Does Learning Music Make Children More Successful in School?

• Learning music can help children do better in school by strengthening skills that support learning rather than by directly raising grades.
• Research links music study with gains in areas like focus, self-control, working memory, and even some academic outcomes, especially in language and math-related learning.
• The best takeaway is that music helps children build habits for school success over time, including persistence, organization, confidence, and follow-through.

Can Learning Music Help Children Do Better in School?

Yes, learning music can help kids perform better in school, but not in the way people sometimes assume.

Music doesn’t automatically make a child a top student or guarantee better grades. What it can do is help build the kinds of skills that support school success over time. These include focus, memory, persistence, listening, self-control, and the ability to keep working through something challenging.

That is one reason music and academic success are so often linked. A child who studies music regularly is practicing much more than notes and rhythm. They are also practicing attention, patience, routine, and delayed gratification, which are all useful in the classroom.

So, music is not a shortcut to school success, but it can be a strong tool that helps children build the habits and learning skills that make success more likely.

What the Research Says About Music and Academic Success?

Research supports the idea that music training may help strengthen some of the mental skills that support learning in school, especially focus, self-control, planning, and working memory. Those are the skills children use when they follow directions, stay on task, manage frustration, and keep working through something difficult.

Music May Help Build Focus and Self-Control

A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis found that preschool children in music training groups showed significant improvements in inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility compared with control groups.

A longer-term 2018 study points in a similar direction. Researchers followed primary school children for two and a half years and found that the music groups improved more than the controls on inhibition, planning, and verbal intelligence over time. 

More specifically, the longitudinal study suggests that music may help children in school indirectly. The children in the music groups improved more over time in inhibition and planning, and those gains may have helped support stronger academic outcomes later on.

Some Research Links Music Lessons With Better School Performance

When researchers look at actual school outcomes, the results are encouraging, but they aren’t as broad as headlines sometimes make them sound.

A 2014 longitudinal study followed 250 elementary school students over multiple semesters and found that children with music training showed stronger development in second language learning than children without formal music training. That result suggests the benefit may show up in real academic performance over time, not just in isolated cognitive tasks.

Math Is One of the Clearest Areas Where Music May Help

Math is one of the academic areas where the research looks especially encouraging. A 2024 meta-analysis that combined 23 studies found a significant positive impact of music integration on mathematical learning. In other words, when music was meaningfully built into math instruction, students tended to perform better than those in non-music comparison settings.

That doesn’t mean any kind of music automatically boosts math scores. The same meta-analysis found that the effect depended on factors like how music was used, the grade level, and the type of music involved.

The Research Is Promising, but Not All Experts Agree

A 2020 multilevel meta-analysis suggested that once study quality was taken into account, the overall effect of music training on children’s cognitive and academic outcomes was much lower, especially in studies that used random assignment or active control groups.

There is also the question of selection bias. 

In a nationwide analysis of U.S. students, researcher Kenneth Elpus found that music students didn’t outperform non-music students on the SAT once differences like demographics, prior achievement, time use, and attitudes toward school were statistically controlled. That matters because it suggests that part of the music-and-achievement connection may come from who chooses music in the first place, not just from music training itself.

How Music May Help Children Succeed in School

Beyond test scores and study findings, music can support school success in everyday, practical ways. A lot of the benefit shows up in how children approach learning, challenges, and participation over time.

• It improves follow-through. Music teaches kids to come back, refine, and finish what they start.
• It supports organization. Students learn to break big pieces into smaller steps and work through them in order.
• It builds comfort with feedback. Music helps children get used to correction, adjust, and improve without shutting down.
• It grows presentation confidence. Performing and sharing progress can make kids more comfortable speaking up in class.
• It strengthens collaboration. Group music lessons teach children to listen, respond, and contribute as part of a team.
• It makes progress visible. Kids can hear and feel improvement, which can boost motivation in other areas of school, too.

Why Many High-Performing Students Also Study Music

This connection is real, but it is probably not one simple cause-and-effect story.

Part of it may be that music helps children build useful school-related skills over time. But part of it may also be that the students who stick with music often already have support systems that help them do well in school. They may come from families that value routines, enrichment, consistency, and long-term growth.

That’s why researchers are careful here. When music students seem to perform better academically, some of that difference may come from the lessons themselves, and some may come from the fact that these students were already in environments that supported achievement.

This is a lot like the idea that piano players have higher IQs. There may be a connection, but it’s not always a simple cause-and-effect story.

So, the most realistic answer is that music may help strengthen habits that support success, and high-performing students may also be more likely to choose music and stay with it. 

Music Builds More Than Musical Skill

Learning music does not guarantee straight A’s or instantly turn a child into a top student. But it can help children build many of the habits and skills that support success in school over time, including focus, follow-through, confidence, organization, and persistence.

At San Ramon Academy of Music, our private music lessons are designed to support that kind of growth. We help students build strong musical foundations while also developing confidence, discipline, and a love of learning that can benefit them in school and in life.

If you want to give your child a meaningful activity that supports both musical and personal growth, private lessons are a great place to start. Book a private music lesson and help your child build skills that last far beyond the classroom.