How Learning Music Can Increase Your IQ  (Take Our Free IQ Test)

Musical instruments are not only fun to play, but they are also a great way to exercise your brain. Playing an instrument positively impacts your IQ.
 
By practicing an instrument regularly, people improve their hearing and memory. By improving cognitive abilities, a person’s emotional perception, alertness, attentiveness, and planning skills are also improved.
 
Gradually but steadily, music is becoming an integral part of society and education. The relationship between music and brain development has been proven time and again.
 

What is Music Intelligence?

An individual with musical intelligence is capable of identifying, distinguishing, transforming, and expressing sounds and musical forms. The ability to understand rhythms, melodies and tones in music is part of this intelligence.
 
If children are exposed to musical instruction or born into a musical family, for example, they may be predisposed to musical precocity. Having more exposure to it will lead to more development.
 
An individual’s musical aptitude (music IQ) refers to the skill and knowledge they possess in the field of music. You’ll learn how music education impacts a child’s brain development and how good their grades are in this guide.
 

The Impact of Music Education on IQ

A large amount of emphasis is placed on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in schools today.
 
In addition to preparing your child for a career, these disciplines often overlook a very important aspect of education – music, dance, drama, and art.
 
IQ and development are impacted by music education in several ways:
 

1. Research from Stanford University

An analysis of 153 musicians and non-musicians was published in January 2021 by Stanford University School of Medicine.
 
People who learned to play an instrument as children and then continued to practice had significant differences in their brain structures, as well as stronger neural connections than those who took up an instrument later in life.
 
Dr. Simon Leipold, the study’s author, found that training the brain for longer periods had even greater effects.
 
For decades, public schools have cut funding for fine arts programs. IQ and academic performance are positively impacted by learning a musical instrument, but arts education is lacking.
 
The benefits of music education for your child’s mental and emotional health go beyond improving grades and building intelligence. In addition, it might make your child look forward to going to school.
 

2. Studies Published in The Frontiers in Psychology

According to studies published in 2019 on the association between musical training, intelligence, and executive functions in adulthood, converging evidence has demonstrated that musical training is associated with improved perceptual and cognitive skills, including executive functions and general intelligence, particularly in childhood.
 
Contrary to this, cognitive performance and musicianship seem to be modulated by socioeconomic status and personality in adults.
 
The highlights of the studies are:
  • Non-musicians show lower working memory (WMI) and attention skills than musicians. The amateurs score in the middle.
  • Music practice over a long time is associated with executive function and intelligence, according to a significant positive correlation between years of musical practice and cognitive abilities.

3. Research on how Short-Term Music Training Enhances Verbal Intelligence and Executive Function

Mental health and education programs can be improved with training methods designed to test their effectiveness. The performance of these trained cognitive activities has, however, been difficult to transfer to untrained activities.
 
An interactive computerized music and visual art training program developed for preschool children is investigated in this study. Only 90% of the sample showed improved verbal intelligence after only 20 days of training in the music group.
 
An executive-function task positively correlated verbal intelligence improvements with functional brain plasticity. Early childhood can facilitate the transfer of high-level cognitive skills.
 

4. Research Published in ScienceDaily

The study shows that during a computer-interactive microeconomics lecture, college students who listened to classical music by Beethoven and Chopin were better on a test the following day than students who heard the same lecture, but instead slept with white noise in the background that evening.
 

Taking up an instrument

People who learn an instrument have more gray matter in their brains than those who don’t. Music has a better effect on the brain stem of a student who is learning an instrument.
 
Furthermore, it improves focus and attention span, as well as one’s commitment to a goal. The all-rounded development that learning an instrument provides also benefits a student’s verbal and mathematical skills. Consequently, learning an instrument will most definitely increase a student’s IQ.
 

The power of music on the brain

We need to exercise our brains to make them more capable of processing information. It is impossible to build lean muscles without regular exercise. It applies to brainpower as well.
 
Musicians’ brains are specialized in motor (movement), visual (sight), and auditory (hearing) functions. Information and sounds are processed differently by the brain depending on its size and specialization.
 
Accordingly, science has confirmed that listening to music goes beyond entertainment. Our lives have been enriched by music, especially in the classroom.
 
When we listen to music, some of the following things happen in our brains.
  • Auditory
Our auditory system is more efficient after years of musical training. Sound frequency can be determined even in the tiniest difference when our brain processes it. Consequently, we can hear both sounds and speech more clearly.
  • Awareness of socio-emotional factors
Socio-emotional awareness can also be enhanced by listening to music with someone. We can develop socio-emotional awareness by constructively identifying, expressing, and managing our feelings, thoughts, and emotions.
  • Reading ability
Numerous studies have linked improved musical ability with higher reading scores. In other words, we can write words or letters from our ability to hear speech.
  • Motor functions
In our brains, the parts that control instruments, such as the mouth and fingers, can expand. Muscle movement is fine-tuned in these areas because they have more neurons.
 

Conclusion

Using music as a means of showcasing our true identity is one of the most significant ways we can express ourselves.
 
People generally believe that listening to music, playing an instrument, and singing a song are common activities anyone can do. Few people realize how important music is to developing a person’s brain and retaining memories.
 
The answer to the question of whether music increases IQ is yes. The effects of music on IQ have been scientifically proven in numerous clinical studies.
 
If you’re wondering how to test your IQ level, endeavor to visit our website. We have a free online IQ test that is both accurate and reliable.

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