Children do better in math when music is included in their lessons, according to a review of nearly 50 years of research on the subject. Music is believed to make maths more enjoyable, keep students focused and reduce any fear or anxiety related to maths. It can boost motivation and make students like arithmetic more, according to a peer-reviewed article in Educational Studies.
Techniques for integrating music into math lessons range from clapping to playing pieces with different rhythms while learning numbers and fractions, to using math to design musical instruments. Previous research has shown that children who are better at music also do better at math. But whether teaching young people music actually improves their math is less clear.
To learn more, Turkish researcher Dr. Ayka Akin, from Antalya Belek University’s Department of Software Engineering, searched academic databases for research on the topic published between 1975 and 2022. They then combined the results of 55 studies from around the world, which included nearly 78,000 young people ranging from kindergarten students to university students.
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The meta-analysis included three types of music interventions: standardized music interventions (general music lessons, in which children sing and listen to, and make music), instrumental music interventions (lessons in which children learn to play an instrument, either individually or as part of a band) and music-math integrated interventions, in which music is integrated into maths lessons.
The students took a math test before and after participating in the intervention, and the change in their scores was compared with youth who did not participate in the intervention. Music use, whether in individual lessons or as part of maths classes, was associated with greater improvement in maths over time.
Integrated lessons had the biggest effect, with nearly 73 percent of students who had integrated lessons performing significantly better than youth who did not have any type of music intervention. About 69 percent of students who learned to play an instrument and 58 percent of students who learned general music improved more than students with no musical intervention.
The results also show that music is more helpful in learning arithmetic than other types of math, and has a greater impact on younger students and those learning more basic mathematical concepts.
Dr. Akin, who conducted the research at Turkey’s Ministry of National Education and Antalya Belek University, points out that mathematics and music have a lot in common, such as the use of symbols and symmetry. Both the subjects also require abstract thinking and quantitative reasoning.
Arithmetic may be particularly well suited to be taught through music because basic concepts such as fraction and proportion are also fundamental to music. For example, musical notes of different lengths can be represented as fractions and joined together to form multiple bars of music.
Integrated lessons can be especially effective because they allow students to make connections between math and music and provide additional opportunities to explore, interpret, and understand math. Also, if they are more enjoyable than traditional math lessons, any anxiety students may feel about math can be reduced.
Limitations of the analysis include the relatively small number of studies available for inclusion. This meant that it was not possible to look at the effect of factors such as gender, socio-economic status and length of music instruction on the results.
Dr. Akin, now working at Antalya Belek University, concluded that overall music instruction has a small to moderate effect on achievement in mathematics, but integrated lessons have a large effect. She adds: “Encouraging maths and music teachers to plan lessons together may help reduce students’ anxiety about maths, while also increasing achievement.”