Is it true that if a child plays a classical instrument (violin, cello, flute, clarinet) he or she will grow up to be very intelligent?

They have shown that learning a second language or learning to read and play music (which is similar in the brain to learning a new language) increases the child’s ability to learn. Very true.

Well it’s not a sure thing, but I’ve heard it can stack the deck in your favor, for the reasons @cazzie gave. Plus it’s just another way you can “enrich” your childhood with a fun, educational activity. :)

I think these studies do not prove causation, just correlation. Children who play a classical instrument are probably more likely to have intelligent parents, have exposure to a strong educational system, and have financial advantages. So, these children are likely to be of higher intelligence in general. I do think music, and appreciation for the arts opens the mind, so it might have some influence on IQ, but I think there is much more to it than simply play an instrument get smarter.

I think music is very important. It does teach rhythm and how to tell a musical story. You learn pitch, as well. If you get into the theory, it helps you understand why music works. It is very mathematical.

I doubt if it causes intelligence. Learning music doesn’t necessarily mean you learn anything else. But typically, families for whom music is important, in Western countries, are families for whom education is important.

FWIW, I learned three instruments as a child, and I now play six or seven. It doesn’t seem to have done me any harm, and it greatly enhances my quality of life. In fact, it was part of the treatments that kept me from killing myself. Playing music was the only thing that made me forget my depression for a while.

If you’re thinking of learning an instrument, do it!

Sure

It has proven to be true for me with experience. My best friend plays the piano and he is a genius.

I’d say so. Most…but not all brainiacs do play or have learned an instrument. I believe piano to be the most impactful instrument to stimulate higher intelligence. My now 15 year old has always been at the top of his class and I had him in my lap playing piano at 6 mos old and got to hear me play while still in the womb. Everybody in my family and my friends who plays an instrument IMO are pretty bright and successful.

There is a recognized connection between exposure to classical music and mathematics. Essentially, there is a neurological understanding of sequencing and proportion by hearing and playing music. This helps with spatial-temporal thinking.

But it is not a golden key to making people more intelligent, it is more a matte of exercising one’s brain in a different way. Like an athlete that cross trains, one can be more fit by doing different intellectual exercises.

The music/math/intelligence relationship was what drove the “Mozart” efforts in the nineties to expose in utero children to classical music by putting headphones on pregnant mother’s bellies.

There are many inner city schools where underprivileged kids are given instruments and taught music. @JLeslie the improvement in these children’s school work argues against your argument, that well off kids are the only ones who improve with music.

No. Learning an instrument, in and of itself, will not guarantee an intelligent individual.

Yes and no. It won’t make you more intelligent, but it will allow you to use what intelligence you have instead of letting it sit idle and undeveloped.

FYI, I never really played an instrument in my life. I tried to learn but I couldn’t. My intelligence is of a different kind, mostly involving visualization, spatial relationships, and numbers. I can’t play a chord, but I can calculate a chord segment. Music did nothing for me, but tearing stuff apart did.

Some kids may be able to exercise and strengthen their brain with a musical instrument, but some of us are better off with a toolbox or a calculator (a good one, like my HP48G) than with a piano or a clarinet.

@cazzie That may have increased their scores on standardized tests, but that doesn’t mean that they are actually more intelligent. Most definitions of intelligence I have seen are about the ability to recall and process information, but those tests are more about rote memory than critical thinking ability. I know many people who are quite intelligent but score low on those tests.
So who is smarter; the college grad who can recite all 50 state capitols but has no practical skills or the 9th-grade dropout who doesn’t know what a quadratic equation is but can rebuild a car engine without a manual?

@jerv I’m talking about their ability to learn and absorb abstract ideas, like language and math. Learning a new language or learning to read music creates new neural pathways in the brain that kids who DON’T never develop.

Don’t project your own experience on everyone. I’m referring to empirical data, not personal stories.

@cazzie I am merely pointing out that it doesn’t always work, and that there are other things that work equally well. I didn’t pop out of the womb knowing most of what I know; I developed the intelligence I have by creating neural pathways too, just ones that have nothing do do with music.

In other words, your mileage may vary, what’s good for the goose isn’t always good for the gander, and all that jazz. I am sure that there are enough kids in your empirical data that made no improvement to prove me right.

There is also increased left/right brain integration from playing an instrument.

None of it creates a 100% formula that “if a child plays a classical instrument he or she will grow up to be very intelligent”, of course, but it’s probably far more likely to help than to hurt. Especially if the child wants to.

If you want a brilliant child, give them freedom to explore, and encourage them to do what they are naturally* interested in.

(* Naturally does not include corporate seductions such as TV watching, or synthetic technocolored food.)

