can music improve learning?

Knowing how sound works, for instance -- that it is a chain of waves transferred from source to air to little bones and hairs within the ear and converted into bioelectrical impulses that are "played" by the brain -- only gives one more things to wonder at.
The ways in which that process becomes something more than sound is the subject of a rich and rambling new documentary, "The Music Instinct: Science and Song," premiering tonight on PBS. It takes the most ineffable of the arts and looks at it from every which way. ("To me as a physicist, sound is the actual wave," says an actual physicist, delighted by the very shapes such waves may take.)
On its long and winding way, the program takes in physiology, neurobiology, medicine, anthropology, psychology, physics, quantum mechanics (in string theory everything is vibration), with practical demonstrations by deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie; pianist Daniel Barenboim; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; and British indie rock royals Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley, who help investigate the physical effects of musical collaboration (Cocker sings the Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning" from within an MRI machine, while Hawley accompanies him on guitar).
Bobby McFerrin, the singing-conducting "Don't Worry, Be Happy" man, co-hosts with neuroscientist Daniel Levitin ("This Is Your Brain on Music"), who also knows his way around a musical instrument or two.
We meet singing cavemen and a dancing bird. We hear the sound of a 3,500-year-old flute and what an intrauterine microphone picks up from the world outside the womb (more than you might think). We learn that music releases dopamine ("Drugs, sex and rock 'n' roll, right there in the brain," one expert says), and that it can regulate the breathing of infants and the heartbeat of cardiac patients.
Dr. Oliver Sacks (who wrote a whole book on the subject, "Musicophilia") tells of a man struck by lightning who developed a thirst for piano music, and of how music sticks in the mind even of Alzheimer's patients.

can music improve learning?

Scientists have found an unexpected benefit of music lessons - they can boost word power.
Children with music training had significantly better verbal memory than others, according to today's study. Plus, the longer the training, the better the verbal memory.
These findings underscore how, when experience changes a specific brain region, other skills in the same region may also benefit.
The research is reported in the journal Neuropsychology by Dr Agnes Chan and colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who studied 90 boys between six and 15.
Half had musical training as members of their school's string orchestra for one to five years. The others had no musical training.
The researchers gave the children verbal memory tests, to see how many words they recalled from a list, and a comparable images test.
Students with musical training recalled significantly more words than the untrained students, and were better at learning them. There were no such differences for visual memory.
It seems that the more that music training stimulates the brain, the better it can handle other tasks. The team likened it to the way that runners find that stronger legs help them play tennis better.
Another report has shown that training brain activity through a process called "neurofeedback" can improve musical performance by up to 17 per cent, the equivalent of one grade.

can music improve learning?

Can music improve learning?

For me of course music can improve learning.When i want to study or do some work i will listen music because it feel more comfortable when i do my work or study.

In addition ,

Everyone remembers sitting up late at night studying for tests, worrying about not being able to remember everything the next morning. And beyond that, nearly everyone has had to study and memorize something for school or work. However, you may find that studying and learning don’t come easily, and though you may have tried flash cards, studying with a friend, or even using mnemonic devices, you just can’t seem to get where you want to be.

Fortunately, there is another method that can help you remember things and can make your studying more effective. Musical training can actually help you learn.

A study by Stanford University showed that musical training or experience helps the brain improve its ability to understand and use language. With musical training, the brain can process rapidly changing sounds better. This can be especially helpful for children who have difficulty with rapid auditory processing or are at risk for becoming poor readers. Early musical training can keep them from struggling early in their education, meaning they’re more likely to succeed as they progress through school.

Research from Northwestern University shows that musical training not only alters how the brain’s cortex is wired, but the brainstem, as well. This research supports the study by Stanford, as well as changing what people think about the brain. Previously, it was believed that the brainstem was unable to be changed.

This research can also help students with learning disabilities. Previous research by Northwestern University showed that students with learning disabilities have abnormalities in their brainstems. Since musical training can change the brainstem, these abnormalities may be able to be corrected, helping these students be more successful in school.

Other studies have also shown that listening to classical music while studying can help you remember what you’re studying. So if you don’t have musical training, you may find that playing piano concertos or violin sonatas can help you study and learn.

We all know music evokes emotional responses in people. And now these studies show that by learning an instrument or being in a choir or even taking a music appreciation course, you can strengthen your ability to understand and use language, remember what you study better, and be a better student. Who would’ve thought that a little music would completely change our memories of studying from frustration and late nights to good grades and success?