Tag Archives: science

Music and Maths

Continuing our Music is Good for You #WednesdayWisdom series, this week we’re taking a look at how learning music can improve your maths and science skills.

19 - music and mathsHaving show the link with language skills, memory, and empathy you may think the sciences a bit of a leap. However, if you think about it logically (see what we did there?) musical notes, chords, octaves, rhythm, and meter can all be understood mathematically. You only have to listen to Bach to hear the mathematical progression in his music to get an idea of how much maths is in music let alone get into 3rds and 5ths.

The research on whether music definitely improves maths and science ability is mixed at the moment, but there does seem to be an underlying correlation between playing an instrument and better maths skills.

For instance, a recent study found that preschoolers who got keyboard lessons performed better on a test of spatial-temporal reasoning (the ability to mentally envision spatial patterns and understand how they fit together) than children who received computer instruction or the control group who didn’t participate in either activity. Researchers believe that elevated spatial-temporal reasoning leads to better performance in both maths and science.