally” dropped an item. The study has been replicated many times, Collins writes, and shows how music taps into a primal bond that may encourage prosocial behavior like empathy and helping—the very behaviors that adults want children to develop as they grow, and behaviors schools strive to teach using the tenets of social and emotional learning.

When students belt out the school song at basketball games, or sing the clean-up song in kindergarten, it’s a potent practice for strengthening basic human social bonds. “Singing is a very powerful tool to make children feel in community,” says Kelly Green, vice president of education at Kindermusik, which creates research-based music curriculum for early childhood learners. “It’s deep SEL.”

Like Italy’s balcony singers during lockdown, social singing and music-making might be especially helpful to students now, when loneliness, anxiety, and depression are skyrocketing among young people. But Green says that kids in school sing a lot less than they used to. We tend to think “that learning music is only to develop as a musician,” Collins remarks. “People don’t feel confident to sing anymore. The fear that sits under ‘I can’t sing, I’m not musical’ is incredibly deep. When I start singing with students, they often realize singing is just a practiced skill. All these things start happening. They feel this sense of euphoria.”

Kids Benefit From Deep and Consistent Engagement

Facing limited budgets, increased academic expectations and testing , and a music teacher shortage , some schools and districts are increasingly looking to nonprofit organizations and community partners for help. Groups like Save the Music Foundation provide grants for schools to purchase student instruments and provide teacher training. The Harmony Project brings intensive music training and support to underserved students in the Los Angeles area. The Soulsville Charter School, a music-influenced middle and high school in Memphis, Tennessee, taps into the birthplace of American soul music and legendary Stax Records with the support of the Soulsville Foundation .

“You have to be willing to say, ‘We can’t do this alone,’” says Tamu Lucero, superintendent of Stamford Public Schools, where Durrell’s Intempo program is now a critical component of the district’s new-arrivals program. Even though Stamford schools already offered regular music programming, Lucero says, “we were willing to be open to the idea of how we could use an outside partner to enrich the learning environment for students.”

Researchers will continue to untangle some of the reasons behind why music learning is so beneficial to students—but know enough to conclude that listening to music or writing a song for a class project only begins to scratch the surface. To get maximal brain benefits, students should actively engage with music by learning to play an instrument or studying voice, preferably in a group setting. The evidence is strong enough to recommend music education as a discrete class for all kids—and across the grade levels—as a critically important investment.

Or as Nina Kraus states, “Music should be a part of every child’s education. Period.”

Why is Music Education in Schools Important?

by guest blogger | Arts Education and Integration | 5 comments

Music education is important in our schools.  And yet, it seems these days, it is being offered less and less in many school systems. Unfortunately, many schools have begun to exclude music from their curriculums to make room for other subjects.

Music is an extremely important subject for all children to learn and can lead to better brain development, increases in human connection, and even stress relief. As music is removed from schools, children will no longer receive these benefits unless they enroll in private lessons, which is much too expensive for some families to afford.

Here are five reasons why music education in schools is important:

#1) Music stimulates brain development in children

Various studies have found that engagement with music can lead to an improvement in brain development in children. A study at Northwestern University found better neural processing in students who played a musical instrument when they were compared with students who simply listened to music. This study shows the importance of receiving music education, rather than simply turning on background music when students are doing work in other subjects. Other studies have also found increases in IQ points in children who engaged with music. When compared with students who didn’t take any music lessons, musically-engaged students had more improvements in IQ subtests, index scores, and a standardized measure of academic achievement.

If you’re interested in enrolling your child in music lessons outside of the school system for more engagement with music, take a look at this article to learn about the costs.

Music education is also a great way to enhance reading comprehension abilities in children. Another study, which was also conducted at Northwestern University, found that students who actively participated in music classes had better speech processing abilities along with higher reading scores than children who weren’t involved. Reading is an important skill for all children to develop because it is needed for all subjects. Even subjects that are not related to English literature will involve reading. For example, math word problems require excellent reading comprehension abilities in order to answer them correctly.

#2) Music is a way to connect with other people

Music education is also important because it will give students a way to connect with other people. Children are naturally very social, and it’s important to encourage them to build relationships by providing them experiences to share with each other. Creating a school band or small ensemble, or encouraging participation in a chorus will allow children to work together towards a final product (such as an end-of-year performance). This encourages bonding and will provide students with something to reminisce on together in the future.

It has been proven time and again that having people of all ages play or listen to music together will help to create bonds. Having an impromptu drumming circle or listening to and enjoying a piece of recorded music can connect people through sound, singing and even movement or dance. Musical experiences such as these can bring back a fond memory or create new ones!

#3) Music integrates many different subjects

Another reason music education is so important is that it integrates so many different subject areas all at once. Not only will music education allow children to develop their musical skills, it will also give them the opportunity to work on their math skills, reading and writing skills, science skills, and history knowledge. For example, time signatures in music are an excellent way to incorporate fractions , and lyric analysis and songwriting will allow students to work on their reading abilities.

Additionally, having discussions about how instruments work will involve information on the physics of sound, and learning about music’s place in society will shine a light on important historical events. If teachers are concerned about their students’ skills in other areas of learning, they will be able to incorporate them into a music class with ease.

#4) Music teaches discipline

Music will also teach children to develop time management skills and discipline. If students are expected to learn their instruments and practice outside of school, then they will develop the ability to create a practice schedule.  They will be able to balance every other activity they have going on in their lives. Learning discipline and time management from a young age will have countless benefits on a child’s future. For example, if a child develops discipline in elementary school, they will be much more able to balance the workload they’ll receive in high school and excel in their classes.

