Music Can Boost Creativity

Researchers in the United States are currently trying to figure out ways of integrating music with the objective of helping students be more focused and creative in learning mathematics and science.

Around the world, children, adolescents and teenagers are entirely captivated by music, and carry it with them everywhere, while the learning books are left behind. This has always been the norm – books are nowhere nearly as appealing as a good beat.

What experts at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) are now trying to do is develop a series of methods for integrating these two aspects of teens' lives into one another. This may in the end lead to better performances in math and sciences.

The effort is being led by the director of the Georgia Tech Music Intelligence Lab, Parag Chordia, with support from grants provided by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). What the work is focused on is finding the neurological origin of creativity.

“How can music be used to think about scientific problems, how can music be used to sort of catalyze our thinking in other areas?” Chordia asks. He believes that unlocking this mystery could lead to significant improvement in the way kids see exact sciences, for exampls.

“We've never found a culture that has no language – we've never found a culture that has no music. So, music seems to be universal,” the expert explains. “To be a great engineer; to really produce innovative products and to advance the frontiers of science, you have to be creative,” he explains.

“And it's not just that music is a diversion or an extracurricular, but it's actually something that's fundamental to life and mind,” Chordia says further, adding that math and science lessons are in the nasty habit of becoming highly abstract very early on.

One way of making this easier is by using reference points. People could use them to find their footing in the sea of abstract knowledge, and this conceivably allows them to move on more efficiently.

“So, whether we're talking about teaching basic mathematical concepts, or designing experiments, you can design experiments around music,” the investigator argues, saying that music can be used as a tool to understand pattern formation.

“At the college level, students who have access to music programs are much more likely to graduate because it increases retention. And people have, in terms of early learning, shown that exposure to music at an early age, intensive exposure in music does improve cognitive outcomes,” Chordia adds.