Are people typically geniuses? Statistically, people probably are not. In fact, most people probably aren’t even intellectually gifted at all. Most people are likely to be pretty much average, maybe a little bit above average, or a little below, but very average nonetheless.
It is universally understood that people strive to become wiser and more informed about the world around them. The more people learn, the more powerful they can become. The speed at which people learn separates geniuses from average people and those with learning disabilities. Geniuses don’t encounter problems while learning because they learn very quickly. Everyone else could use some help. One solid way to increase the speed of learning is through music.
People learn through music, and their minds grow faster because of it. Some music, when implemented properly, can have positive effects on learning and attitude. Music is a powerful thing, and when we understand its significance, it can bring dramatic changes, both positive and negative, into our lives. The earliest stages of learning for young children are the most important. The fundamentals of learning are instilled in a child at a very young age.
How much importance is placed on these fundamentals can have dramatic effects on the future of the child’s learning. Music, when applied in a constructive way, can have positive effects on a child’s ability to learn and can help them in many ways. One way that music can make learning easier for a young child is by implementing music lessons into their normal activities. A small study was done two years ago involving ten three-year-olds who were tested on their ability to put together a puzzle and the speed at which they could do it (Learning Keys” 24). After the initial test, five of the children were given singing lessons for 30 minutes a day and the other five were given piano lessons for 15 minutes a week (24). The lessons were conducted over a six-month period, and after the six months, all of the kids showed substantial improvement in the speed at which they could put together the puzzle (24).
The researchers understand the skill of putting pieces of a puzzle together as the same reasoning that engineers, chess players, and high-level mathematicians use. In this study of inner-city kids, their initial scores were below the national average, but afterward, their scores nearly doubled (24). The term given to this type of reasoning and thought that goes into putting pieces of a puzzle together is called abstract reasoning. By teaching music, people exercise the same abstract reasoning skills that they use for doing math or some other exercise in which people have to visualize in their head.
An eight-month study was conducted by Frances H. Rauscher of the University of California at Irvine. In this study, nineteen preschoolers ranging in age from three to five received weekly keyboard and daily singing lessons, while another fifteen preschoolers received no musical training at all. At the beginning, middle, and end of the study, the subjects were tested on five spatial reasoning tasks.
After only four months, scores on the puzzle assembly test improved dramatically for the group with musical training, while the control group did not, even though both groups started with the same scores (143). It can be stated that this kind of improvement may not be substantial enough to fundamentally alter the way people are taught, but its results cannot be ignored. Rauscher explains, Music instruction can improve a child’s spatial intelligence for a long time, perhaps permanently” (quoted in Bower 143). Implementing such changes and improvements into a young child’s learning could have great effects on their future spatial reasoning skills. With its resulting improvements in spatial reasoning, music can also be a helpful tool when integrated into the classroom and basic school curriculum.
In New York City, a program called Learning through an Expanded Arts Program, or LEAP, has been implemented into the school curriculum to improve the scholastic scores of children at all levels (Dean and Gross 614). The program provides both music and the arts. One way in which music is implemented is through math. They call it musical.”
