Music Education Improves Academic PerformanceMusic educators have always believed that a child's cognitive, motivational and communication skills are more developed when exposed to to musical training. Today, study after study proves that music education is essential to children's overall education because it improves their academic performance. The positive effects of music education are finally recognized by science, confirming what music teachers have always suspected. Music enters the brain through the ears. The pitch, melody and intensity of notes are processed in several areas of the brain such as the cerebral cortex, brainstem and frontal lobes. The right brain and left brain auditory cortices interpret sound. Feza Sancar (1999) writes that the right brain auditory cortex specializes in determining hierarchies of harmonic relationships and rich harmonics and that the left brain auditory cortex deciphers the sequencing of sound and perception of rhythm. Many studies have been done to examine the effect of music education on the brain. For example, researchers at the University of Munster, Germany (1998), reported that music lessons during childhood enlarged the brain. The auditory cortex is enlarged by 25% in musicians compared to those who have never played an instrument. According to the study by Frances Rauscher of the University of California at Irvine (1997), the connections between neurons in the brain are strengthened by music lessons. Dr. Frank Wilson's (1989) study of instrumental music education and the brain reveals that learning to play an instrument refines the development of the brain and the entire neurological system. article......who have taken music lessons compared to those who have not. University of Munster, Germany (1998) Researchers discover that active music practice develops the brain. Nature, April 23, 1998. Retrieved April 23, 2003 from http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/feature.html. A discussion of their 1998 findings regarding how and where the brain is enlarged through the practice of playing a musical instrument. Their findings include that the earlier a student begins musical training, the larger certain parts of the brain appear. Wilson, F. (1989). Music and the brain. Retrieved April 23, 2003, from http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/musicopensmind.html.Dr. Wilson reports that learning to play an instrument refines the development of the brain and the entire neurological system. He believes that music education is necessary for total brain development..