Transcript Classroom Expectations

The Benefits of Music Education on
Higher-Level Thinking Skills and Math
By James Lykins
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this paper is to share my
experiences of how music instruction can
influence higher level learning in other
academic area, particularly math.
Music and Student Behaviors
• Can music positively affect student behavior?
 Standley (1996) Music is highly effective as a
way of increasing desirable behavior or
reducing undesirable behavior.
• Can music create higher level social function?
 Harrison & Narayan (2003) Participation in
music, is associated with higher levels of
psychosocial functioning and behavior.
Music and Student Behaviors
• Harrison & Narayan (2003) Students who are
involved in extracurricular activities (such as
Music) are significantly more likely to exercise,
consume nutritious foods, like school, do
homework, express positive attitudes about self,
peers, teachers, and parents, and are less likely to
skip school, get into fights, vandalize property,
smoke cigarettes and marijuana, or binge drink.
Music and the Brain
• Can music strengthen your brain’s math abilities?
 Gardner (1999). If you agree with the theory that
the brain is a muscle and can be strengthened,
then strengthening the brain in the area of music
should have a carry over effect and strengthen the
area in the brain that holds mathematics and
spatial skills.
• Can music increase spatial reasoning?
 Leng and Shaw (1991) Exposure to music excites
and enhances the cortical firing patterns used in
spatial-temporal reasoning. Music training of
young children, whose cortices are highly plastic,
may produce long-term enhancement of spatialtemporal reasoning.
Spatial-temporal reasoning involves maintaining, transforming, and comparing mental
images in space and time using symmetrical operations and has a crucial role in the
thinking processes of mathematicians.
Music, Math, and the Curriculum
• Could music be used to increase math scores?
 The USDE states that “Our nation must research the
best way to teach math and science”. “Over the last
decade, researchers have scientifically proven the
best ways to teach reading. We must do the same in
math. That means using only research-based
teaching methods and rejecting unproven fads”
(USDE, 2004, ¶ 7).
 Research has shown that a link exists between
mathematics and music, and the USDE is calling for
increased academic achievement in mathematics by
using teaching methods based on scientific research,
so music could be used to improve math scores.
What does the Government Think?
The definition of “core academic subjects” for
No Child left Behind
NCLB defines “core academic subjects” as:
English; reading; language arts; mathematics;
science; history; geography; economics;
civics and government; foreign languages;
and the arts. [NCLB 9101(11)]
“The Arts” are defined as: art,
dance, music, theater (including
public speaking) and drama.
What Have I Noticed in My
Classroom?
• Out of 43 fifth-grade band members:
• 9 advanced in math.
• 17 taking advanced courses in Science, English and
Gifted.
• Total of 26 out of 43 students taking higher-level
courses.
• Nearly 75% of all students listed as high-level/advanced
placement learners are involved, or have been involved,
in some form of formal music group.
What Have I Noticed in My
Classroom?
• When confronted with new or disruptive situations, my
band members show mature decision making. I have
very little discipline problems even when I have largegroup instruction of 100 students, and I believe music is
the catalyst for their maturity and higher-level decisionmaking skills.
Music and Language Arts
• Music and language arts share a similarity in language.
In both we find related construction.
• A poem with A, B, A, B, A, C, A construction is very
closely related to a traditional song form; chorus, verse,
chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.
• Lyrics to songs are often considered poetry set to song.
• Words set to music are easier to remember.
• Vocal music teaches foreign language.
• All musical terms are in a foreign language.
Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.
Conjunction Junction, how's that function?
I got three favorite cars that
get most of my job done.
Conjunction Junction, what's their function?
I got "and", "but", and "or",
They'll get you pretty far.
A noun's a special kind of word,
It's any name you ever heard.
I find it quite interesting,
A noun's a person, place or thing.
A noun is a person, place or thing.
Why are Music and Math Related?
• Music is based on math. Music is divided into
beats, and fractions are used to determine
when and how long a note is played.
• It also uses addition, subtraction, and
multiplication. In order to perform music well, a
performer needs to be fluent in basic math
skills.
Why are Music and Math Related?
FRACTIONS
Every musical composition has a time
signature. This symbol indicates two important
facts about the overall rhythm of the piece.
The top number of the time signature indicates
how many beats there are in each measure,
The bottom number determines what type of
note is worth one beat.
When the bottom number changes, the type of
note receiving one beat changes. This
reinforces division.
They must also figure out how long each note is
held. This reinforces fractions!
In 4/4 meter, it looks like this:
Why are Music and Math Related?
Percentage
Whole Note
50%
50%
2
Half Note
100%
13%
25%
3
Quarter Note
3.5
Eighth note
75%
87%
A whole note takes up one whole measure
Music Promotes Lifelong Learning
A college analysis of the
Time Series of music.
Mathematical patterns in
sound waves
A 6th grade study of
mathematical patterns
found in Johann Sebastian
Bach’s music
Why is Music so Important to
Academics?
Music is science
It is exact, specific, and demands exact
acoustics. A Conductor's full score is a chart, a
graph which indicates frequencies, intensities,
volume changes, melody, and harmony all at
once and with exact control of time.
Music is mathematical
It is rhythmically based on the subdivisions of
time into fractions which must be performed, not
worked out on paper.
Why is Music so Important to
Academics?
Music is foreign language
Most of the terms are in Italian, German, or
French; and the notation is certainly not English but a highly developed kind of shorthand that
uses symbols to represent ideas. The semantics
of music is the most complete and universal
language.
Music is history
Music usually reflects the environment and times
of its creations, often even the country and/ or
racial feeling.
Why is Music so Important to
Academics?
Music is physical education
It requires coordination of finger, hands, arms,
lip, cheek, and facial muscles, in addition to
control of the diaphragm, back, stomach, and
chest muscles, which respond instantly to the
sound the ear hears and the mind interprets.
Music is art
It allows a human being to take all these dry,
technically boring (but difficult) techniques and
use them to create emotion. That is one thing
science cannot duplicate: humanism, feeling,
and emotion.
References
Gardner, H. (1999). The disciplined mind. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Harrison, P. A., & Narayan, G. (2003). Differences in behavior,
psychological factors, and environmental factors associated with
participation in school sports and other activities in adolescence. The
Journal of School Health, 73, 113-20.
Leng, X., & Shaw, G. L. (1991). Toward a neural theory of higher brain
function using music as a window. Concepts in Neuroscience 2, 229258
Standley, J. M. (1996). A meta-analysis on the effect of music as
reinforcement for education/therapy objectives. Journal of Research in
Music Education, 44, 105-33.
United States Department of Education (2004). Proven Methods: The
Facts About...Math Achievement. Retrieved October 15, 2005, from
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/methods/math/math.html