GIA Publications

Music and Intelligence in the Early Years

by John M. Feierabend, Ph.D.

The Hartt School

University of Hartford

From Early Childhood Connections, Spring 1995

What a child has heard in his first six years of life cannot be eradicated
later. Thus it is too late to begin teaching at school, because a child stores
a mass of musical impressions before school age, and if what is bad
predominates, then his fate, as far as music is concerned, has been
sealed for a lifetime.1

Zoltan Kodály delivered these wise words during a speech on Children's Day in 1951. He
spoke many times about the importance of influencing the musical spirit in young people
through the introduction of quality musical literature. He was equally concerned that, in
addition to quality literature, children experience teachers who demonstrate excellent
personal musicianship and provide effective and efficient pedagogy, especially during
the earliest years of life.

Kodály's strong philosophical convictions have more recently been supported by

empirical research that has revealed insights about the psychological development of
musical thinking. As research continues to clarify the learning process, philosophical
concerns about the importance of music to human development also gain support.

The necessity of music in human intellectual development has been discussed as far
back as ancient Greece, in the 6th century B.C. In Plato's Book of Laws II, a discussion
is presented between an Athenian student and his teacher, Clinias, that describes the
ancient Greek views on the importance of music education.

Athenian: So, by the uneducated man we shall mean one who has no choric training;
and by an educated man whose choric training has been thorough.

Clinias: Exactly.

Athenian: And, mark you., the choric art as a whole embraces both dance
and song.

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Clinias: No doubt.

Athenian: Thus it follows that a well-educated man can both sing well and
dance well.

Clinias: So it would seem.2

This perception of the educated man is derived from a paradigm often referred to as
"The Greek Triangle." The three primary areas of development which the Greeks
believed resulted in a well-educated person included math for the development of a
healthy brain, physical education for the development of a healthy body, and music for
the development of a healthy sensitivity.

This multi-dimensional model of the educated person would serve well today. Often the
primary emphasis in contemporary education concerns the development of a mind which
focuses on the "basics" of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Even physical development
continues to receive a good amount of attention in the natural course of daily play and in
the abundance of opportunities for children to participate in sports. Music, however,
appearsto be occurring less frequently in the daily lives of families. Music teachers strive
to provide effective musical influence, even though there continues to be ever
decreasing time allocated to music enrichment. An educational framework that
emphasizes mental and physical development while neglecting the musical development
of a culture will promote the development of a two dimensional society rather than the
three dimensional model proposed by Plato. And as Kodály said, "There is no complete
man without music."3

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

In recent years, the concept of intelligence as multi-dimensional has been promoted by

Harvard professor of neurophysiology, Howard Gardner. His landmark book Frames of
Mind presents a theory of multiple intelligences (MI Theory) formulated from a review of
many years of research.4

In that book, Gardner suggests that people do not possess various degrees of one
general intelligence but that each individual possesses a portfolio of various
intelligences, some greater than others. Through an extensive examination of
intelligence-based research, Gardner discovered certain intellectual attributes that
appear to function independently of other intellectual attributes. It was from this research
that he consequently formulated a theory of seven separate intelligences.

LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE

Linguistic intelligence is used to develop language skills. Reading and writing skills
develop easily for some, while others struggle to organize their verbal thinking enough to

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complete a simple essay. Those who excel in linguistic intelligence do well in careers
such as journalism, editing, public speaking, acquisition of foreign languages, etc.

LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCE

This intelligence manifests itself in solving mathematical or logic problems. Individuals

who excel in this intelligence are natural candidates as accountants, meeting planners,
etc.

Even comparing these two intelligences in ourselves, we are likely to discover strong
inclinations toward one or the other mode of thinking. Most universities are interested in
the development of these two intelligences when considering a student for admission.
Most collegebound students in the United States will take the Scholastic Aptitude Test
(SAT) to assist universities in determining their strengths and weaknesses in math and
verbal skills. Rarely does a student score equally on the. math and verbal portions of the
SAT. Most discover either that their mathematical intelligence or linguistic intelligence is
more developed. But why stop here? Gardner suggests that there are five other
intelligences equally demanding of development and deserving of assessment.

SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

This intelligence provides individuals with the ability both to visualize their surroundings
and locate themselves in those surroundings. Some individuals are able, with a few
scribbles of a pencil, to create a remarkable likeness of objects they see. Some have an
uncanny ability to "know where they are" even in relatively unfamiliar surroundings.
Those with a high spatial intelligence can find their way and "sense" direction. Those
who excel in this intelligence do well as visual artists or navigators. Those who do poorly
at remembering where they parked their car or in finding a seldomly visited relative's
home are not unintelligent; however, their spatial intelligence may not be their most
developed capability.

MUSIC INTELLIGENCE

Gardner suggests music intelligence-like the other intelligences-is a separate

intelligence, equally deserving of development. This is of primary importance to us as
music educators. That it is considered a separate intelligence supports the idea that
music education is deserving of instructional time-not because of music's benefits to the
other intelligences but rather because of its development as a unique intelligence. Those
who excel in music intelligence may or may not seek or receive formal music instruction.
Rather, individuals with high music intelligence "think music" with greater clarity and are
affected more deeply by music, in an aesthetic sense, than those with less music
intelligence.

BODILY-KINESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE

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This intelligence enables an individual to be aware of his/her body as it exists in its own
personal space as well as how it functions in general space. Gymnastics, ballet, and
basketball are a few areas where persons with high bodily-kinesthetic intelligence might
excel. Again, the relationship between this and other intelligences is mostly coincidental.
Having worked with ballet students for a number of years, I have reflected with
amazement how so me dancers could demonstrate such physical co-ordination and yet
display very little evidence of the rhythmic or expressive elements simultaneously
occurring in the music.

INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE

High interpersonal intelligence shows itself in persons who are comfortable dealing with
a wide range of personalities. One would hope ministers, counselors, and especially
teachers would possess higher than average interpersonal intelligence. Some teachers
may be comfortable with a diverse set of personalities in their classrooms. Others find
they feel comfortable with only a narrow range of personality types and may even find
some student personalities irritating. Persons gifted with a high intelligence in this area
are especially effective as mediators and occasionally find themselves in leadership
roles, even while such persons may fall short in some of the other areas of intelligence.

INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE

The ability to look inward and see one's self in the way others see us is evidence of high
intrapersonal intelligence. Poets and philosophers often have higher than average
intrapersonal skills. Individuals who have difficulty understanding that they exhibit
unacceptable behaviors would benefit from nurturing their intrapersonal intelligence.

Not one of these intelligences is any less valuable than the others. Some schools
interested in exploring the possibilities of this multiple intelligence theory have worked
toward developing curricula that include all seven intelligences. The Key School in
Indianapolis was a pioneer in exploring the possibilities of this approach. Many other
schools in the United States are beginning to explore this concept in designing
curricula.5 At the University of Hartford, construction has begun on a school that will be
based on Gardner's model. Each day all of the children in this school will receive
instruction in each of the seven intelligence areas, with additional opportunities for each
student to pursue his/her more developed intelligence(s).

Most schools spend much of the school day developing reading, writing, and arithmetic
skills, providing adequate nurturing in two of the intelligence areas. Still, the other five
intelligence areas remain relatively neglected. Such schools might benefit greatly by an
enhanced arts curriculum that would provide opportunities for developing spatial
intelligence through visual arts, music intelligence through active music making with the
body and voice, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence through dance, and interpersonal and
intrapersonal intelligences through participation in creative dramatics and role playing.

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The lack of concern for developing all intelligence areas is further evident in gifted and
talented programs supported by many schools in the United States. Usually a child must
excel in either logical-mathematical or linguistic intelligence to be included in such
programs. What about those students who excel in one or more of the other five
intelligences? Are they any less gifted or talented? These students are equally deserving
to receive challenges relevant to their greater intelligence(s) as well as to receive the
best possible nurturing of all of their intelligences, including music.

DEVELOPMENT OF
THE INTELLIGENCES

Why does this variability in intelligences exist? Both nature and nurture play significant
roles. Nature provides us with varying potentials in the different intelligences, each
person with his/her individual portfolio of greater and lesser intelligences. How each
intelligence is nurtured during the first years of life will also affect how that intelligence
develops within its given possibilities.