Excelling in their high school classes may then allow a student to choose a reputable post-secondary institution that he or she would like to attend, which will lead to better job prospects as an adult.

#5) Music can relieve stress

Finally, music is an excellent way to relieve stress.  This is significant for students who may feel overwhelmed by schoolwork and try to balance extracurricular activities. Studies have found that music can reduce burnout and improve mood states. As students enter into the upper grades of the school system and begin considering applying for post-secondary schools, they might feel overwhelmed with the need to keep their grades high. Even young students can experience stress with the increasing amounts of homework school curriculums require. Some students may also have stressful home lives, and music will offer a way to escape from these situations.

In addition, you may consider Soundtracking your classroom to help relieve stress and anxiety for your students. Doing so can also help create a focused learning atmosphere.

Music has many benefits to people of all ages. It’s important to know why so that we can continue to advocate for keeping music education in our schools!

My name’s Natalie Wilson and I’m an avid music lover and guitar player who has dedicated my life to sharing what I know on my blog. You’ll find a wide range of topics on my blog, including reviews, tutorials, and tips for musicians.

Visit my blog: MusicalAdvisors.com

Feel free to contact me at [email protected] .

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✅ The 3-step framework 100s of teachers use (myself included!) to transform their classrooms (and improve their impact) in 6 weeks or less. ❌ The 5 mistakes to avoid when supporting your students' social-emotional development. (This will save you so much frustration!) 😬 Why you DON'T need to act like the classroom therapist to have a calm classroom—and what to do instead. ⭐️ How to work with me more closely to create the classroom that brings you joy again!

Good read, music is everything

Thanks for sharing your article. I really enjoyed it. If you are interested in Best Music School in Gurgaon, feel free to visit our website.

Awesome read, when was this published?

Hi Toria, This was first published in May of 2017. Glad you enjoyed it!

Hi, Elizabeth, thank you for giving us the exact date.

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Dr. Indre Viskontas’ report reveals that if even a single student remains in school thanks to a music program, savings to the taxpayer more than make up for a salary for that music teacher.

There's an unfortunate truth in today's America: A majority of school boards and policymakers view art and music education as important but non-essential. The reasoning here isn't nefarious—studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics provides a solid educational foundation for many stable, good-paying jobs. Parents and educators and lawmakers believe this to be best for the country's children. And while decades of research into music education reveals a positive impact on children's lives, it's difficult to quantify and qualify. No matter how well-intentioned, however, this policy strategy is shortsighted. It doesn't take into account the economic, social, or developmental value of studying music. Enter Dr. Indre Viskontas '08 , a trained operatic soprano turned director, neuroscientist, and communicator who is on faculty at SFCM and is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco. Inspired by a 2018 symposium organized by SFCM—which included leading archeologists/paleoanthropologists discussing the significance of music in the history of human evolution—Dr. Dre, as her students call her, began researching for a report on the impact of music education on students in elementary and secondary schools. With generous funding from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation and SFCM, she spoke with top educators and psychologists to unravel the benefits of music. "Ultimately, we know that taking vitamins has the most benefit for people who are malnourished," she said. "Music is actually the same way, it has the most benefit for people who are impoverished." In fact, it's no stretch to say that with the correlations between high dropout rates and high crime rates, if even a single student remains in school thanks to a music program, savings to the taxpayer more than make up for that music teacher's salary. This sort of data-driven, holistic thinking is revolutionary. "This paper needs to be read by every state legislature, by every school board in the country," said SFCM president David Stull. "There's no question that music programs can bind students to academic programs. It provides a sense of self-worth and social belonging, in addition to the executive function and developmental benefits." The report, " Music for Every Child: a special report for parents, educators, community organizers, policy-makers and citizens of the world ," aggregates existing research to codify and clarify the precise impacts music education has on developing minds, from improving skills like planning and following instructions to building stronger neuroplasticity and providing a quantifiably significant incentive for children at risk for dropping out to remain in school. "The Getty Foundation believes that it is essential that every child have access to music education," said Lisa Delan ‘89, director of the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation. "Not tomorrow. Today. The empirical evidence irrefutably illustrates the role that early exposure to music plays in myriad aspects of brain development." "And the biggest benefit comes in the most at-risk student populations," Dr. Viskontas said. "Even if you didn't have these direct neurological benefits, which we do, we also see that it brings students to schools. Students at risk of absenteeism are more likely to attend classes." Students participating in a music program in Nashville, for example, showed higher attendance and graduation rates, higher test scores, and fewer discipline reports in one study. This is one of the key conclusions the report highlights: Music education keeps students involved in school and provides that key sense of belonging, which, in turn, can help break the vicious poverty cycles with which so many of the country's poorer districts have found themselves contending in recent decades. This is in addition to the cognitive benefits of studying music, which increase the more music training a child undergoes. Studying music can enhance auditor skills and memory and coordination and even social and listening skills. There is a correlation between music education and GPAs, even accounting for the myriad variables that go into such a calculation. Additionally, music education can be particularly beneficial for students with ADHD, and compared to other extracurricular activities like drama or playing sports, music tends to show the strongest correlation with high executive function and graduation rates. So what comes next? "First, we can get this paper into the hands of parents, educators, principals, whoever needs to know that music education is worth spending time and money on," Dr. Viskontas said. Next, she hopes these stakeholders will use it to convince lawmakers that there should be music funding in every school, not just private schools. Finally, the paper identifies what isn't yet known and provides the beginnings of a "best practices" guide to the kind of music education that is most effective in the classroom. "Not all music teachers are good music teachers, and not all programs are good," she said, noting that such programs must be adaptive as "there are schools where they don't see these benefits because students aren't interested in learning Mozart piano sonatas." "This is about changing policy," said Stull. "If we just developed educational policy using this matrix–we'd actually save money. I'm not suggesting it's a complete silver bullet for everything, but the data absolutely suggests we could make progress and save money on these fronts. It's right there in front of us." He added that the organizations will be seeking foundation support to mount a national, multi-year public relations campaign to place the information in front of key stakeholders and policy makers. "We have come to regard music education as largely inconsequential, when it is in fact one of the most important tools we can employ to positively impact both individual growth and cultural cohesion," Delan said. "By failing to integrate music education into pre-K-12 learning we are limiting the potentiality of each new generation. We are denying them facility in a language which is foundational to human development and the human experience." There's something fundamentally human about making music. This art form has been essential to our evolution as a species, and yet society has marginalized the role of music in our lives and in our children’s development. This initiative aims to elevate the importance of music education in schools once more, with SFCM and the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation leading that charge. Learn more here and download the full report