@jerv I’m sure they only counted the kids that stuck with it for a certain amount of time and didn’t include the quiters. ;o) You may not be able to pick out middle C on the piano, but I bet you can see a space and know exactly it’s measurements.

@cazzie I never argued that. I argued that kids who are exposed to classical music usually have better circumstances all around them, even their genetic pool might give them a littlw bit of an advantage regarding IQ. I am saying it is more of a psychographic that children at certain socio-economic levels are more likely to take music lessons and listen to classical. I do think exposure to the arts is very important and broadens the mind, like more exposure to anything. The students do better in school, but it does not mean it has a very significant impact on IQ, it means they enjoy school more, changes ther attitudes. That school probably has better programs all around if they have added these sorts of programs, care about a more well rounded education for the children.

I am not saying music is not a good idea, or does not count in the success of a child, I think it is a great thing.

Maybe it is the reverse? Maybe children of higher intellect appreciate classical music and classical instruments. Their logical brain sees the beauty in the notes, the complexity.

Not always.

Mixing fiction with fact or just trying to be funny, @zen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Redden

Depends on how they develop the skill.

Learning complex skills can enhance inborn intelligence. A person’s intelligence derives from how well they are hard weird from birth and how well the environment has fostered the development of these inborn capacities.

I hope playing the clarinet increases intelligence, mostly because I can play the clarinet, but I think that it is more of a correlation than a cause-and-effect. It has been shown that there is a link between wealth and intelligence. Also, you need the money to fund learning an instrument (good clarinets can easily cost over $1,000). I also believe that being intelligent makes you more likely to play an instrument (not that stupid people don’t play instruments). Playing an instrument and learning how to read music can definitely improve someone’s intelligence and offer a mental challenge, but the effect is not going to be dramatic.

Playing lead guitar can lead to a career involving missile defense systems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Baxter

It might be that children who play classical music become more gifted, or it might be that those children who already have the self control, intelligence, and musical ability are the ones who successfully play musical instruments. While I think exposure to such things as music at an early age is wonderful, I do not think you need to worry too much about making your child a “gifted” person. Rather, see the child’s strengths, and support those. They could be music, or something else.

@Dr_Lawrence said it and that’s what I know to be true too. Unfortunately, he misspelled wired, but a lot people don’t know about being hard wired. (except in the world of drug usage and I don’t think the adjective hard is used there either, just wired.)

I wonder if it’s the other way round – that it may need a child who is already intelligent to be capable of learning music theory, reading music, and all the other quailties necessary for a classical musician.

I think @Dr_Lawrence made a good point, but I think many of us are also saying the child needs some sort of baseline IQ to take to the instrument. I believe we are born with a range for our IQ (barring anything very extreme in the environment) and then outside influences help bring out either the lowest of our range or the highest. So let’s say a child is born with a possibility of 120–135; maybe music gets me closer to the upper end. But, maybe our lower end of our range has to be a certain level to even be very interested in or able to comprehend music theory and even enjoy the complexity of the music? Also, I think there are many ways for the kid to get to the top of his range, not just music, but maybe music is one of the most accessible, and an easy way that children typically enjoy doing.

I heard about a gospel choir program for students in NYC. The children who partcipate do better in school, and also overcome some of the hardships their family circumstance has. But, just that the child goes out to the audition shows gumption. So it is in their personality to go out and do, to take a risk, to pursue their interests. Once in the choir it is a very positive influence.

One thing I forgot to ask above; I have always wondered if the people who first did these studies were the same ones very unhappy that the arts and particuarly music was being cut from school programs. If there was a large bias going into these studies.

I remember in middle school my band conductor walking into the band room just bursting with pride one day.

She said, “I don’t know if band makes kids smart, or if it’s just that smart kids join band, but 80% of the honor roll students this semester are sitting in this room right now!”

JLeslie has it exactly right: most instrument-studying kids have many other enrichment factors in their lives and there is no way to separate them out (there is no way to prove studying an instrument is inherently beneficial). However, it’s true that learning about music in any systematic way is great for helping learn/think about patterns, structure, form, and many other concepts that can help with both math and language skills.

To add on, I think supportive parents play a big role there.

Now, how many of those kids who play an instrument are told by their parents that they suck? I think it safe to say that there aren’t many.

It depends on the individual if he or she is just musically inclined or both musically inclined and intelligent. You will see other individuals who only love music – playing instruments, singing, composing, etc., but not necessarily an ‘Einstein’ in school.

Probably music can be a stimulating factor, like what the others have mentioned here. If done properly, well, it’s not impossible to have a musician and genius in the future.