The idea that "music makes you smarter" and promotes verbal skills (Ho et al., 2003; Forgeard and al. 2000), spatiotemporal capacities (Rauscher and Zupan 2000) or even the QI (Schellenberg 2006) has received attention from general public and researchers. In this study we examined the effects of music training on pre-school and school performance of kindergarten children, in particular the early writing skills. One main question is investigated: what are the benefits of a specific music program for the cognitive abilities development on preschooler children (age 5)? Is it a way to prevent academic failure? We test this hypothesis with a large sample of 487 French preschoolers split up into two groups, one experimental group (N=226) that received six months classroom music lessons, and on control group (N=261) that received no such lessons. The tests of cognitive capacities measure six dimensions: graphics, memory, spatial orientation, rhythmic organization and visual discrimination. Two series of tests were already realised: a pre-test before the beginning of the experiment and the intermediate test from the end of the experiment. The latest test, the final test, will be administered when the children will enter in the first year of primary school. The program of the musical activities used for this experiment arises from "Music to the everyday life in the cycle 2 (translation from french)" developed by Bachelard, Coulon and Loisy. Created specifically for a previous study (Mingat and Suchaut, 1994), it declines on five domains: singing, listening, instrumental activities, coding-decoding, rhythmic and physical activities. It was given to each of the experimental classes through 2 hours lessons per week, generally 30 minutes a day. After six month of learning music, children of the experimental group exhibited substantially greater performance in musical skills. The experiment is still in progress. The last cognitive tests will take place during the first quarter 2011 and academic tests will be in September 2011. Then, we shall be able to realize the last statistical analyses to verify our hypothesis of departure.
A music educational daily program to develop cognitive abilities among pre-school children: a way to prevent academic failure?