The Importance of Music Education

What if there was one activity that could benefit every student in every school across the nation? An activity that could improve grades and scores on standardized testing? An activity that would allow students to form lasting friendships? An activity that would help students become more disciplined and confident?

Fortunately, there is such an activity. Unfortunately, many schools will not make it a part of their curriculum, due to issues of funding and scheduling. This activity is something that everyone is aware of, but not everyone has a chance to participate in. This activity is music.

For years, music classes have been the ugly ducklings of school curriculums—the last courses to be added, the first courses to be cut. They have always taken second place to traditional academic classes. Music, however, has proved itself to be extremely beneficial time and time again, from the undeniable improvement in grades regarding traditional academic classes to the glowing remarks from music students everywhere. In an ever-changing world, the addition of music education in schools needs to be next on the academic agenda.  Music education should be a required component in all schools due to the proven academic, social, and personal benefits that it provides.

According to the No Child Left Behind Act, the following are defined as, “core academic subjects”: English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, the arts [emphasis added], history, and geography ( Benefits of the Study 1). Although music, being a part of the arts, is supposedly on the same level as other academic subjects, it is not being treated as such.

Music education greatly enhances students’ understanding and achievement in non-musical subjects. For example, a ten-year study, which tracked over 25,000 middle and high school students, showed that students in music classes receive higher scores on standardized tests than students with little to no musical involvement. The musical students scored, on average, sixty-three points higher on the verbal section and forty-four points higher on the math sections of the SATs than non-music students (Judson). When applying to colleges, these points could be the difference between an acceptance letter and a rejection letter.

Furthermore, certain areas of musical training are tied to specific areas of academics; this concept is called transfer. According to Susan Hallam, “Transfer between tasks is a function of the degree to which the tasks share cognitive processes” (5-6). To put this simply, the more related two subjects are, the more transfer will ensue. This can be evidenced with the correlation between rhythm instruction and spatial-temporal reasoning, which is integral in the acquisition of important math skills. The transfer can be explained by the fact that rhythm training emphasizes proportions, patterns, fractions, and ratios, which are expressed as mathematical relations (Judson). Transfer can be seen in other academic subjects as well. For example, in a 2000 study of 162 sixth graders, Ron Butzlaff concluded that students with two or three years of instrumental music experience had significantly better results on the Stanford Achievement Test (a verbal and reading skills test) than their non-musical counterparts (qtd. in Judson). This experiment demonstrates that music can affect improvement in many different academic subjects. All in all, it can be shown that music education is a worthwhile investment for improving students’ understanding and achievement in academic subjects.

Related to academic achievement is success in the workforce. The Backstreet Boys state that, “Practicing music reinforces teamwork, communication skills, self-discipline, and creativity” ( Why Music? ). These qualities are all highly sought out in the workplace. Creativity, for example, is, “one of the top-five skills important for success in the workforce,” according to Lichtenberg, Woock, and Wright (Arts Education Partnership 5). Participation in music enhances a student’s creativeness. Willie Jolley, a world-class professional speaker, states that his experience with musical improvisation has benefited him greatly regarding business. Because situations do not always go as planned, one has to improvise, and come up with new strategies (Thiers, et. al). This type of situation can happen in any job; and when it does, creativity is key. Similarly, music strengthens a person’s perseverance and self-esteem—both qualities that are essential in having a successful career (Arts Education Partnership 5). Thus, music education can contribute to students’ future careers and occupational endeavors.

Participation in music also boasts social benefits for students. Music is a way to make friends. Dimitra Kokotsaki and Susan Hallam completed a study dealing with the perceived benefits of music; in their findings they wrote, “Participating in ensembles was also perceived as an opportunity to socialize with like-minded people, make new friends and meet interesting people, who without the musical engagement they would not have had the opportunity to meet” (11). Every time a student is involved in music, they have the chance to meet new people, and form lasting friendships.

Likewise, in a study by Columbia University, it was revealed that students who participate in the arts are often more cooperative with teachers and peers, have more self-confidence, and are better able to express themselves (Judson). Through one activity, a student can reap all of these benefits, as well as numerous others. Moreover, the social benefits of music education can continue throughout a student’s life in ways one would never suspect. An example of this would be that “students who participate in school band or orchestra have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs among any other group in our society” (Judson). By just participating in a fun school activity, students can change their lives for the better. Music education can help students on their journey to success.

