Some Interesting facts.

A majority of the engineers and technical designers in Silicon Valley are practicing musicians.
(1997 finding of the Center for Arts in the Basic Curriculum).

The average scores achieved by music students on the 1999 SAT, increased for every year of musical study. The same trend was found in SAT scores of previous years.
(Steven M. Demorest and Steven J. Morrison, in "Does Music Make You Smarter?" Music Educators Journal, September. 2000.)

"Music can help migraine sufferers reduced the intensity, frequency, and duration of the headaches."
- Paul Chance, ãMusic Hath Charms to Soothe a Throbbing Head,ä Psychology Today, February 1987. p. 14.

"Music therapists working with Alzheimer’s patients have found that rhythmic interaction or listening to music has resulted in decreased agitation, increased focus and concentration, enhanced ability to respond verbally and behaviourally, elimination of demented speech, improved ability to respond to questions, and better social interaction."
- Carol Prickett and Randall Moore, The Use of Music to Aid Memory of Alzheimer’s Patients Journal of Music Therapy 28 (1991).

"Researchers in Colorado found that stroke patients who were given rhythmic auditory stimulation a half hour a day for three weeks had improved cadence, stride, and foot placement compared with a control group."
- Marwick, Leaving Concert Hall for Clinic’s In The Mozart Effect by Don Campbell. (New York: Avon Books. 1997), 273.

"Scientists have found that music involves both left, right, front, and back portions of the brain."
- Donald A. Hodges, Neuromusical Research. Handbook of Music Psychology. (San Antonio: IMR Press. 1996).

"Studies show that tonotopic maps (pathways in the brain involved in determining the pitch of a note played on a piano) are about 25 percent larger in musicians than non-musicians, demonstrating that musical experiences during childhood influence the development of the brain’s auditory cortex."
- Neurology: Musical Maps May Grow with Experience. Washington Post, April, 1998.

"Neurologist Dr. Gottfried Schlaug of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston found that the cerebellum, which contains about 70 percent of the brain’s neurons, is about 5 percent larger in expert male musicians than in men who have not had extensive musical training."
- Robert Lee Hotz, Study Suggests Music May Someday Help Repair Brain. Los Angeles Times. November 9, 1998.

"In recovery wards and rehabilitation clinics, music is widely used to restructure and repattern repetitive movements following accidents and illness."
- Don Campbell, The Mozart Effect. (New York: Avon Books, 1997), 69.

"Researchers at Michigan State University concluded that listening to one’s preferred music may elicit a profound positive emotional experience that can trigger the release of hormones which can contribute to a lessening of those factors which enhance the disease process."
- Dale Bartlett, Donald Kaufman, and Roger Smeltekop, The Effects of Music Listening and Perceived Sensory Experiences on the Immune System as Measured by Interleukin-1 and Cortisol, Journal of Music Therapy 30 (1993): 194-209.

"There is a very high correlation between positive self-perception, high cognitive competence scores, healthy self-esteem, total interest and school involvement, and the study of music."
- O.F. Lillemyr, Achievement Motivation as a Factor in Self-Perception, Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities.

"Courses in music, as well as in art and drama, positively influenced the decisions of high school students not to drop out of school."
- N.H. Barry, J.A. Taylor, and K. Walls, The Role of the Fine and Performing Arts in High School Dropout Prevention (Tallahassee, Florida: Centre for Music Research, Florida State University, 1990).

"Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 showed that music participants received more academic honours and awards than non-music students, and that the percentage of music participants receiving A’s, A’s/B’s, and B’s was higher than the percentage of non-participants receiving those grades."
- NELS:88 First Follow-Up, 1990, National Centre for Education Statistics, Washington, DC.

"Longer music study means higher SAT scores. For example, students participating in music for two years averaged 29 points higher on the verbal portion and 19 points higher on the math portion of the SAT than students with no coursework or experience in music. Students with four or more years in music scored 61 points higher and 45 points higher on the verbal and math portions respectively than students with no music coursework."
- Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, The College Board, 1999.

