Academic achievement and music: What's the connection?

Abstract

The relationship between music and general academic achievement is an issue which continues to receive wide interest, especially in the mass media. This paper explores some of the background to such interest, including discussion of the legend of the ‘Mozart effect’ and the slogan, ‘Music makes you smarter’. The paper reports on a study which, in part, explored whether students who study music in secondary school achieved more highly in other subjects. Data were collected via a researcher-designed survey, with 282 participants from three high schools in metropolitan Adelaide. The survey explored the extent and nature of involvement in musical activity, both at school and outside school, as well as reasons for success in school subjects and other activities. Results of the survey showed that those students studying music at school achieved at a higher level in four core academic subjects. It was also apparent that the students perceived enjoyment to be an important factor in being successful in school subjects.