What is it about?
This study examined singing abilities in young children and examined the relationships between this musical skill and their other cognitive and academic abilities and sociodemographic variables. Specifically, we measured children's pitch accuracy in singing specific notes. We found that this ability is a notable relative cognitive strength among children underperforming in school academically (by their test scores and grades).
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Why is it important?
Our findings demonstrate that children who are struggling in school nevertheless have some cognitive strength despite being behind their peers in many developing school-related abilities. This research is important for gaining a more complete scientific understanding of early childhood cognitive development and suggests that the development of music-related abilities may operate independent from other areas of mental skill and may provide a particularly fruitful area for strengths-based learning in the classroom.
Perspectives
Despite much theorizing and speculating about "multiple intelligences" for decades in the scientific and education literature, few studies have actually provided empirical characterizations of developing musical abilities during early childhood while also measuring and comparing them with other cognitive and academic skills in the same children. Our findings here of musical abilities being a relative cognitive strength among children underperforming in school significantly call into question theories of cognitive development that espouse unitary mechanisms (such as "g") and suggest music specifically as a potential effective leverage for improved learning among academically struggling children.
Dr. Tim T. Brown
University of California at San Diego, School of Medicine
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Vocal pitch matching in early childhood as a relative cognitive strength among low academic performers, International Journal of Music in Early Childhood, December 2023, Intellect,
DOI: 10.1386/ijmec_00062_1.
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