Music and Math

[noelle]

So, what's the deal?

I was raised under the notion that excelling at music means one is likely to do better in math, and vice versa.  I guess the connection would have to do with rhythms, patterns, and general mathematical thinking.

Is the correlation real?

As a high school student of public school and taking various music courses aside, I find myself improving in both math and music, but am a little reluctant to believe there's a significant parallel.  I used to be all into English, but the more I've become absorbed by music, the more I'm leaning towards math, even as a career.  Even, when I think about it, most of my musical friends are good at math, and the better math students are all musicians.

Just curious to see how others' situations and experiences compare.

[melia]

I was also thinking about this topic for some time. I don't think that being a good mathematician will make you a better musician of course, but I do believe that there are parallels between the two. Ironic isn't it? I read somewhere that if you want to develop your left brain (mathematical thinking etc..) you should do more music, that's why so many good mathematicians or scientists are fascinated by music. As for me, I suck at maths, but I love music. The more music theory I have studied, especially composing, sometimes I seem to be doing calculus with all those chords and inversions, it drove me crazy when I first started! I think doing these musical excercises e.g. composing, playing etc.. is a great way for mathematicians to fine-tune their left brains! I hope this makes sense. Sorry, I am not an expert in this topic.

[jlh]

I think there is a definite correlation.  Here's some interesting info about math and other subjects and how the study of music can help improve your performance in them.
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Music Major are the most likely group of college grads to be admitted to medical school.
Lewis Thomas, Case for Music in the Schools, Phi Delta Kappa, 1994

High school music students have been shown to hold higher grade point averages(GPA) than non-musicians in the same school.
National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988

In Rhode Island, researches studied eight public school first-grade classes. Half of the classes became "test arts" groups, receiving ongoing music and visual arts training. In Kindergarten, this group had lagged behind in scholastic performance. After seven months, the students were given a standardized test. The "test arts" group had caught up to their fellow students in reading and surpasses their classmates in math by 22 percent. In the second year of the project, the arts students widened this margin even further. Students were also evaluated on attitude and behavior. Classroom teachers noted improvement in these areas also.
Nature, May 23, 1996

During moments of musical euphoria, blood travels through the brain to areas where other stimuli can produce feelings of contentment and joy-and travels away from brain cell areas associated with depression and fear.
Dr. Frederick Tims, reported in AMC Music News, June 2, 1999

Students of lower socioeconomic status who took music lessons in grades 8-12 increased their math scores significantly as compared to non-music students. But just as important, reading, history, geography and even social skills soared by 40%.
Gardiner, Fox, Jeffrey and Knowles, Nature, May 23, 1996

Children given piano lessons significantly improved in their spatial-temporal IQ scores (important for some types of mathematical reasoning) compared to children who received computer lessons, casual singing or no lessons.
Rauscher, Shaw, Levine, Wright, Dennis, and Newcomb, Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial temporal reasoning. 1997

A study of 237 second-grade children involved with both piano keyboard training and innovative math software scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than students only using the math software.
Graziano, Peterson and Shaw, Neurological Research 21, March 1999

When a child learns by experience that music forges direct links between self and world, self-expression becomes more fluent; the music helps interpret "who I am."
Growing up Complete, the report of the National Commission on Music Education, 1990

[kamikaz1]

Wow thats some interesting stuff there ^

[xvimbi]

This topic has been discussed on this forum quite a few times, sometimes leading to hilarious and heated discussions.

Check out:
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,663.0.html
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,667.0.html

[noelle]

This topic has been discussed on this forum quite a few times, sometimes leading to hilarious and heated discussions.

Check out:
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,663.0.html
https://pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,667.0.html

Oh, thanks.

Very interesting.

[mound]

I have always been, and likely always will be terrible at math.

My older brother has a PhD in math. He took years more piano lessons than I when we were kids.  I am a significantly better musician than he is, or likely ever will be.

Yes, I believe there tends to be a correlation, but it's not always.
-Paul