Music Training Changes the Brain. And the Data Proves It.

What if one activity could boost your child’s memory, improve their grades, reduce stress, and strengthen their brain’s wiring, all while being joyful and creative?

That activity is learning to make music.

Music education isn’t just about learning notes and rhythms. It’s a powerful intervention that enhances brain development, provides natural mental health support, builds crucial social connections, and creates safe spaces for expression when students need it most. When we cut music programs, we’re not just eliminating a “fun” class, we’re removing a vital tool for cognitive and emotional development that other subjects can’t replace.

Music isn’t just a class. It’s a lifeline.

Children Who Learn Music vs. Those Who Don’t

Neuroscience and education researchers, including Dr. Michael Merzenich, a pioneer of brain plasticity, have shown that children who actively make music don’t just play melodies; they restructure their brains for higher learning, emotional strength, and deeper engagement with the world.

Children who engage in active music-making (like playing an instrument or singing in a structured setting) outperform their non-musical peers across several crucial areas of development:

Cognitive Superpowers

• Higher IQ and Executive Function

Music-trained kids show better working memory, attention control, and cognitive flexibility. (Schellenberg E., 2004)

• Better Language and Reading Skills

They have stronger phonological awareness and language processing skills, laying the groundwork for reading fluency. (Tierney and Kraus, 2013)

• Improved Math Performance

Rhythm and timing in music boost spatial-temporal reasoning linked to mathematical ability. (Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky, 1997)

Brain Development

Music doesn’t just boost performance, it rewires and transforms the brain.

In Soft-Wired, Dr. Merzenich (2013) writes:

“Music training is a beautiful example of an activity that drives widespread plasticity in the brain. It engages attention, memory, emotion, and motor control, often simultaneously.” (p. 101)

Supporting this, Hyde et al. (2009) found that 6-year-olds who began weekly music training showed increased gray matter volume in the primary motor areas, auditory regions, and corpus callosum after just 15 months of training (p. 3020–3021).

Music also boosts connectivity. Brain scans reveal that children with music training have stronger white matter tracts, enhancing communication between hemispheres and improving processing speed and efficiency (Hyde et al., 2009, p. 3023).

Emotional & Social Intelligence

• Better Self-Regulation and Empathy

Music helps children manage emotions, lower stress levels, and build emotional awareness. (Hanna-Pladdy and Mackay, 2011)

• Stronger Social Skills and Teamwork

From choirs to bands, music nurtures connection, cooperation, and listening.

In a charming study, Kirschner and Tomasello (2010) observed that 4-year-olds who participated in joint music-making were more likely to help, cooperate, and act prosocial compared to their peers who didn’t. Music fosters connection.

In contrast, children who don’t have access to music programs miss out on these developmental advantages. They may still thrive, of course, but they lose one of the richest, research-backed tools we have for building young brains.

The Social Superpower Nobody Talks About

Playing music with others is social connection:

• You must listen as much as you express
• You create something together that’s impossible to create alone

In an age where teens text each other from across the room, music reintroduces authentic, real-time human connection. No filters. No editing. Just real collaboration.

Music: The Original Mood Medicine

Let’s talk brain chemistry. When kids make music:

• Their brains release dopamine: a feel-good chemical (and a better way than by eating chocolate or getting likes on Instagram)
• Stress hormones like cortisol decrease
• They experience “flow states“: those magical moments when time disappears, and you’re completely absorbed

For teens struggling with anxiety or depression (1 in 3 adolescents), music provides a natural mood regulator that doesn’t come in pill form. (CDC, 2023)

As one student put it: “Band is the only class where I’m not thinking about all the things wrong in my life. I’m just… present.”

What If Your School Can’t Afford a Full Music Program?

“Some argue that in tight budgets, music is a luxury. But the evidence shows it’s a necessity for healthy brain development-just as vital as math or reading.”

Not every school has a budget for instruments, private music teachers, or full orchestras. But music education doesn’t have to be expensive to be transformative. Some of the most brain-enhancing benefits of music come from the simplest form of music-making: singing together.

