Learning to play a musical instrument or to sing can help disadvantaged children strengthen their reading and language skills, according to a new research.
The findings, which involved hundreds of kids participating in musical training programmes in Chicago and Los Angeles public schools, highlight the role learning music can have on the brains of youth in impoverished areas, said Nina Kraus, a neurobiologist at Northwestern University.
"Research has shown that there are differences in the brains of children raised in impoverished environments that affect their ability to learn," said Kraus, who presented the study at the American Psychological Association's 122nd Annual Convention in Washington, DC.
"While more affluent students do better in school than children from lower income backgrounds, we are finding that musical training can alter the nervous system to create a better learner and help offset this academic gap," she said.
Kraus's research concluded that musical training appears to enhance the way children's nervous systems process sounds in a busy environment, such as a classroom or a playground.
This improved neural function may lead to enhanced memory and attention spans which allow kids to focus better in the classroom and improve their communication skills, she said.
Many of Kraus's study participants were part of the Harmony Project in Los Angeles, which was founded by fellow presenter Margaret Martin.
In her most recent research, Kraus studied children beginning when they were in first and second grade.
Half participated in musical training and the other half were randomly selected from the programme's lengthy waiting list and received no musical training during the first year of the study.
Children who had no musical training had diminished reading scores while Harmony Project participants' reading scores remained unchanged over the same time span.
Kraus's lab also found that, after two years, neural responses to sound in adolescent music students were faster and more precise.
The researchers tested the auditory abilities in adolescents from lower economic backgrounds at three public high schools in Chicago.
Over two years, half of the students participated in either band or choir during each school day while the other half were enrolled in Junior Reserve Officer's Training Corps classes, which teaches character education, achievement, wellness, leadership and diversity.
All participants had comparable reading ability and IQs at the start of the study.
The researchers recorded the children's brain waves as they listened to a repeated syllable against soft background sound, which made it harder for the brain to process.
The researchers repeated measures after one year and again at the two-year mark. They found music students' neural responses had strengthened while the JROTC students' responses had remained the same.