"Research shows that when a child listens to classical music the right hemisphere of the brain is activated, but when a child studies a musical instrument both left and right hemispheres of the brain light up. Significantly, the areas that become activated are the same areas that are involved in analytical and mathematical thinking."
- Dee Dickinson, Music and the Mind. (Seattle: New Horizons for Learning, 1993).

"A 1981 study by Minicucci showed that kindergarten students basic skills achievement scores increased when music was added to the curriculum."
- Jeanne Akin, Music Makes a Difference. (Lafayette, California: Lafayette Arts and Science Foundation, 1987).

"Studying music strengthens student’s academic performance. Studies have indicated that sequential, skill-building instruction in art and music integrated with the rest of the curriculum can greatly improve children’s performance in reading and math."
- Martin Gardiner, Alan Fox, Faith Knowles, and Donna Jeffrey, Learning Improved by Arts Training, Nature, May 23, 1996.

"Dr. Lassar Golkin brought music games into schools to help teach academic skills. Children who were unable to learn in a traditional school setting were able to learn the skills set to musical games."
- Sharlene Habermeyer, Good Music, Brighter Children. (California: Prima Publishing, 1999). 151.

"Studies have found that elementary students who received daily music instruction had fewer absences than other students."
- B.S. Hood III, The Effect of Daily Instruction in Public School Music and Related Experiences upon Non-musical Personal and School Attitudes of Average Achieving Third-Grade Students (doctoral dissertation, Mississippi State University).

"Researchers at Keele University have reported that babies in the womb can hear and remember music as early as 20 weeks gestation. Babies showed signs of recognizing songs played to them in utero during the mothers’ 20th-21st weeks of pregnancy."
- Nigel Hawkes, Foetus Has an Ear for Music at 20 Weeks, The London Times, March 30, 1998

"An Eastman research project found dramatic increases in language development and memory skills between those children exposed to music and literature in utero and their siblings who were not."
- Donald J. Shelter, The Inquiry into Prenatal Musical Experience: A Report of the Eastman Project 1980-1987. In Music and Child Development edited by Frank R. Wilson and Franz L. Roehmann, (St. Louis, Missouri: MMB Music Inc., 1990) 50.

"Dr. Jean Houston of the Foundation for Mind Research believes that the brains of children not exposed to music arts education are actually being damaged because these non-verbal modalities help them with skills such as reading, writing, and math."
- Tony Mickela, Does Music Have an Impact on the Development of Students? Prepared for the 1990 state convention of the California Music Education Association.

"Whether by voice or by instrument, musical performance requires physical control and precision of a high order. A child working at mathematics or languages can sit back and mentally contemplate for minutes before facing difficulty. The same child singing or playing a musical part must both obey exactly and artistically the present behests of the music and at the same time think ahead to prepare herself or himself to deal equally faithfully with what is coming in the music. In no other subject is a child called upon to make four or five decisions a second and act on them continuously for such stretches of time. This combination of constant vigilance and forethought with ever changing physical responses constitutes an educational experience of unique value. Moreover by its nature and traditions the art lends itself more than most activities to the pursuit of excellence to which there is no nobler aim in education".
A quotation of an English music instructor found in a speech by Dr. Frances Rauscher.

1. Some fish sing “love songs,” build nests and guard their eggs—and guess what? It’s DAD, not mom.

2. Female jumping spiders “audition” potential mates by watching them dance before them. If he’s a stud, they mate - but if he’s a dud, she pounces, kills him and eats him.

3. All animals that walk, crawl, swim, or fly, move their limbs in time to a particular rhythmic beat. And animals like jellyfish swim to a pulse—even though they don’t have a brain.

4. A cricket’s song depends on the outside temperature—the warmer it is, the faster the call. However, the intended target of his call, a female cricket—must also experience the same temperature to “make the match.” So if the female’s temperature is off by even five degrees, she will not be able to recognize the male’s call.

From “Music Across the Species: Birds, Crickets, Frogs and Babies”
By -Dr. Ron Hoy, Cornell University
-Dr. Laurel Trainor, McMaster University