Music is such a wonderful and enjoyable activity in which to be involved, but music is much more substantive than this. What we receive from being a part of a music ensemble is so much more than what it requires of us in time and effort. When advocating for your music programs, here are some points to keep in mind. 1)Music students enjoy higher academic success. They consistently score higher on SATs than their non-arts peers. Often, verbal scores are 60+ points higher, and math scores are 40+ points higher. 2)Music students also enjoy a high degree of career readiness. Sixty-six percent of music majors who apply to medical school are accepted. This is the highest percentage of any undergraduate major. 3)Music is also a “brain food.” Music engages particularly the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Music engages nearly every area of the brain simultaneously, one of the only activities that does that. 4)Music also helps in retention rates by providing a community, or as I refer to my group, a family for the students.
In regards to point 1, the “UBC Study” in the Journal of Educational Psychology, 2019, researchers analyzed the records of 112,916 students and found that A)students performed significantly better than their non-music peers in English, Math, and Science when they took at least one instrumental music course, B)instrumental students who were highly engaged were, on average, one academic year ahead of their peers in core subjects, and C)music’s positive effect remained strong regardless of the student’s background as the study controlled for socioeconomic status, gender, and prior learning. As mentioned before, student scores on the SAT in verbal, as reported by the College Board, were +60 to +100 higher than those of their non-arts peers, and +40 to +60 higher in math. A long-term (5-year) study in Texas found music students scored an average of 158.4 points higher on the SAT than non-music peers. Data also shows that students performing at an elite “All-State” level scored between 319 and 431 points higher than the national average.
Data from the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) show that music majors are statistically more likely to get into elite medical and law programs than traditional “pre-pro” majors. A landmark AAMC study found that 66% of music majors who applied to medical school were accepted, the highest among all majors. Biology majors (a pre-pro major), by comparison, had an acceptance rate of approximately 44%. Admission committees often look for music students because they bring superior listening skills, enhanced empathy, and a high degree of resilience in patient care. These are traits that are harder to teach than organic chemistry. Music majors, likely due to the rigorous training required to master an instrument or complex theory, also tend to maintain high GPAs and perform well on the MCAT. For law school admissions, the LSAC found that music majors often have a higher mean LSAT score than many other majors. Music majors have an acceptance rate of approximately 66.5% into law school. This is significantly higher than the overall average for all applicants. Law schools also value music students’ ability to analyze complex structures, perform under pressure, and pay attention to minute details. These are skills that directly translate to the courtroom and case analysis.
Music education teaches the 10 skills identified by the World Economic Forum for the future workforce of 2025-2030. Among these skills are analytical thinking which music teaches through analyzing complex scores, through historical context, and through harmonic structures; Active Learning which we teach by setting goals and correcting and teaching the students to self-correct in real time; Complex Problem Solving which the students learn by figuring out technical fingerings or adjusting intonation; Critical Thinking which the students do by evaluating the success of a performance or by interpreting music according to the creator’s intent; Creativity and Originality which music students learn through composition, improvisation, and personal interpretation of music; and Resilience and Flexibility which students learn by recovering from mistakes, adapting to conductors, and handling the anxiety of performance. According to a survey of 33,000 arts graduates by the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), 93% of music alumni are currently employed or in further study, 87% report high levels of job satisfaction, and those who are employed in non-arts fields such as law, management, and medicine cite music training as a primary factor in their success.
Brainvolts Lab at Northwestern University and other neuroscientific research explain why music improves neural and cognitive functions. Musicians have more efficient neural processing of sound. This directly improves reading and language skills. Musical training improves the brain’s ability to process and retain information, solve complex problems, and control impulses (study by Boston Children’s Hospital). They call this the “Executive Function.” Neuroimaging shows that the corpus callosum is larger in musicians. This allows for faster communication between the analytical and creative sides of the brain.
As for retention, large-scale studies have shown that the graduation rate for schools with music programs is 90.2%, and the attendance rate is 93.9%, while the graduation rate for schools without music programs is 72.9%, and the attendance rates are 84.9%. This is referred to as the “17-Point Gap” because the graduation rate is over 17 percentage points higher in schools with music programs than in those without. Research on over 6000 students in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools on attendance and discipline found music students had significantly higher attendance and lower discipline reports than non-music peers. Music programs foster a sense of belonging and connection socially. Music ensembles provide immediate, positive social circles and give the students an identity tied to the school. Each member of the group is held accountable for the program’s success, and the social pressure that comes from team-based accountability builds work ethic.
I have tried to be as concise as possible while still conveying some of the important information. Music advocacy is a great way to build both the numbers in your program and community support for it. If we understand what music can do for our students, we can better explain and share the information with our communities.
I am happy to email you the citation list for this article. I hope the cited information will help with your current and future advocacy endeavors.