Music education beneficial to children, says FIU study

Gabriella Pinos/Assistant Entertainment Director

From learning new instruments to increasing confidence, a study by the FIU Community Based Research Institute shows that music education is beneficial to students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Project Testing Resilience in an Ensemble-Based Learning Environment, or Project TREBLE, is a longitudinal study of the Miami Music Project, a nonprofit organization that brings social development and change to Miami’s under-resourced communities through music. Their children’s orchestra afterschool program uses ensemble-based teaching and intensive training to educate children through music.

“Our aim is to develop participating members of society to develop future leaders of our community,” said Anna Klimala, executive director of the Miami Music Project.

Students meet with Miami Music Project instructors every day afterschool to learn and play instruments for a minimum of two hours. While the orchestra is the centerpiece of Miami Music Project’s afterschool program, students also play in sectionals, sing in a choir, have one-on-one training with teachers and receive snacks and homework help.

For three years, Project TREBLE, led by Associate Director of FIU CBRI Michelle Hospital, followed and interviewed students ages 8 to 17, along with their parents, in three different chapters of the Miami Music Project. The study gathered data based off the five Cs of positive youth development: competence, confidence, caring, character and connection.

The results not only show an increase in these skills, but a positive effect on the social-emotional aspects of students’ lives.

“As a developmental psychologist and from the findings that we’re seeing and some of the stuff that we haven’t published yet, we’re not only seeing increases in positive [behavior], but we’re also seeing from the data decreases in impulsive behavior and anxiety,” said Hospital, who is a musician herself.

Project TREBLE also revealed an increase in positive youth development in under-resourced communities across different chapters. Hospital said the finding shows the benefits music education has on alleviating the struggle some of Miami Music Project’s students endure.

“…if we can help strengthen their [the students’] assets and give them more confidence and give them a feeling of connection and role modeling and leadership skills, social-emotional skills like that, then that can help them compensate for all of those other challenges that they deal with on a daily basis,” said Hospital.

For Eva Wales, community research coordinator for CBRI and coordinator for Project TREBLE, getting involved in these communities as a musician herself is exciting.

“I love working in the communities as well, and so the chance to work with the students was really amazing for me being able to go into these under-resourced communities like Little Haiti, Little Havana and Liberty City and work with the kids and get to know them over the course of the year,” said Wales.

The effect Miami Music Project had on these students was also visible through the concerts and events the organization held for these students, according to Hospital.

“I made a point to go and see as many concerts as we could, and these kids would light up when they’d be on stage and their parents would come by after and bring them flowers and they would get awards from the Miami Music Project and things like that,” said Hospital.

Through the program and the results of the study, Klimala hopes students see that music education, and music in general, is more than just a creative outlet for children.

“Music education should not just be an extracurricular activity for kids, but it needs to be a core component of every curriculum in every school, because the skill development that the study talks about and the importance of those skills in the kids’ future careers and future life, no matter what they choose to do, is so significant…” said Klimala.

For more information on FIU CBRI, visit cbri.fiu.edu/.

Featured photo courtesy of Stephanie Hernandez.