Chinese philosopher Confucius once stated, “Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without” (Arts Education Partnership 1). Music education provides personal benefits to students that enrich their lives. In the study of perceived benefits of music by Dimitra Kokotsaki and Susan Hallam, it was found that “participating in an ensemble enhanced feelings of self-achievement for the study’s participants, assisted individuals in overcoming challenges, built self-confidence, and raised determination to make more effort to meet group expectations regarding standards of playing” (12). In an ensemble, every member is equally important, from the first chair to the last chair. Thus every person must be able to play all of their music and be ready for anything. When one person does not practice their music and comes to rehearsal unprepared, it reflects upon the whole ensemble. Needless to say, no one wants to be that person. So students take it upon themselves to show that they want to be there and come prepared. This type of attitude continues throughout students’ lives.

Furthermore, group participation in music activities can assist in the development of leadership skills (Kokotsaki and Hallam 13). One participant in the perceived benefits of music study stated that, “I have gained confidence in my leadership skills through conducting the Concert Band” (Kokotsaki and Hallam 28). Conducting an ensemble is just one of the many leadership opportunities available to music students.

Music can also be a comforting activity to many students. High school senior and school band member Manna Varghese states that for her, music is a way to relieve stress. When she is angry or frustrated, she likes to play flute or piano to relax. For students, music classes are not necessarily something they participate in for a grade, or to put on a college application. Students participate in music classes because they enjoy them and want to be there.

Even though it has been proven that music education benefits students, many people argue that it still should not be required in schools. They state that with the increasing importance placed on standardized testing, there is not enough class time to include music classes (Abril and Gault 68). However, it has been shown that the time students spend in music classes does not hinder their academic success. A study by Hodges and O’Connell found that “being excused from non-musical classes to attend instrumental lessons does not adversely affect academic performance” (Hallam 14). Thus, in reality, having students enroll in music classes would not be detrimental to their academic performance, and the students would then be able to reap all of the benefits that come with music education. Furthermore, funding for music education is an issue at many schools. The people in charge of determining funding for schools often choose to fund traditional academic classes over arts programs. Paul Harvey states, “Presently, we are spending twenty-nine times more on science than on the arts, and the result so far is worldwide intellectual embarrassment” (Hale 8). Clearly, the current system for the allocation of funds for schools is not adequate. By transferring some of the funding from traditional academic classes to music classes, this embarrassment could be avoided. Evidently, although some may try to argue against it, music education should be required in all schools.

What would life be like without music? Imagine it for a moment. No listening to music on the radio on a long drive. No music to dance to. There would not be any soundtracks in movies, and concerts and musicals would be nonexistent. Eventually, no one would even remember what music is. Many people do not realize it, but music has a bigger effect on their lives than they may think, and they would definitely care if it was to disappear. Without music, life would never be the same. To keep music alive, students must be educated about it in schools. Students will not only get to experience and enjoy what music has to offer, but will reap the innumerable benefits that come with music. Ancient Greek philosopher and teacher Plato said it best: “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to imagination, and life to everything.”

Works Consulted

Abril, Carlos A., and Brent M. Gault. “The State of Music in Secondary Schools: The Principal’s Perspective.” Journal of Research in Music Education 56.1 (2008): 68-81. JSTOR . Web. 19 Oct. 2013.

Arts Education Partnership, comp. Music Matters: How Music Education Helps Students Learn, Achieve, and Succeed . Washington D.C.: n.p., 2011. Print.

Hale, Donna Sizemore. “Stay Involved to Protect the Arts.” American String Teacher 63.3 (2013): 8. ProQuest . Web. 19 Oct. 2013.

Hallam, Susan. “The power of music: its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people.” International Journal of Music Education 28.3 (2010): 269-89. Print.

Judson, Ellen. “The Importance of Music.” Music Empowers Foundation . N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2013.

Kokotsaki, Dimitra, and Susan Hallam. “Higher Education music students’ perceptions of the benefits of participative music making.” Music Education Research 9.1 (2007): n. pag. Google Scholar . Web. 26 Oct. 2013.

National Association for Music Education, comp. The Benefits of the Study of Music . N.p.: n.p., 2007. Print.

Thiers, Genevieve, et al. “Music Education and Success…From the Band Room to the Board Room.” Everything We Needed to Know About Business, We Learned Playing Music . By Craig M. Cortello. N.p.: n.p., n.d. NME.com . Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

Varghese, Manna. Personal interview. 24 Oct. 2013.

Why Music? Prod. NAfME. Radio

10 Ways Music Education Benefits Students

In an effort to trim budgets and improve academic performance, music education is disappearing as a result of state officials cutting the arts from schools .

Some believe that music isn’t as important as the core academic subjects. However, research has shown that benefits of music education include students’ academic success.

Here are 10 benefits of music education that highlight why it should be an integral part of students’ lives—whether inside or outside of school.

1. Language skills. According to PBS, “Recent studies have clearly indicated 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.” Learning a musical instrument also improves how the brain understands human language, which can help students learn a second language.

2. Improved test scores. Studies have shown that students who are involved with a high-quality music education program in school perform better on tests than students who don’t engage in music.  PBS reports , “A study published in 2007 by Christopher Johnson, professor of music education and music therapy at the University of Kansas, revealed that students in elementary schools with superior music education programs scored around 22 percent higher in English and 20 percent higher in math scores on standardized tests, compared to schools with low-quality music programs.”

