Music Education at School: Too Little and Too Late? Evidence From a Longitudinal Study on Music Training in Preadolescents.

ABSTRACT: It is widely believed that intensive music training can boost cognitive and visuo-motor skills. However, this evidence is primarily based on retrospective studies; this makes it difficult to determine whether a cognitive advantage is caused by the intensive music training, or it is instead a factor influencing the choice of starting a music curriculum. To address these issues in a highly ecological setting, we tested longitudinally 128 students of a Middle School in Milan, at the beginning of the first class and, 1 year later, at the beginning of the second class. 72 students belonged to a Music curriculum (30 with previous music experience and 42 without) and 56 belonged to a Standard curriculum (44 with prior music experience and 12 without). Using a Principal Component Analysis, all the

SUBMITTER: Carioti D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6930811 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature