Music training doesn’t translate into better memory or higher academic achievement, a meta-analysis has found.

Published in Memory & Cognition and conducted by academics at the Fujita Health University, Japan and the London School of Economics and Political Science, the study reviewed 54 research trials conducted between 1986 and 2019 which studied a total of 6,984 children.

It found that music training does not generate an advantage in other learning or cognitive domains.

Music curriculum: Views needed on SEND and tech for new DfE music plan

Comment: The power of music to rebuild school communities

Read: Why you should listen to the music your pupils like

This was true regardless of the type of skill - such as verbal, non-verbal, speed-related - or participants’ age and length of music training.

The lead author, Dr Giovanni Sala of Fujita Health University, said: “This means that teaching music with the sole intent of enhancing a child’s cognitive or academic skills may be pointless.

“While the brain can be trained in such a way that if you play music, you get better at music, these benefits do not generalise in such a way that if you learn music, you also get better at maths.

“Researchers’ optimism about the benefits of music training appears to be unjustified and may stem from misinterpretation of previous empirical data.”

Music training may still be beneficial for children for other reasons, co-author Dr Fernand Gobet of LSE said: “Music training may nonetheless be beneficial for children, for example by improving social skills or self-esteem.

“Certain elements of music instruction, such as arithmetical music notation could be used to facilitate learning in other disciplines.”

The claim that music training confers cognitive advantages stems from the assumption that engaging in intellectually demanding activities fosters particular domain-general cognitive skills, or even general intelligence, the authors explain in the study.

Analysing individual studies included in the meta-analysis, the researchers found that those showing effects of music education on cognitive and academic performance had some design flaw, for example, they didn’t randomise participants, or they didn’t include a control group.

The authors also pointed out that too few studies have been conducted to reach a definitive conclusion about possible positive effects of music education on non-academic or cognitive characteristics.