How Music Trumps Reading for Childhood Development

This may or may not be news depending on your perspective but a recent University of Queensland led study as shown that music participation at home improves numeracy, prosocial skills and attention over and above the effects of shared book reading.

Part of an Australian Research Council funded study titled “Being and becoming musical: towards a cultural ecological model of early musical development”, the study aims to provide a comprehensive account of how Australian families use music in their parenting practices and make recommendations for policy and practice in childcare and early learning and development. The studies findings have been widely reported and last month, the team was awarded the inaugural Music Trust Award for Research into the Benefits of Music Education.