For each intelligence to function, a network of neurological fibers must develop which will
allow for the processing of specific types of thinking. That network consists of cells, fiber-
like extensions from those cells called axons, and still more fibrous extensions from the
ends of the axons called dendrites. Each set of dendrites will need to grow close enough
to another set of dendrites to allow the electrical impulses of thought to leap from one set
of dendrites to another set of dendrites through electrically conducive fluid. These areas
of dendritic associations are known as synaptic connections. (see Figure 1).

And when do we produce the greatest density of dendrites and synaptic connections in
our neurological network (see Figure 2) Gardner relates:

• ...human beings the density of synapses increases sharply during the first
months of life, reaches a maximum at the ages of one to two (roughly 50%
above the adult mean density), declines between the ages of two and
sixteen, and remains relatively constant until the age of seventy-two.6

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And why do we lose some of these connections? Again Gardner states:

Initially, the nervous system produces a great excess of neuronal fibers; a

significant portion of the development process involves the pruning, or
atrophying of the excessive connections which do not appear [italics
added] to be necessary...

It is a clear example of "use it or lose it." Let us relate the growing of minds to a
vegetable farm which begins with the purchase of seeds to grow seven types of
vegetables. Each packet of seeds is acquired from different stores of varying reputation.
Some seeds will be of better quality than others. Now let us plant the seeds and nurture
them all to the best of our ability. Seeds that begin with greater potential will produce a
greater harvest, while those with less potential will not produce as fine a crop. Because
of their disparity in quality, the ultimate capacity for these seeds is varied from the
beginning. Even though we provide the best nurturing to all the seeds, some plants will
naturally do better and some worse-in spite of our efforts. This analogy may explain how
our intelligences begin with varying degrees of promise.

Now let us take one of the packets of seeds and nurture those seeds in varying
conditions. Those that receive the best of conditions (good soil, good light, and adequate
nutrition) later display their full potential. Other seeds which receive less than optimum
nurturing do not do as well. Occasionally there will be exceptions. A bird may eat some
of the seeds and later drop them in a field where they may receive only random nurturing

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from the environment. Still, a fine crop may be produced. This is similar to how nature
affects the development of our minds. Those individuals who are fortunate to receive
optimal nurturing in each of the seven intelligences will have the best opportunities to
develop each intelligence to its full potential. While most who receive less than adequate
nurturing will not develop to their potential, some left to their own development may
prosper in spite of only random nurturing.

NURTURING THE MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE

In her book Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can do About
It, Jane Healy supports the importance of nurturing the developing neurological network
during the early years of life.

The strength and efficiency of synaptic connections determine the speed and power with
which your brain functions. The most important news about synapses is that they are
formed, strengthened, and maintained by interaction with experience.8

As we learn to use our minds, we process information through certain conditioning. If, for
example, we learn music as a logical/mathematical exercise-such as learning to play an
instrument through reading, decoding the relationships of symbols, and hence using the
instrument to hear music-we establish pathways that will understand music only from this
intellectual framework. If, however, the musical mind is engaged in early stimulation
through such activities as hearing and responding to music through singing and
movement and playing by ear, then we stimulate music intelligence. Stimulating music
intelligence appropriately from the earliest experiences is necessary if the pathways are
to be built to understand musical phenomena from a musical perspective. An individual
who can read a piano score with few errors but cannot express music by ear on the
keyboard has learned to use his/her logical/mathematical intelligence rather than his/her
music intelligence to understand musical phenomena.

Learning music as a set of facts such as Bach was born in 1685; the lines of the treble
clef spell Every Good Boy Does Fine, there are four families of instruments-brass,
woodwind, percussion and strings, or there are two sharps in the key of D are examples
of learning "about" music through one's linguistic intelligence. Although such kinds of
information are important to know, they are not a substitute for genuinely musical
thinking. To develop music intelligence, one must develop neuronal pathways for
musical thinking early in life. Then, later learning "about" music will more likely take on
"real" musical meaning.

