Study says music education improves brain function long after lessons have stopped

Music education as a child can produce cognitive benefits years after the lessons end, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

We may have let our subscription to that particular publication lapse, but a summary on the journal's website explains that students who receive music lessons go on to have “more robust brainstem responses to sound” than those who receive no formal instrumental training, and the magnitude correlates to the amount of time that has passed since those lessons. The story was picked up by the Los Angeles Times, which has more details on its website. Despite a steep drop in state revenue, IUSD has managed to sustain valuable music education opportunities for students, but not without the help of some valuable community partners. The Irvine Public Schools Foundation has long played an active role in supporting music programs, and in 2006 the Irvine Company committed more than $20 million over 10 years to enhance music, art and science instruction in grades four, five and six. The latest installment of that pledge, in the form of a check for 2.15 million, was delivered in December.