Singing Together: Old School, New Science

Group singing, whether it’s in the classroom, during morning circles, or after school, has been shown to:

– Boost oxytocin (the bonding hormone), reducing loneliness and anxiety

– Strengthen auditory processing and memory (critical for reading and language skills)

– Improve emotional regulation and classroom cohesion

– Enhance self-esteem and expression, especially for shy or neurodivergent students

– Reduce stress hormones like cortisol through synchronized breathing and rhythm

A study by Pearce, Launay, and Dunbar (2015) found that even a single group singing session significantly increased social bonding and positive mood in children. Singing, as Merzenich notes in Soft-Wired, also strengthens timing, rhythm, and attention, just like instrumental practice does (Merzenich, 2013, pp. 99–102).

Low-Cost, High-Impact Music Ideas for Schools:

– Start a morning singing ritual

– Integrate music into language arts (e.g., learning poems as chants or songs)

– Use clapping games and body percussion to teach rhythm and coordination

– Partner with local choirs or music students who volunteer in exchange for credit

Music is a human right, not a luxury. Whether through a choir, classroom song time, or shared rhythms on desks and hands,we can bring the brain-changing magic of music to every child, regardless of school funding.

When We Cut Music Programs, Here’s What We’re Really Cutting:

• Brain development during critical periods when neural connections are forming
• Natural therapy for kids who can’t afford $200/hour counseling
• Safe spaces for children
• Joy. Pure, simple joy.

As one music teacher shared: “I teach the kids who eat lunch alone. Six months later, they’re performing solos on stage. Tell me that’s not essential education.”

What’s at Stake?

Taking music away is like stripping color from a painting.

When we silence music in schools, we’re not just cutting a “special” or “extra” subject. We’re cutting off access to:

• Brain development tools
• Mental health support
• Social connection
• Emotional outlets
• The universal language that connects us all

Why This Matters for Schools

“What you do in life physically changes what your brain is capable of doing.” (Merzenich, 2013, p. 2)

Cutting music education is not just a cultural loss, it’s a scientific setback. Music isn’t extra. It’s essential. And the evidence shows it.

About the Author

Ilse Gevaert is a psychologist and coach specializing in neurodiversity (such as Autism and ADHD), giftedness, twice-exceptionality (2e), trauma, recovery from narcissistic abuse, and resilience. She holds a Harvard specialization in Leadership and Management, as well as a certificate in Women in Leadership from Cornell University.

Contact: ilse.resilientminds@gmail.com

References

CDC. (2023). Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2011–2021.

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm

Chen, S. et al. (2024). Music Training and Executive Function in Middle School Students. Cognitive Development, 52, 100-117.

Collins, A. (2023). Music and the Developing Brain: Neural Pathways and Cognitive Outcomes. Journal of Educational Neuroscience, 15(3), 78-92.

Hyde, K. L., Lerch, J., Norton, A., Forgeard, M., Winner, E., Evans, A. C., & Schlaug, G. (2009). Musical training shapes structural brain development. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(10), 3019–3025.

Ho, Y. C., Cheung, M. C., & Chan, A. S. (2003). Music training improves verbal but not visual memory: cross-sectional and longitudinal explorations in children. Neuropsychology, 17(3), 439–450.

Hanna-Pladdy, B., & Mackay, A. (2011). The relation between instrumental musical activity and cognitive aging. Neuropsychology, 25(3), 378.

Ilari, B. et al. (2023). Music education benefits youth wellbeing. Frontiers in Psychology.

Kirschner, S., & Tomasello, M. (2010). Joint music making promotes prosocial behavior in 4-year-old children.Evolution and Human Behavior, 31(5), 354–364.

Markov, E. & Rodriguez, J. (2024). Emotional Regulation Through Arts Education: A Longitudinal Study. Developmental Psychology Review, 29(2), 145-163.

Merzenich, M. M. (2013). Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life.Parnassus Publishing.

Miendlarzewska, E.A., & Trost, W.J. (2014). How musical training affects cognitive development. Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Pearce, E., Launay, J., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2015). The ice-breaker effect: Singing mediates fast social bonding. Royal Society Open Science, 2(10), 150221. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150221

Schellenberg, E. G. (2004). Music lessons enhance IQ.Psychological Science, 15(8), 511–514.

Tierney, A., & Kraus, N. (2013). Music training for the development of reading skills. Progress in Brain Research, 207, 209–241.

Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., & Ky, K. N. (1997). Music and spatial task performance. Nature, 390(6659), 389.

Yazar, İ. U. (2024). The effects of music on brain development. Journal of Human Sciences.

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