Math and Music: Are They Connected?
I found an interesting article online from The Washington Post written by Michael Chandler and found it to be very interesting. It asks if music and math are connected and does it help students excel in math having a music background.
On one side, the article states after an interview with Frances Rauscher, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, she found that math test scores for preschool-age students rose for those who received instruction in piano, rhythm or singing. The students who studied rhythm had the biggest gains, and she said she was not surprised. Rhythm is, after all, "the subdivision of a beat," she said. It's about ratios and proportions, the relationship between a part and a whole -- all material from math classes.
On the other side, Michael interviewed Wayne D. Parker, director of research and evaluation at Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. He has researched music instruction and math performance and found a negligible connection. He said he's not compelled by arguments that people should invest in music for the sake of math or reading. "You don't hear math people saying you should study calculus because it will help you be better at the violin," he said.
I personally feel that music has many benefits and everyone should be exposed to music at some point. I did a paper for my music history class relating music in schools to an increase in student development, their overall cognitive development (knowledge through experience and the senses), as well as an increase in their spatial temporal reasoning (logical thinking) and that is why I side with Frances Rauscher. What do you think class?
I believe that there is a connection also, but not a strong enough one to make the correlation a fact. While studying the arts, it expands our "box" of thinking and allows us to see, or realize what may have been there the whole time, except now we can see it in a new way. In this way, music relates to math.
ReplyDeleteI never had any formal musical or artistic training while growing up, yet I seem to excel at math. I often ask myself how I am able to understand such abstract ideas. I never thought to connect music to math, yet it seems very logical that there would be a connection.
Music and art teaches us to look for meaning in something that might mean nothing to people outside of the music world.
I agree that music should be taught to everyone. Everyone should learn a little about every subject to become a more well-rounded person. If it helps in other courses, then that is all the more reason that students should learn about it. Also, in my experience, students tend to remember more when music is correlated with another content area.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely believe in a connection and anyone who can read sheet music would agree. You need to understand the beat pattern, the tempo as well as a numerous other things related to math. This connection of course will no help everyone but it will help the students that are stronger in the musical content area. Mr. Parker in my opinion is ignorant because he doesn't want to see how this connection can benefit a percentage of the students - he is to worried about the whole.
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to know how to read music or play an instrument to use it to your advantage. There are students that do very well in school and there are those that may struggle. Music might be able to help these students retain information better. I know I can recite all the 50 states and capitals without hesitating because of a song I learned back in 5th grade so music can be integrated into other subjects and be very successful.
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