musics are good for us..

• Research completed at the University of Munster in Germany discovered enlarged portions of the brain in children who took music lessons. An area used to analyze the pitch of a musical note was found to be 25% larger in those who participate in playing music regularly than in those who have never played an instrument.

• A research team exploring the link between playing music and intelligence reported that music training (specifically piano instruction) is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills-mental tools necessary for learning subjects like math and science, or for playing chess and mastering concepts of engineering. Thirty-four percent of the children performed higher on tests measuring these criteria after only six months of piano lessons

• A research team studying first graders from two Rhode Island elementary schools found that students who participated in a regular and structured music learning program exhibited dramatic increases in reading and math.

• Students with course-work/experience in music performance scored an average of 52 points higher on the verbal portion of the SAT and 36 points higher on the math portion of the SAT than students with no course-work or experience in the arts.