3. Self-esteem. Music allows students to try something new and develop confidence as they master singing or playing an instrument. “When students are working towards a common goal, they appreciate that their ‘voice’ and interests are heard and understood by others. This joint effort creates a sense of secure acceptance that is critical to their self-esteem,” states PBS .

4. Listening skills. Music involves listening to yourself and to the rest of the ensemble. Musicians need to hear tempos, dynamics, tuning, and harmonies. This helps auditory development in the brain.

5. Math skills. Reading music includes learning quarter, half, and whole notes, which are essentially fractions. As Getting Smart explains , “When a music pupil has spent time learning about rhythm, he has learned to count. He is not counting numbers, per se, but he is most certainly using logic to count out the rhythms and bars, and working his way methodically through the piece. Many musical concepts have mathematical counterparts.”

6. Making the brain work harder. Research shows that the brain of a musician works differently than a non-musician, according to PBS. ‘There’s some good neuroscience research that children involved in music have larger growth of neural activity than people not in music training,” says Dr. Eric Rasmussen, chair of the Early Childhood Music Department at the Peabody Preparatory of The Johns Hopkins University. “When you’re a musician and you’re playing an instrument, you have to be using more of your brain.”

7. Relieving stress. We all know that listening to a favorite artist or song can lift a mood and relax us. The same goes for creating music. It gives kids a great release , allowing them to immerse themselves in something that’s fulfilling and calming. I know that no matter how stressed I was in school, I would always come out happy and relaxed after choir practice.

8. Creativity. Music certainly nurtures kids’ creative side. This can have an impact on their futures. The Arts Education Partnership states , “Employers identify creativity as one of the top five skills important for success in the workforce (Lichtenberg, Woock, & Wright, 2008).” The partnership also suggests originality and flexibility are benefits of music education because they are key components of the creativity and innovation music requires. Finally, graduates from music programs report that creativity, teamwork, communication, and critical thinking are skills and competencies necessary in their work, regardless of whether they are working in music or in other fields.

9. Helping special needs children. Music can have a powerful impact on kids with special needs . It helps them find a way to communicate and open up, which they may struggle with otherwise. For this reason, and despite cuts to music programs, schools are increasingly implementing music therapy after-school programs to benefit students with disabilities.

10. Higher graduation rates. Schools with music programs have higher graduation rates. DoSomething.org reports , “Schools with music programs have an estimated 90.2 percent graduation rate and 93.9 percent attendance rate compared to schools without music education who average 72.9 percent graduation and 84.9 percent attendance.”

Many families can instill the benefits of music education in children despite cuts to school programs. Some pursue music on their own or find supplemental learning programs that incorporate music in the midst of dwindling school programs. Private music teachers or music ensembles within communities and churches offer good options for kids to reap the academic benefits of music education. Some might find artistic success as well: K12 student Stephanie Grace , who at age 16 has already released twelve country music songs, and K12 student Kalona Pence, who is a rising Christian music artist. Parents of younger students might consider supplemental learning programs, such as EmbarK12 , that incorporate music and other arts that offer important benefits for kids. Feel free to share more ideas about how to incorporate music in children’s lives outside of school by posting a comment below.

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The Importance of Music Education in Schools

• August 21, 2020

Home Educators Blog

The benefits of music education are immense and highly beneficial to students. Music positively impacts a child’s academic performance, assists in developing social skills, and provides an outlet for creativity that is crucial to a child’s development. Music education catapults a child’s learning to new heights, and because of this, it should always be considered a pivotal part of a child’s educational process .

Music Education and Its Impact on Student Learning

Music education improves and develops language skills in children. Music stimulates the brain, and with its varied sounds and lyrics, students are exposed to a large amount of vocabulary in a short amount of time. Music also provides exposure to other languages, which creates a foundation for the student’s ability to understand and communicate in a different language.

Music is a vehicle for excellent memory skills. Have you ever listened to a song for the first time in a long time and still remember the lyrics? Even individuals who are not musicians experience this phenomenon. Through catchy melodies and a variety of sounds, music has a way of “sticking” with us and is a powerful tool for learning when used appropriately — just think of singing the ‘A, B, Cs’ or ‘The State Capitols’ song.

On the flip side, students also increase their mental capabilities in multiple ways when participating in music education. As stated before, music fosters memorization skills. In addition to song lyrics, students must memorize all aspects of music when preparing for a performance. Students must recall rhythms, pitches, dynamics, and several other elements all at once. Students can then transfer those memory skills to the academic classroom and employ those skills in their studies.

Social Benefits of Music Education

The mental benefits of music education are extremely advantageous to students in schools; however, the social benefits are just as wonderful! Music education requires teamwork and collaboration . While playing instruments together, students develop listening skills. They must listen to others to better gage volume levels, the implementation of dynamics, and so much more. Teamwork and collaboration is also required when completing simple musical tasks such as rhythmic and melodic notation. Students quickly learn to value the opinions and ideas of others and how to efficiently combine those thoughts to complete the task at hand.

In addition to teamwork, music education creates long lasting friendships and relationships. Students involved in band or choir bond over their love and enjoyment of music. They share exciting moments together through music, help develop one another’s abilities, and become a support system for each other. This special bond also increases student engagement in school.

Music education allows students an opportunity to experience different cultures. In early music education, the use of songs and games from other countries is extremely prevalent. Students learn how other children play and compare that knowledge to their own lives. In addition, students develop an understanding of other cultures, which leads to a beautiful acceptance of others. Students realize that recognizing differences is good, and it creates a greater respect for others.

