Children who study Music

are more likely to do well in Math.

I recently read an article that contained this message. The article
said current studies are showing that children who study music are
better mathematicians. I have been told this before. My husband
laughed. Then he wanted to know how much truth there is in that
statement. My answer: There is at least some truth to the statement.

The most important thing children who study music learn is practice.
Children who play an instrument learn to practice. They learn as they
practice they can expect results. They will get better at playing the
instrument and the song if they practice. They learn the direct
correlation between time spent and results. We accept this. We have
learned this principle through experience. Every one of us expects to
find a concert musician practices for hours. If you want to do good in
music you must practice.

How does practicing music relate to math? The child who plays music has
learned that when he practices he gets better. A child that practices
math gets better at math. The child who has experienced the
relationship between practice and as a result is more likely to try that
approach in other subject areas. Amazingly enough, practice makes good
math students, just like practice makes good musicians. The child who
practices math gets better at math.

The child who practices counting gets better at counting. A child who
practices addition, gets better at addition. He feels comfortable with
his ability to perform addition and has less fear of the addition
problems he has to do. The child who is comfortable with addition can
subtract because subtraction is addition. Every subtraction problem can
be stated as an addition problem: ___ + 4 = 12 is exactly the same
problem as 12 - 4 = ___. So like the fingers learn which note to play by
repetition, the brain learns which number to use by repetition.

Then, like music, we can build on what we have learned. We introduce a
faster addition called multiplication. He can multiply, because it too
is addition. He has mastered addition and with practice he will master
multiplication. And like addition is subtraction, we learn division is
multiplication. 56 / 7 = ____ is the same problem as ___ * 7 = 56. The
child who can subtract and multiply can divide with practice.

This shouldn't be a big surprise. The child who reads is better at
reading. The child who writes is better at writing. The child who
draws is better at drawing. The child who plays hours and hours of
baseball is better at baseball. And the child who practices math is
better at math. A child who does something many, many times can do that
something better than a child who does the same thing sporadically or
just once or twice.

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