Musicians and the Multiple IntelligencesMusicians and the Multiple Intelligences

Educational Psychology, EDUC 322Educational Psychology, EDUC 322

Michael BartunekMichael Bartunek

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Introduction In todays American educational system, that is replete with budget cuts, music programs are frequently depleted and sometimes completely ousted. Since music helps to develop a variety of skills, tThe cutting of music programs is detrimental to students development since music helps to develop a variety of skills. Music presents diverse opportunities for students to discover more about themselves and develop interpersonal relationships;, skills that are essential to a persons learning capacity. Stripping schools of programs in music programs deprives students of such learningthese skills and can be harmful to their development in other areas of intelligence as well. Howard Gardner theorizes that people possess at least eight distinctly different sets of abilities, or multiple intelligences, that are relatively independent from each other (Napoleon, 2010). Gardner describes eight different areas of intelligence that include: linguistic, logicalmathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal (social), intrapersonal (self), and naturalist intelligences. Today, one concern involving these intelligences is that certain intelligences are assessed more than others and that some intelligences are not identified or acknowledged in students. Music is one intelligence that is often not assessed in schools. Research showing links between music and the developing of bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences helps to demonstrate that music is a worthwhile skill that deserves attention in schools. The Study In a research study conducted by Michael Bartunek at North Dakota State University between the dates of March 19th, 2011 and April 9th, 2011, thirty students were polled in an

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online survey comprised of fifty-six questions about each of the multiple intelligences. The exact set of questions can be found at: (http://literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html). These participating students consisted of college students who were studying music; their majors included music education, music performance, and general music. The participants answered questions that related directly to their abilities and interests in specific intelligences. Participants were instructed to answer each question with a number between one and five, one indicating very little interest or ability in the given intelligence and five reflecting a great amount of interest or ability in that intelligence. The survey did not explicitly state which intelligence was being addressed in each question to the participants or discuss Gardners theory before the completion of the survey. Upon completion of the survey, students received debriefing about what the results meant to them and they reported scores for each intelligence to the administrator of the research study. The scores were then calculated to determine average scores for each intelligence. Research Question The primary purpose of this study was to answer the following question: Do college students majoring in music have music as their highest intelligence? If the answer to this question was yes, the secondary goal of the research was to identify which intelligences other than music these music majors tend to excel in and which they tend to struggle in. Results After gathering the results of the surveys, it was concluded that on average, music is indeed the highest intelligence among college music majors with an average score of 4.69. Only six of the thirty students had an intelligence that scored greater than or equal to music. Some

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of the other intelligences that music majors tended to excel in include self, social, and bodilykinesthetic which had average scores of 3.72, 3.69, and 3.45 respectively. The intelligences that these students scored lower in included nature, linguistic, spatial, and logical-mathematical with scores of 3.36, 3.23, 3.14, and 2.82 respectively. An in depth spreadsheet of individual scores and a graph depicting the results is attached to this paper. Analyzing the Data These results listing musical, self, social, and bodily kinesthetic intelligences as the highest among students majoring in music can be explained partially due to the frequency and nature of musical experiences. It is logical that students majoring in music would excel in the intelligence of music; these students are constantly exposed to a variety of styles of music from an array of time periods. These students are enrolled in numerous classes with the goal of enhancing their overall musical intelligence. Students majoring in music also devote a considerable amount of time towards developing themselves as musicians through private practice, public performance, and group rehearsals. Students majoring in music spend a considerable amount of time self-reflecting about the music they are creating, improving ones own skills, and developing their own unique personal style. As a result, the interpersonal intelligence tends to be a very prominent intelligence in these students set of skills, second only to musical intelligence. In her book Choral Music Methods and Materials: Developing Successful Choral Programs (Grades 5 to 12), Barbara A. Brinson states, Because all art may be perceived as a symbol of life, participation in the arts may help us to understand ourselves, understand life, and help us cope more easily with lifes demands (Brinson, 1996).