Other Benefits of Music Education

Music education promotes improved coordination, specifically hand-eye coordination. Musicians must multitask! They must do multiple things all at once, all of which improves coordination and further develops the brain. Student musicians must read music, interpret it, and physically initiate the music through the playing of their instrument. These steps are repeated continuously throughout any performance of a piece of music, and even the youngest of learners slowly develop their coordination skills through continued music practice.

Music education fosters greater work ethic and discipline in children. Students of music learn from an early age that hard work, determination, and a positive mindset are all you need to succeed, but with those characteristics, continual practice is required. Students learn that improving musical skills does not come easy, as it requires hours of study and practice. Through this, students gain a greater concept of work ethic and learn to discipline themselves to reach goals. Work ethic and discipline are huge factors of music education, and it is important to note that those life skills will positively impact a student when entering the work force, completing tasks, etc.

Because music education is an outlet for creativity, it can be a source of stress relief . Unfortunately, there are many stressors present for children at school and at home (pressure to pass the test, make the grade, make the team, exceed expectations, and so on). Music education allows students a chance to excel with fewer limits and greater possibilities. It also gives students something to look forward to during the school day (not that students do not look forward to math, science, etc.); thus, directly impacting student engagement in school. Music simply provides a different means of student expression, and there are fewer barriers to what students can do and explore. Students who are involved in music education generally have an overall increase in engagement and enjoyment in school.

The final benefit of music education may be one of the most important benefits. Music transcends the limits of language. Music has no language barrier. It is something that brings people together regardless of ethnicity or background. Music also transcends academic barriers as well. All learners can be successful in music. Sometimes, students who are not very inept academically soar in the arts! Students who cannot remember basic math skills can remember and employ the use of various rhythmic patterns effortlessly. Music literally becomes their best subject, and they shine in it! Through this, a student’s sense of self and his/her confidence is dramatically boosted. All children desire to be good at something and develop a sense of achievement for a job well done, and music education produces an outlet that is perfect for that.

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Tuning In: Six Benefits of Music Education for Kids

Posted June 19, 2018

By Jenny Silverstone

In this worthwhile pursuit, many creative school programs such as art and music are deemed unnecessary and cut from the curriculum.

What many schools do not realize, however, is that programs such as music education can have major positive impacts on growth and development.

In fact, these six benefits of music education not only show how music can benefit children now, but how it goes hand-in-hand with their preparation for future endeavors.

Enhanced language capabilities

Would you like your child to have larger vocabulary and enhanced reading comprehension skills? Studies show consistent music education improves both areas. How does it work?

Emerging evidence suggests the area of the brain controlling both musical ability and language comprehension are more related than previously thought. Music education requires students to recognize and repeat pitch, tone or enunciation of words.

Especially in young children, music directly benefits the ability to learn words, speak them correctly, and process the many new sounds they hear from others.

Improved memory

Music education involves a high level of memorization. Students must be able to read music by sight, play the proper notes on their instrument or recall lyrics. This process benefits the overall memory center of the brain.

In one study , musicians outperformed non-musicians in auditory, visual, and memory tests.

Music is also easily stored in our memory. Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? You can use music to help children remember things. Examples include using common tunes to memorize facts, playing meditative music during study time, and using music resources when presenting materials.

Strengthened hand-eye coordination

Playing a musical instrument has long been known to enhance dexterity and hand-eye coordination.

When playing an instrument, a musician must be able to create the correct notes through the proper hand motions, whether it be hitting keys, closing valves or using another apparatus to produce sound. In addition, the musician is also required to read the sheet music and follow the conductor.

This opportunity to grow motor skills is especially significant in younger children. Even a basic introduction to an instrument, such as a hitting a triangle or learning a song on a recorder, can be beneficial.

Powerful study habits

As children grow and are exposed to more rigorous courses of study, time spent reviewing and retaining is essential to success. More and more time in the classroom is spent on introducing new subjects and ideas, requiring students to work at home to ensure they have grasped onto the necessary information.

When children are exposed to proper music education , they learn powerful study habits. Mastering their specific musical craft takes a concerted effort, consistent practice and patience. These disciplined habits translate into other areas of study.

Music is often thought of as a way to foster individual expression. While it definitely is that, music can also teach teamwork. No place is this more evident or powerful than in schools.

Students work together to create a cohesive, technically correct performance. Together, they form a community of like-minded individuals who can help each other reach goals. Many students find a sense of belonging in school music programs.

Mental processing & problem-solving heightened

In the end, one of the most useful benefits of music education is the increased ability to process situations and find solutions mentally. Those with musical training have been found to have higher levels of grey matter volume in their brains , which are directly tied to auditory processing and comprehension.

Surprisingly, one of the areas of life this is most important for is forming relationships. Musicians learn to listen to others, sense emotion,and react with greater depth and understanding.

Music education for kids

Music education is an important aspect of providing children with a well-rounded education. When allowed to work in harmony with other subjects and areas of study, music helps children grow in self-esteem, build essential skills and prepare for bright futures.

Jenny Silverstone is the writer at Studyclerk and the primary author of Mom Loves Best , a research-driven parenting blog that covers important topics such as education, child safety and healthy childhood development milestones.

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5 Responses to “Tuning In: Six Benefits of Music Education for Kids”

Agreed, all six benefits matter to enhance level of learning.

