If you didn’t think that music and mathematics can be related, think again!
Nowadays, it’s normal to see students listening to study music during their study sessions. There have been enough studies to support the benefits of listening to music while studying that parents know to leave them to it.
For instance, the Mozart effect explains how listening to the right music can help children study better. The key is that students need to find music that can best help them into paying attention.
Music can also improve mental health and cognitive function skills. Studies show that students who play musical instruments are often more likely to receive higher math scores
While it’s useful to know that music is helpful in learning math, don’t you wonder how that came to be?
In this article, we’ll break down 3 elements that music and math have in common, some most people don’t even know about!
By learning these facts, parents can help their children learn math and music better!
1. Music and math have similar patterns
If you’re a music lover, then you may have noticed that music involves several patterns.
Let’s start with the obvious pattern: the music structure.
Music and songs each have at least a chorus and an intro. When you’ve listened to enough songs, you’ll begin to recognise and guess which pattern the song will follow.
There’s also another pattern – rhythm and beats!
Each piece of music is different, but they generally come from the same origin of rhythm and beats. Have you ever felt that one song is similar to another? Then, you just realised the pattern of rhythm and beats are identical!
Similar to music, there’s also various patterns involved in math.
No matter what level you’re learning, you’re bound to encounter the same math concepts or symbols and even utilise some basic math formulas.
Recognising these musical patterns greatly benefits students’ cognitive skills into noticing the patterns involved in learning math.
If students familiarise themselves with musical and mathematical patterns, they will be more proficient in problem solving!
2. Playing music also involves some math!
Have you noticed that there are always numbers in the corner of music sheets? Have you noticed that there’s a pattern involved in musical scales?
You may be surprised to know this, but there’s a bit of math involved in playing all types of music – literally!
For example, math is involved in the beats of the music.
Musical beats are determined using numbers and fractions up to the number 4, such as ¼ or ¾. These numbers represent the music’s pace or time signature, which also helps musicians keep track of how fast or slow they are playing.
When musicians play music, they start off by counting the beat in their heads. For example, if the music has a ¾ beat, that means that they need to count to three for each beat.
A quarter note (¼) counts as one beat, whereas four quarter notes (4/4) counts as one note. Pretty similar to the patterns in fraction, don’t you think?
Being familiar with how fractions work in math allows musical students to play more smoothly and seamlessly.
The reverse also applies, as learning the value of each fraction will help students solve math problems easier!
3. Music and math have similar visual shapes
Have you noticed that there are certain shapes that always come up in music? Some are shaped like a circle, while others are more unique.
Well, those shapes are known as musical notes!
Musical notes are visual representations of the beats within each piece of music. Every time a musician plays music, they use the musical notes in the music sheet to guide them on the rhythms and melodies.
By becoming familiar with each musical note and its meaning, musicians are able to play music with amazing speed through quick hand-eye coordination.
Being able to recognise shapes quickly and sharply also helps in improving students’ spatial awareness and reading comprehension!
As you can imagine, there are also numerous shapes involved in math problems. And as students progress further in primary school, they will face more complex math shapes and word problems.
Having the spatial temporal to recognise shapes can help them visualise and solve math problems!
Learn math while listening to music with Practicle!
Music and math are more similar than you think, and the benefits of learning each of them can help your child in another!
Of course, we’re not saying that your child should strive to be a musician. They don’t need to dedicate themselves to reaching that high of a goal.
In this case, listening to music often can already give them a big advantage in learning math while at school. The benefits listed earlier can easily help them tackle math in various difficulty levels.
If you want your child to be more familiar with math without solely relying on music, you can have them revise using Practicle’s math learning game!
Our game is designed to help primary school students learn math at their own pace and in a fun way. We offer personalised math questions through fun gaming features, such as daily quests and prized challenges!
You can consider trying out our 7-day free trial to experience the real deal!