A new study published in the International Journal of Music in Early Education provides new evidence for musical intelligence as an independent cognitive strength. The research was led by Tim Brown, a researcher in the University of California San Diego School of Medicine Department of Neurosciences and Director of the Sentia Laboratory for Childhood Systems Neuroscience.
Brown and his team asked four and five-year old children in transitional kindergarten to sing back a musical note played to them, matching the pitch and syllable e.g. “daa” as they heard it. They found that children doing less well in school were able to do this on a similar level compared to higher performing peers. This ability was not linked to the usual socioeconomic predictors of early learning success, such as maternal education, household income, or household language, and is not correlated with reading or math ability.
By demonstrating that musical ability is an independent strength for students, the study reinforces Howard Gardner’s MI theory that intelligence is multi-faceted and that standardized assessments do not fully capture a child's potential. The study implies that integrating arts, especially music, into educational curricula could be particularly beneficial for some children. Recognizing that children who perform poorly in standard academic settings might excel in other areas could help reduce the stigmatization of these students and provide them with more opportunities to succeed.
Read an article about this study here.