The Effects of Music Education on Children and Older Adults

The Effects of Music Education on Children and Older Adults

Music education has long been proven to be an effective tool for cognitive function, but what are the different arguments that back up this notion? How can we use these findings in children and apply them to our ever-growing aged population? 

In their article “The Argument for Music Education”, Nina Kraus and Travis White-Schwoch outline three arguments in favor of music education in early childhood: the indirect argument, the incentive argument, and the intangible argument. The indirect argument follows the notion that children who participate in musical activities have higher cognitive functioning which can boost their performance in school. Kraus and White-Schwoch (2020) found that musicians of all ages can quickly and more accurately encode speech sounds in noisy environments compared to non-musicians. This allows students with music training to better pick up on information from teachers even in chaotic learning environments, leading to high success rates. The incentive argument follows after the indirect argument, in that high rates of academic success lead to higher graduation rates in those who studied music as a child. The argument goes if children see that putting effort into their schoolwork pays off, it will incentivize them to continue working hard and eventually graduate, as seen in the graduation rates of students in the Harmony Project. While the indirect argument and the incentive argument base their findings on metrics, the intangible argument is cited to be the most profound benefit of musical education as it proposes that participation in music leads to better emotional regulation, overall well-being, and higher rates of optimism. Beatriz Ilari and Eun Cho (2023) ran a study to find positive youth development in students who participated in music-based extracurriculars and found that students who started music education at a young age were more optimistic about the future and scored higher in school connectedness. This argument shows the interconnectedness of cognitive function and the self, both of which lead to the development of a holistic individual. 

While most research has looked into the benefits of musical training in children, it would be amiss not to mention similar findings in cognitive function in older adults. With a rapidly aging population, it is important that we impose interventions that prevent the onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. Abrahan et al. (2019) aimed to investigate the effect of a focal activity to improve memory performance in older adults and find whether there was a difference in memory between musically trained and untrained adults using musical improvisation. Their study showed a significant improvement in memory among individuals who participated in musical improvisation and that musicians had overall better visual memory than non-musicians, suggesting that musical activity is a good intervention for memory enhancement. Similar results have also been found in adults already affected by cognitive decline. Definitive medicines and therapies to treat this decline are hard to find, so researchers have suggested that mind-body interventions such as meditation and music listening can have many benefits (Innes et al., 2017). Studies have shown that in adults showing early signs of cognitive decline, three months of music therapy had improved performance in attention, processing speed, and executive function, as well as an overall increase in their quality of life. 

Overall, musical training at any age has amazing benefits, both cognitively and in one’s outlook and quality of life. However, it is important to note that further research is needed in populations where musical training is either discouraged or unavailable. Music teachers are not only more likely to be white, but their students are more likely to come from privileged groups in terms of race and socioeconomic background (Ethan, 2021). Understanding the disparities in access to musical training will allow for the development of initiatives that will enhance learning outcomes and overall well-being in marginalized populations.

References

Abrahan, V. D., Shifres, F., & Justel, N. (2019). Cognitive benefits from a musical activity in older adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00652

Ethan. (2021, September 5). The racial politics of music education. The Ethan Hein Blog. https://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2020/the-racial-politics-of-music-education/

Ilari, B., & Cho, E. (2023). Musical participation and positive youth development in middle school. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1056542

Innes, K. E., Selfe, T., Khalsa, D. S., & Kandati, S. (2017). Meditation and Music Improve Memory and Cognitive Function in Adults with Subjective Cognitive Decline: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 56(3), 899–916. https://doi.org/10.3233/jad-160867