Does a musical program improve the development of cognitive abilities on kindergarten students: a French experience?
The idea that "music makes you smarter" and promotes both cognitive skills as verbal skills (Ho et al., 2003; Forgeard and al. 2000), spatiotemporal capacities (Rauscher and Zupan 2000), school performances (Wetter et al. 2009) or even boost the IQ (Schellenberg, 2004, 2006) has received attention from researchers and general public. In this study we examined the effects of music practice on pre-school and school performance of kindergarten children, in particular concerning early writing skills. Here, one main question is investigated: what are the benefits of a specific music program in the curriculum for the cognitive abilities development on preschooler children (age 5)?