By integrating music into math lessons, educators have discovered a powerful technique for enhancing children’s skills. One common approach involves rhythmic clapping to songs, learning numbers, and equating fractions to musical notes. This harmonious blend of music and math captivates students and facilitates understanding of mathematical concepts.

The new analysis, featured in the journal Educational Studies, examined 55 studies involving nearly 78,000 students ranging from kindergarten to university age. Three types of musical interventions were analyzed – traditional music lessons encompassing singing, listening, and composition; instrumental training individually or as part of a band; and music-math integrated interventions, where music was seamlessly incorporated into the lessons.

Students who participated in music interventions demonstrated improvements in their mathematical abilities. However, the most notable progress was observed in students who experienced integrated lessons, with approximately 73% outperforming their peers with no musical intervention. 69% of students engaged in instrumental training, and 58% of those who had traditional music lessons also exhibited improvement compared to the others.

The study unveiled the connection between music and math, highlighting their shared attributes, such as symbol usage, symmetry, abstract thinking, and quantitative reasoning. The unique similarity positions music as an ideal tool for teaching arithmetic, as fundamental mathematical concepts like fractions and ratios are also essential to music.

The integration of music into lessons enables students to establish connections between the two subjects and provides additional opportunities for exploration, interpretation, and comprehension of mathematical concepts. The study suggests collaborative planning between math and music teachers could have even more positive outcomes, alleviating students’ math anxiety.

Just a few days ago, Prince Harry took part in a live-stream conversation. Penguin Randon House productions recorded the event, which sees the prince join the prominent author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, Dr. Gabor Maté, for an intimate conversation on how to cope with loss and how to guide one’s way toward personal healing.

Prince Harry on Coping With Loss

The live-stream event comes just a couple of months after Prince Harry published his personal memoir, Spare. In case you missed it, the royal prince explains how he’s never felt like a victim in his life, nor that he has ever sought sympathy from others. He also mentioned his wife, Meghan, saying he’s eternally grateful for her accepting behavior throughout the entire relationship.

Prince Harry didn’t forget to mention how compassionate his wife has been over the past several years of royal turmoil. The prince also commented on his recently-launched book, saying it’s an attempt to empower others to cope with their own losses through a revelation of his own life story.

The live stream was launched on VIMEO on March 4th and wasn’t recorded for a later release. The host, Dr. Maté, is a renowned expert on trauma, stress, and dependencies, and has participated in various public speaking engagements on these topics.

Spare – A Continuation of a Mental Health Journey

Prince Harry published his memoir book called Spare in January this year. It’s an honest and vulnerable account of the royal’s personal journey from childhood to adult life. The book is roughly divided into three parts and became the bestselling nonfiction memoir book of all time.

Upon releasing the book, the royal participated in an extensive press tour. Many times, he talked about interpersonal relationships within his family and shared many personal stories. He said that, by writing the book, he wanted to turn his pain into purpose, hoping to help other people like him find the path toward personal healing.