Video: Can learning to play music help kids perform better in school?

by Sarah Blaskovich

BURLESON — A group of young Richardson students rock out on keyboards, keeping their own beat as they jam to a song they composed. A quiet silence comes over the teachers at William Stribling Elementary in Burleson as they witness how music can play a key role in developing intelligence.

This after-school program is the brainchild of Dr. Jim Faulconer, a retired University of Oklahoma music professor who found that kids who take music classes perform more than 25% better on math tests. Thus emerged MIDI (Musical Instruction Develops Intelligence) for Kids: Students are taught to read music in addition to playing by ear and learning improv, creating little piano players who can translate those skills to other parts of the classroom.

The inspiration grew out of pop culture references that enamor children to learn music, like the movie School of Rock or the influences of American Idol. “We want them to be immersed in creation. It's this 'I want to be a rockstar' mentality,” said Angie Demmon, director of programs for MIDI for Kids. By making it fun, Demmon said the kids are more willing to learn.

“The goal is loftier than just piano lessons,” she said. “Learning music transforms the brain. They experience the music and the group interaction, and then learn to take it apart and put it back together.”

Now the math benefits: Students learn to identify phrases in music and distinguish which parts are similar. Then they use colored pegs that stack together to symbolize when the phrases change or where the chorus repeats. At the end of a song, the students have a visual representation of how the song was constructed, which Demmon said could directly benefit them in math class.

Just listen to what the kids say. “She's taught me a lot about chords and basic roots,” said Ian Perkins-Smith, speaking about MIDI teacher Robin Cate, a music teacher at Arapaho Classical Magnet in Richardson. “Playing the keyboard also helps me concentrate even when I'm not playing. In tai kwon do, I think about piano. Most of it is in Korean, so I've learned how to process things in my brain quickly and understand what they mean.”

He's 10.

The program charges a monthly fee for after-school group keyboard lessons. Demmon compares MIDI for Kids to an extra-curricular activity – with the curriculum still included. After kids have established their ability to read music and learn by ear, they're given free reign to improvise and compose with their peers, often letting time slip away as the kids create their own masterpieces, Cate said.

Twelve-year-old Greg Abel, a MIDI for Kids student of Cate's for 7 years, said she taught him “everything.” He's composed countless tunes for the class and has trained his ear to play music that he hears only a few times. “I just hear things,” he said. “Then I transfer that from my brain to my fingers.”

In the coming year, Demmon and her team will conduct assessments to measure just how well learning music affects students' problem solving skills related to math. A math professor from LeTourneau University in Longview will test students enrolled in the program as well as a control group of students in the same school that are not enrolled in the program.

Demmon thinks innovative music curriculum could revolutionize teaching. “I work with a handful of passionate educators who believe that music training is a key model for educational systems,” she said. “What an opportunity we have to impact the future of education if only we could see what a learning experience like this can do for the education of a child.”

Check out the video below of Cate's students performing a piece composed by Abel.

Special thanks to Mike B. for his expert video editing skillz.

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