There has long been a widespread belief that people who are talented in music are also talented in mathematics and reading. Scientists have confirmed this in several studies.
Music educator Martin Burgey from the USA never trusted this theory. He believed that background factors such as social class or race of the participants influenced the research results. For example, if a child in music does well in mathematics, this means, first of all, that he has access to quality education and enough time to study.
Burgey has done research hoping to debunk the “myth.” To his amazement, he only proved that the connection between talents for music, mathematics and reading is even stronger than it seems.
His work, published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, reaches over 1,000 middle school students based on race, social class, and other factors. As it turns out, the ability for music, math and reading are indeed linked, regardless of social conditions and other factors.
Burgey and his co-author Kevin Weingarten of the University of Washington suggested that the ability to distinguish between pitch, intervals, and meters has a common cognitive basis with the ability to distinguish between speech. Modality and tone in music can draw on the same neurological features as mathematical cognition.
Thus, if you develop a child’s mind as a whole, the researchers say, he will be talented in specific areas. This could change the perception that modular learning in schools is better than universal learning.