Once the pathways for understanding any phenomenon are established, it is difficult to
reshape the mind to perceive that same phenomenon from a different perspective. One
might infer that persons who have developed a repertoire of songs and who move
comfortably with music have a better chance of learning to engage their ears in learning
to read music or to play a musical instrument. In this regard, learning an instrument first
by ear and later by reading notation would be more likely to develop both skills

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successfully. Individuals who learn to play an instrument through reading notation-

without appropriate musical readiness skills such as singing and moving with music-
engage only their logical/mathematical intelligence and would most likely have later
difficulty learning to play by ear. Healy states:

It is much more difficult to reorganize a brain than it is to organize it in the

first place. Organization inhibits reorganization. Carving out neuronal
tracks for certain types of learning is best accomplished when the
synapses for that particular skill are malleable, before they "firm up"
around certain types of responses.

Describing exactly what music intelligence is and determining how to measure it have
been debated for over a century. Most recently, Edwin Gordon has suggested that music
intelligence is determined by one's ability to "think" music, or in his words to "audiate"
music.10 The better one is in hearing and creating music inside one's head, the better
developed is one's potential to succeed in real musical understanding and appreciation.
Over the last 30 years Gordon has developed music aptitude tests which ask individuals
to listen to pairs of musical examples and determine if they are the same or different. In
order to make the comparison, one must be able to retain the first musical example in
one's head while the second example is performed. Differences in some of the test items
are obvious while other differences are more subtle. By repeatedly administering his
tests to students over their years of schooling, Gordon has been able to discover the
effects of musical stimulation, and the lack thereof, on the development of the musical
mind.

In one of Gordon's studies, children were administered music aptitude tests every year
from age 5 to age 9. In schools where there was little or no music in the curriculum,
student scores declined dramatically between age 5 and 6, declined somewhat less
between age 6 and 7, and declined slightly between age 7 and 8 and 9. Students were
clearly losing their ability to retain music in their heads because of musical deprivation.11

Students were also studied repeatedly from age 9 to age 18, this time with very different
results. Music aptitude scores remained unchanged regardless of music instruction.
Students who studied musical instruments, sang in choirs, and/or pursued additional
musical experiences retained music in their heads no better at age 18 than at age 9.
Other students who received no music education during the same period also had no
change in their music aptitude scores. This does not mean that students who scored
poorly could not learn music and increase their musical abilities, only that the ease and
clarity with which they were able to acquire musical skills and comprehend music
seemed determined by age 9.

Music potential and the development of that potential may parallel the development of an
ability to perceive colors. One may see colors with the same intensity in adult life as at
age 9. After age 9, one can still visually learn how to appreciate art and do artwork, but
one will probably perceive colors in adulthood in much the same manner as at age 9.

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In another study, Gordon administered music aptitude tests to students from age 5 to 9
in schools where music instruction began at age 7. Once again, scores declined
dramatically between age 5 and 6, and declined somewhat less between age 6 and 7.
Then, because of the music instruction that was introduced at age 7, scores went up
slightly between the ages of 7 and 8 and 9. Still, because of the greater changes in the
early years and the nominal changes in the later years, average scores were significantly
lower at age 9 than they were at age 5.

Students were also studied in schools that provided an excellent music program
beginning at age 5. In those schools, test scores went up dramatically from age 5 to 6,
up somewhat less from age 6 to 7, and up slightly from age 7 to 8 to 9. From this
research we can conclude that the most significant effect of music stimulation on musical
development appears to be in the first years of schooling. Nevertheless, this does not
mean all music programs will develop music intelligence. The type of music instruction is
critical. In schools where children learned "about" music instead of "doing" music,
average scores declined as if they had had no music at all. Learning "about" music uses
logical/ mathematical and/or linguistic intelligences, while singing and moving with music
use and develop music intelligence.

EARLY MUSICAL STIMULATION

Although these studies began assessing children at age 5, it is probable that the decline
of music intelligence begins prior to age 5. Knowing that synaptic connections are at
their peak production at age 2, that nurturing stimulates synaptic growth in the early
years, and that the brain organizes in ways that inhibit later reorganization, we must
recognize that music stimulation should begin immediately at birth in order to preserve
music intelligence. Because of musical neglect in the early years, most children of school
age in the United States are essentially musically retarded. Considering the short time
allocated for music instruction, music teachers must do their best to remediate and
develop neuronal pathways in brains where the neuronal network has already been fairly
well organized.