Interesting and useful article to read. There are several other recommended articles that also discuss similar things on the following website http://ners.unair.ac.id/site/index.php/news-fkp-unair/30-lihat/1550-manfaat-musik-untuk-kesehatan-ternyata-tidak-sedikit

The benefits of musical education for kids include: It helps students improve there memorization because students are recommended to read music by sight, play the proper notes and sing the right lyrics. The second reason it is good for students is it helps kids with there hand eye coordination. Playing an instrument is very hard because it takes a lot of practicing and hard work to become a good musician and it requires students to read the sheet of music and follow the music conductor. These are my reasons why I think that all schools should teach music.

I love that you talked about how our hand-eye coordination could be enhanced by watching and understanding performance arts theaters. My companion mentioned a few nights ago that he wanted us to attend a performing arts musical theater to experience outstanding educational programs for our children. He asked if I had opinions on the best option to gather details about their programs. I’m thankful for this helpful article.

Thanks to you. Those tips are very helpful for me to raise my child in a good way.

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Collaborate with students on music lesson practice records with numbers for ipad.

The Original Resource

In 2020, I developed and shared a robust Numbers for iPad document to serve as a collaborative music practice record to improve documentation, communication, and reflection between music student and teacher. Although the practice record document led to great success with most students, other students found the level of planning and reflection required from that resource to be challenging, preventing them from practicing simply because they were averse to collecting their data and providing reflection. This was particularly the case with non-music majors who did not seek a career in performance, but simply wanted to improve some basic skills.

The Revision

Hearing their needs, I developed a ‘lite’ version of the collaborative record that would continue to collect important data and provide room for basic reflection without the more robust interface of the initial resource. Because this new version uses the Forms feature of Numbers for iPad, full functionality is only available on Numbers for iPad.

Students can now simply enter the date, time, and practice goals at the start of their practice session and provide a brief reflection with a rating of practice effectiveness and the time of conclusion of the practice session.

This streamlined process has been well-received by many of my students, enabling increased practice time while continuing to collect date, set goals, and encourage reflection.

Download the attached Numbers document and distribute to your students to get started today!

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Hong Kong arts education must do more than strengthen national identity

• In seeking to boost children’s understanding of Chinese culture, we must not lose sight of why arts education is important in the first place

In the past, friends who visited Hong Kong would tell me, “Hong Kong museums are great if you want to beat the crowds. There is hardly any one there.” For the most part, they didn’t mean to be demeaning. Most enjoyed their museum trips but wondered why so few people visited. It’s that sort of intangible environment – one in which arts and culture permeates the air – that we lacked.

Art Basel Hong Kong 2024 opens as city boosts mega-events to draw visitors

A cultural desert no more, Hong Kong still has much work to do. Another piece of the puzzle must come in the form of education and increasing arts and culture exposure in our school curriculum.

These benefits include better emotional well-being and coping mechanisms that come with children having access to creative outlets for their emotions and self-expression. Appreciation of and engagement in the arts enriches lives. If people from all backgrounds and social strata have the right access, the city will be living and breathing art and culture.

Hong Kong’s world-class visual culture museum M+ to open in November

Including Chinese works in the curriculum would definitely enrich pupils’ cultural understanding. How else would they be able appreciate the diversity of art forms? There’s no question that children need to be exposed to both Western and Eastern art, as well as for them to learn how culture has affected such art. This is essential to broadening their understanding of the world and to shaping their perceptions of how to relate to the nation and the world.

Let’s not veer off course. We can’t afford to if we truly want to be the centre of art and culture exchange while equipping our future leaders to be creative thinkers and innovators.

Alice Wu is a political consultant and a former associate director of the Asia Pacific Media Network at UCLA

  PAN African Journal of Musical Arts Education Journal / PAN African Journal of Musical Arts Education / Vol. 2 No. 1 (2024) / Articles (function() { function async_load(){ var s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; var theUrl = 'https://www.journalquality.info/journalquality/ratings/2408-www-ajol-info-pajmae'; s.src = theUrl + ( theUrl.indexOf("?") >= 0 ? "&" : "?") + 'ref=' + encodeURIComponent(window.location.href); var embedder = document.getElementById('jpps-embedder-ajol-pajmae'); embedder.parentNode.insertBefore(s, embedder); } if (window.attachEvent) window.attachEvent('onload', async_load); else window.addEventListener('load', async_load, false); })();  

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Exposing uganda’s cultural mosaic: an examination of the <i>endingidi’s</i> origins, educational and aesthetic dimensions, benon kigozi, richard kagolobya.

The field of music analysis has experienced significant growth, encompassing diverse aspects such as corporal movements in instrumental performance, dance studies, and cognition-centric methodologies. This paper provides a historical overview of the endingidi , a traditional tube-fiddle, within a broader context. It examines the materials used in constructing the endingidi as well as the challenges encountered in this process. Additionally, the paper explores the performative expressive elements of the endingidi , including accompanying gestures. Despite the enduring presence of the endingidi as a timeless traditional instrument, there remains a notable gap in comprehensive studies that unravel its intricate cultural significance, an oversight this investigation conscientiously seeks to address. The study identifies challenges in material sourcing for the endingidi due to scarcity and environmental degradation. Proposed interventions include afforestation, alternative materials, government support, and community engagement. Emphasizing sustainable practices and responsible harvesting, it urges government leadership, documentation of techniques, and community support for artisans. Linking to broader music education challenges, it advocates for government resource allocation. Providing a nuanced understanding of the endingidi , it underscores multidimensional approaches to safeguarding it as part of Ugandan cultural heritage, highlighting the importance of sustainability, research, government, and community involvement in preservation efforts.

