Three Ways Music Education Improves Non-Musical Outcomes

The Fête de la Musique, a global celebration of music as an art form, takes place each June 21. The 38-year-old music festival, also called World Music Day, originated as musicians filled the streets to share their talents with onlookers. Now, around the world, amateurs and professionals alike follow in their footsteps by bringing their musical talent into public spaces for all to enjoy.

The celebration gives rise to a new appreciation for music as a positive force that tells stories, bonds communities, and bridges gaps in social and cultural understanding. In fact, scientific studies have shown that the study of music can play significant positive roles on child development; these studies make it clear that music education is an essential part of a complete curriculum.

Here are three ways that the study of music improves non-musical outcomes for kids:

• It's easier to cope with tough emotions: Time spent in musical study during childhood has been linked to a reduction in aggressive behavior when assessing children with aggression-related behavioral difficulties. Anxiety and disappointment are also easier to cope with thanks to advanced cortical thickness maturation, which is correlated with musical training.

• Grades can be boosted: Not only can children see a rise in their standardized test scores and IQ when studying music, science notes that they may also see improvements in history, English, math, and science grades.

• Planning and perseverance improve: Instrumental training during childhood has been linked to improvements in the ability to use logic and spatial-temporal reasoning to create plans. It's also correlated with greater willingness to persevere at difficult or time-consuming tasks.

This helpful infographic details 17 science-backed benefits of music education -- they've done the citations so you don't have to. Give it a look.