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The frequency and plethora of social experiences involved in making music can help to explain why these students tend to excel in the interpersonal intelligence. These students are constantly exposed to social interactions in many different scenarios. For example, musicians often participate in small ensembles, large ensembles, private lessons, and public performance for an audience, all of which involve a great deal of interpersonal interaction. These experiences can also help to develop responsibility, cooperation, dependability, and punctuality, skills that are beneficial to ones personal relationships (Brinson, 1996). The success of these students in the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence can be attributed to the constant use of the body in musical activities. Whether a musician is playing an instrument, singing, dancing, or conducting, he or she is using his or her body in doing so. As a result of this frequent use of the body, these students majoring in music tend to excel in the area of bodilykinesthetic intelligence. Implications of the Study This research involving the multiple intelligences of students pursuing college degrees in music can relate directly to the field of education. Something that this study can bring to the attention of educators is the fact that students who tend not to score high in areas such as mathematics and English can excel in other areas. Educators must consider this rather than relying on standardized tests that often only address English and math skills to gauge students intelligences. If a teacher can identify areas in which different students are intelligent, he or she can use this knowledge to educate students better. Having this knowledge can help a teacher identify how certain students learn and will allow the teacher to create lessons and strategize on how to cater to certain students needs. Giving this personal attention to all

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students will take time and pose challenges for teachers, but pays off when teaching a diverse group of students. The information obtained in this study can also help to benefit music educators in high school and college programs. With the frequent cutting of funding to the arts in todays at all levels of schooling, music educators are constantly searching for ways to justify the importance of music and the importance of their programs to students. In addition to using components of previous studies that link participation in music to success in other subjects in school, music educators can utilize the findings of this study to defend the importance of music education with the argument that music helps to develop the interpersonal, intrapersonal, and bodilykinesthetic intelligences. Because these intelligences are crucial to the development of a person, music educators can use the results from this study and argue that music has a profound impact on students. Further Considerations Though this research study was effective in answering the research questions, some changes and additions could be made to increase its accuracy and to expand the findings. One way that the research study could be improved is by making adjustments to the questions on the survey. Some of the questions on the survey are worded in ways that may not accurately describe the participants abilities in the intelligence. For example, one question inquires if the participant enjoys thinking about number issues and examining statistics. It is quite possible for a person to be completely proficient in the area of mathematics but not enjoy thinking about number issues and examining statistics on a regular basis. Adjusting questions such as this can

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help to create a more accurate survey that will better reflect the multiple intelligences of the participants. Another way to enhance the quality of the research would be to conduct further research involving music and the multiple intelligences. Conducting research on people of different ages who are involved in music starting with beginning elementary students, through high school, and up to college professors could provide clear evidence of how involvement in music affects the multiple intelligences. After gathering data from a study such as this, one could identify trends and statistics that show how involvement in music affects peoples intelligences. Another research study that would be very informative would be a study that involves participants of a variety of ages who are involved in music and participants of the same ages who are not involved in music. A study such as this would identify trends that exist in these two groups of people and could explain how music affects the multiple intelligences. Conclusion This research study has shown that college students majoring in music tend to possess a primary intelligence of music. On average, these students also excel in the self, social, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences; this can be explained due to the nature of musical experiences. Using these facts in relation to education, one can determine that teachers must assess all of the multiple intelligences to identify how their students are intelligent, because standardized tests often focus only on the language and mathematical intelligences. One can also use the data from this study to argue the importance of music; the fact that students who have put forth a great deal of time and effort in music excel in the intelligences of self, social, and bodily-

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kinesthetic helps to support the argument that music is beneficial to the development of a person and is a worthwhile subject that deserves attention in schools.

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References Brinson, Barbara A. (1996). Choral Music Methods and Materials: Developing Successful Choral Programs (Grades 5 to 12). Boston: Schirmer, Cengage Learning. Napoleon, Larry (2010). Pearson Custom Education. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions.

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