Music makes you smarter: A new paradigm? Perceptions and perspectives from four groups of elementary education stakeholders

Abstract

Through 14 years of teaching music in the Greater Toronto Area, the “music makes you smarter” notion has imbued many of the conversations I have had with multiple stakeholders in public education. Such conversations have suggested that the ancillary benefits of teaching music have now become the principal reason why we teach music -- what I refer to as a new paradigm shift in music education. This study attempts to validate my own experiences through a sample size of 100 participants and a multiple methods approach to inquiry. Specifically, this study explores the perceptions and perspectives of the “music makes you smarter” notion by four groups of stakeholders in elementary education, namely; music teachers, students, parents, and non-music teachers. With a few exceptions, both quantitative and qualitative data have generated perceptions and perspectives that validate the “music makes you smarter” notion, suggesting that my own experiences of a paradigm shift within music education in the GTA were indeed authentic and valid. This paper ends with a discussion on the ramifications of this new paradigm shift and ultimately argues that the music itself should be the focus of music education.

Key words: Music Education, Paradigm Shift, Perceptions, Perspectives, & Mixed Methods