What are Some of the Benefits of Taking Music?

According to numerous studies and real world data, students who take music as a class in school have a better chance at performing stronger academically and students who continuously take music through junior high and high school are able to use their grade 12 music mark as an application mark in most university faculty and program admissions.

It is really easy for students to be tempted to take other courses when they are presented with selecting options each year. While all courses offer their own version of a fun-filled time where students will learn throughout the semester or year, music has a growing advantage, especially in the age of Artificial Intelligence. As Artificial Intelligence rises, so does the importance of a student taking music in junior high and high school.

Music and Post-Secondary Admissions

Depending on the specific degree or certificate program a student might want to pursue after high school, it is generally understood that the majority of universities and faculties allow students to use their grade 12 music mark in their application for admission into their preferred university, college, or post-secondary institute. This is why students are strongly encouraged to continue to take music in junior high as well as high school. This has the added advantage of giving students an opportunity to boost their application average depending on the student's final mark in grade 12 music compared to their other marks. This could give students who take music an edge over others when applying for competitive programs (again, depending on the respective marks of the student).

Music Education in the Age of AI

According to the National Association for Music Education, "Music training, especially with acoustic instruments, is a powerful cognitive workout. Research demonstrates its profound impact on brain development, enhancing plasticity, memory, IQ, abstract reasoning, mathematical skills, problem-solving, planning, attention to detail, fine motor skills, emotional regulation, language skills, and crucially, divergent thinking—a cornerstone of creativity." According to the linked article, AI experts are predicting that by 2028, Artificial Intelligence will be capable of human-level learning and reasoning. The article also states that by 2030, super intelligent AI could be made possible.

We simply do not know what risks advancements of Artificial Intelligence technology will pose to our future job market. What we do know is that AI is excellent at data processing, repetitive tasks, and mimicking creative aspects, but it does not have true human creativity (NAfME). Music synthesis and performance has an advantage over Artificial Intelligence because music requires human emotion and true human creativity.

Ongoing music training also offers the following five key drivers to a student's cognitive development:

1. Continuous Question-flow: Students are constantly moving, adjusting, and anticipating while playing an instrument. This keeps the brain active as it practices quick problem solving on the spot.

2. Engaged and expanded emotion: Being truly creative involves intellect and emotion. Other subjects will engage the student's intellect but arts like music will engage the emotional side of the student in a healthy way.

3. Enhanced brain network: Music education helps us to strengthen our decision-making, focus, and impulse control through changes in white and gray matter in our brains.

4. Sensory-Motor integration and collaboration: Musicians mix auditory (sound) information with motor skills, allowing them to develop precise control and coordination.

5. Accelerated brain maturation: Music training accelerates the development of brain areas, specifically those responsible for sound, language, speech perception, reading, and time management.

In other words, "What fires together, wires together."

The Benefits of Music Education

According to the Royal Conservatory of Music, there are many benefits of music education that further proves the findings at NAfME. Those benefits include stronger connections between brain regions, more grey matter, improved brain structure and function, better memory and attention, and higher IQ.

It is universally accepted that music education is beneficial to students because of the positive effects it has on the human brain. In music, students are engaging multiple regions of their brain and when those areas are engaged, they are making more connections with each other, making the student more efficient at relevant tasks such as problem solving, mathematical skills, linguistic skills, working memory, creativity, and questioning skills.