AJOL is a Non Profit Organisation that cannot function without donations. AJOL and the millions of African and international researchers who rely on our free services are deeply grateful for your contribution. AJOL is annually audited and was also independently assessed in 2019 by E&Y.

Your donation is guaranteed to directly contribute to Africans sharing their research output with a global readership.

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What SA sport tourism can learn from the Paris Olympics

The Olympic rings are displayed on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic games in Paris, France, June 7, 2024. | REUTERS/Christian Hartmann TPX

Published Aug 18, 2024

BRENDON KNOT

If you followed the Paris 2024 Olympics broadcast, you would have noticed the breathtaking city backdrop to events, the festive atmosphere and active support of spectators. Touted as marking a new era, the games introduced several innovations in its planning and delivery, starting with an opening ceremony outside a stadium for the first time.

I was fortunate to be among the Paris crowd as a researcher and a sport fan. I research and teach sport tourism and international events. I’ve studied event impacts, especially on city branding, and the legacies of sport mega-events, most notably the 2010 men’s football World Cup in South Africa.

Sport tourism in South Africa is $3.6 billion (R65bn) industry and forecast to grow. The country has a track record of hosting big sport events, like the annual Cape Town Rugby 7s tournament, the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the Comrades Marathon. It’s an appealing year-round golf destination with a developed sport and active leisure industry. There’s every reason to view this as a high-growth potential, niche economic sector for the country.

Although the last sport mega-event hosted by South Africa was in 2010, there have been a few standout major events since then – the Africa Cup of Nations men’s football in 2013, the 2023 Netball World Cup and the 2023 T20 Women’s World Cup cricket among them.

What lessons can South Africa learn from France – a nation that is dominating innovations and development in the sport tourism industry?

1. Keep the pipeline flowing

France has succeeded in hosting an impressive pipeline of events. The successive mega-events of the Rugby World Cup 2023 and the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been interspersed with regular major events that attract tourism and boost nation-branding, like the Tour de France cycling, the French Open tennis and the Le Mans motorsport event. Beyond these major events, France hosts multiple big sporting events year-round. The nation continues to top the UN tourism destinations list, with sport adding an extra reason for tourists to visit or extend their stay, as spectators or participants.

While South Africa boasts a healthy number of annual sport events, the major and mega-events on this list have not been sustained. South Africa’s next mega-event will be the men’s Cricket World Cup in 2027.

Global event research indicates that it’s a portfolio of regular events, interspersed with major and mega-events, that really captures global attention and drives tourism numbers. The US is following the pattern, supporting the hosting of a succession of mega-events in the coming decade to complement its array of annual events. The men’s football World Cup in 2026 is followed by the Olympics in 2028 and the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2032.

2. Sustain the economic effects

Paris 2024 will leave a lasting tangible impact on some lesser-developed urban areas. A few years ago, for example, the Vaires-sur-Marne region strategically invested in the infrastructure to host the canoe, kayak and rowing events. Entrepreneurs and businesses benefited from spectators passing by their stalls or establishments just outside the event perimeter. It’s crucial, in South Africa, to find ways to include local entrepreneurs and businesses as suppliers and benefactors in sport events.

The Seine-Saint-Denis municipality was targeted as an area for improvement. It’s now home to a new aquatics facility and the athletes’ village, which will become a residential and commercial development. The area is now served by a new public transport hub.

Admittedly, it’s too early to assess the longer-term sustainability and impact of the developments, which is now a focus of a collaborative research project. However, the planning of Paris 2024 indicates the development platform and transformational potential that mega-events of this nature hold for a city.

In South Africa, sport facilities are largely based within historically advantaged neighbourhoods. France took a strategic and intentional approach to spreading benefits to other cities across the country, even hosting the surfing event in the French territory of Tahiti. South African events should seek to spread benefits and opportunities associated with larger-scale events to smaller towns and outside traditional urban hubs.

3. Keep your costs down

Mega-events have notoriously been associated with massive investments in facility development, often leading to “white elephant” (unused) stadiums after an event.

Paris has set a new standard in reimagining venues in creative and innovative ways, and in creating temporary stadiums in iconic locations. It is also invested in sporting infrastructure over a long period not included in the Olympic budget. For example, the Roland Garros tennis centre was renovated to include roofs over the major courts, allowing the venue to become multipurpose. After the French Open in June, the centre was easily transformed to host Olympic tennis and the Olympic boxing competition in an indoor facility.

Paris is forecast to be the “cheapest” Olympics this century. Paris should inspire the creative use of town halls, museums, village squares and other public spaces for hosting events in South Africa.

4. Get people involved

The vision for Paris 2024 was to take the games to the people. It set out to bring events into the city centre and make many more events accessible to the public. This aligned with the International Olympic Committee’s vision to make the games younger, more urban and more accessible.

Organisers harnessed technology to personalise communication, ticketing and transport planning. While digital tickets have become common, Paris set new standards through its regular fan communications via email and apps to support spectator transport, ticketing and news.

Through innovative stadium entertainment activations (a combination of live deejays, stadium lighting and artificial intelligence broadcasts on large screens), organisers were able to create interactive and memorable sensory experiences.

South Africa would do well to embrace the trends to develop smart events of the future. The country has the foundations in terms of infrastructure and event hosting capability as well as a developed tourism sector. The example of Paris 2024 has provided insights on how mega-events can be hosted in a more economical and sustainable manner.

Brendon Knott is an associate professor at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

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