Many European countries begin kindergarten as a three year program for children aged
3 to 5. The style of their curriculum emphasizes learning through doing and interacting
with peers and is one of exploration and stimulation without formal understanding. While
many kindergarten classes for 5 year-old children in the United States have similar
goals, there are many advantages to developing the minds of 3 and 4 year-old children
by placing them in the hands of informed educators during this critical time when the
brain is organizing for a lifetime of thinking. This three-year kindergarten model should
be considered and adopted for children in the United States. Almost 55 years ago,
Kodály presented strong statements about the importance of musical influences and
group experiences during this critical age.

Parents seldom take any particular care over the development of the
musical sense in a child, and even the most careful and well-endowed

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parent cannot provide the group music making of the classroom which is
so valuable in the initial stages of music development. Moreover, the
majority of children are not given the chance to keep their natural healthy
sense of music busy and for want of development this instinct becomes
torpid.12

For decades music education in Hungary has provided an ideal model for the
development of the musical mind in the critical years from age 3 to 5. These young
students are musically nurtured through children's songs and games. Children assimilate
musical skills from well-trained kindergarten teachers who have themselves been raised
in an exemplary music education system and have been required to study music
throughout their university training. By contrast, some universities in the United States
may offer one course in music for future kindergarten teachers while many other
universities offer none. Many kindergarten teachers lack the personal musical
development to offer a musically excellent model for their young learners. The United
States would do well to look to this European model and provide more thorough training
to kindergarten teachers, who will have such a critical influence on our young people.
Since so little is being done to prepare the musicianship of kindergarten teachers,
administrators and regulators of our educational systems should require that music
specialists be employed to provide musical influence in both kindergarten and preschool
programs. In the meantime, elementary music specialists should consider offering music
classes for parents with preschool children. Many public school music teachers who give
instrumental lessons one or two evenings a week might consider allocating some of that
teaching time to music classes for parents with preschool children. Such lessons would
have an important long-term effect on the musical development of those children.

Kindergarten music may be one of the first programs to be eliminated as budget cuts
continue to trim music education programs. Given the research findings presented
above, informed administrators should look for financial savings elsewhere in the music
program, perhaps upper elementary school. In sixth grade you can teach another song
or develop another social/musical insight, but in kindergarten you can change children's
lives!

In summary, too much information is now available to continue to neglect the overall
growth of our future citizens. All seven intelligences deserve to be developed. Early
intervention is essential if we are going to preserve mental functions and develop
neuronal pathways to optimize the use of all of our intelligences. Musical influence
through "doing music" in the early years will have the greatest impact on the
development of music intelligence and future musical understanding. In good
conscience, we must do more to nurture our future citizens with the insights gained from
research of the recent past.

ENDNOTES

1. Helga Szabó, The Kodály Concept of Music Education. Booklet accompanying

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Record Numbers SBHED 0001-0003. (London: Boosey and Hawkes, 1969).

2. Plato, Book of Laws II.
3. Zoltan Kodály, lecture, December 3, 1940, "Music in the
Kindergarten." (Reprinted in The Selected Writings of Zoltan Kodály, pp. 127-151,
London: Boosey and Hawkes, 1974)
4. Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind, (New York: Basic Books, 1983).
5. Howard Gardner, The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (New York: Basic Books,
1993).
6. Gardner, Frames of Mind, 44-45.
7. Gardner, Frames of Mind, 43.
8. Jane M. Healy, Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think and What We Can
do About It (New York: Touchstone, 1990) 52.
9. Healy, 53.
10. Edwin Gordon, Learning Sequences in Music: Skill, Content, and Patterns
(Chicago: G.I.A., 1990).
11. Edwin Gordon, The Nature, Description, Measurement and Evaluation of Music
Aptitude (Chicago: G.I.A., 1987).
12. Kodály, 1941.

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