Cognitive and academic benefits of music training with children: A multilevel meta-analysis

I stumbled upon this meta-study which I thought really interesting. Especially since my initial guess/bias would have been that music helps academic achievements.

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I would say even so, do teach music to kids as it’s fun, rewarding, enriching and most adults, who take up an instrument later in life, also wish they’d started as a kid. :grin:

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It wasn’t meant as discouragement of learning an instrument at an early age.
I’m all for that!

It’s just that I, myself, thought it would be helpful for cognitive development in other areas and thought it interesting that it is not the case.

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Depends how they defined the link. If you agree happy and well-rounded kids do well generally, then teaching music is a no brainer

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That’s the correlation the other studies misjudged.
It was the amount of engagement that helped their overall development. Not music specifically.

Again: This should not discourage anyone from teaching their kids an instrument at a young age. It was not meant as that. Music has many positive benefits apart from the claimed academic/cognitive development and those positive benefits will help at every turn in life!

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Music is a language, learning languages is cognitive and helps with brain function and development.
If that is true, then learning music would do the same.
It looks like an interesting article, and I will give it further read, but, just like everything in the internet, you probably can’t just take it for fact.

Also, what motive would somebody, anybody have to set out to prove that teaching music to kids does not do what it is said to? What money backs that kind of study?
I don’t know, but as i dig into the article, these are starter questions to find out the validity of it.

Sometimes it’s just about finding out things.

Eeeeh. It’s a meta-study so it takes a look at a lot of different studies regarding that topic. A single study often can use faulty methodology, but a meta-study analyzing different studies rarely does. And it’s not just “on the internet” - it’s a peer reviewed study. As far as trusting things “on the internet” goes peer reviewed studies are on the top of my list.

My bias was the same. Doesn’t make it true.

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