2 literature review(洪逸宁) 2.1 Musicinstruments and academic performance Academic achievement is indubitably associated with music learning,though some doubts remain concerning the mechanisms laying behind this correlation.(Santos-Luiz,Monico,Almeida Coimbra,2013)One possibility is that music education changes the shape and power of the brain(Alleyne,2009).Jancke(2008),a psychologist at the University of Zurich,said:"Leaming to play a musical instrument has definite benefits and can increase IQ by seven points,in both children and adults."(76).21 Researches on the relationship between acquisition of musical skills and academic performance have examined how participation in musical instrument learning leads to improvements in scores and IQ.The results of an independent research study on the benefits of music education in Nashville dearly show that Metro students engaged in music programs outperform their peers on every indicator-grade point average,graduation rate,ACT scores, attendance and discipline.(MetroSchools,2012).Applying the most advanced brain analysis technology,Martin(2014)who established the Harmony Project,has been able to show precisely what happens to the brain on music.(posted in Awardeess,2014.)In the study,which appears online in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psycology,the team showed that exposure to music lessons physically stimulated the brain and changed it for the better.However,simply being exposed to music education doesn't seem to be sufficient,you have to also be actively involved(Dovey,2014). Other studies have argued the positive impact on intelligence by instrument learning,Costa- Giomi(2014)'s research of more than 75 reports shows(1)the lack of sound evidence on the long-term effects on intelligence;(2)the complicated nature of the bond between music instruction and intellectual measures due to the intervention of factors related with interest, persistence and success in music learning.Elpus(2013)examined the college entrance examination scores of music and non-music students in the United States,drawing data from the data set of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002(ELS),and claimed that students who can play music did not outshine those who cannot on the SAT scores on average These studies have contradictions,leading to our further research on the relationship between musicinstruments and academic performance. 2.2 Music instruments'influence on different areas of learning Previous researches have shown that music instrument learning has different impacts on different aspects of learning. Several researchers have found that instrument learning has little to do with progress in subjects related with science and engineering.By providing three years of free piano teaching for 117 fourth-grade children attending public schools in Montreal,Costa-Giomi(2004)found that piano instruction had a positive effect on children's self-esteem and school music marks but did not affect their academic achievement in math as measured by standardized tests and school report cards Other studies examined music instruments'impact on the learning of liberal arts.Moreno, Marques,Santos and Besson(2008)conducted a longitudinal study with 32 children with no instrument learning experience over 9 months and found that after musical training,children showed enhanced reading and pitch discrimination abilities in speech.llari(2016)claimed that two assumptions that underlie much research in early childhood music education are that music is a social endeavor and musical participation is benefical to children's overall social development. 2.3 Some defects in done researches Our group has found that there are various limitations existing in current work.1)Done 6/146 / 14 2 literature review（洪逸宁） 2.1 Music instruments and academicperformance Academic achievement is indubitably associated with music learning, though some doubts remain concerning the mechanisms laying behind this correlation. (Santos-Luiz, Mónico, Almeida & Coimbra, 2013) One possibility is that music education changes the shape and power of the brain(Alleyne, 2009). Jäncke(2008), a psychologist at the University of Zurich, said: "Learning to play a musical instrument has definite benefits and can increase IQ by seven points, in both children and adults.”(7(6):21) Researches on the relationship between acquisition of musical skills and academic performance have examined how participation in musical instrument learning leads to improvements in scores and IQ. The results of an independent research study on the benefits of music education in Nashville clearly show that Metro students engaged in music programs outperform their peers on every indicator-grade point average, graduation rate, ACT scores, attendance and discipline. (MetroSchools, 2012).Applying the most advanced brain analysis technology, Martin(2014) who established the Harmony Project, has been able to show precisely what happens to the brain on music. (posted in Awardeess, 2014.) In the study, which appears online in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology, the team showed that exposure to music lessons physically stimulated the brain and changed it for the better. However, simply being exposed to music education doesn’t seem to be sufficient, you have to also be actively involved (Dovey, 2014). Otherstudies have argued the positive impact on intelligence by instrument learning, Costa￾Giomi(2014)’s research of more than 75 reports shows (1) the lack of sound evidence on the long-term effects on intelligence; (2) the complicated nature of the bond between music instruction and intellectual measures due to the intervention of factors related with interest, persistence and success in music learning. Elpus(2013) examined the college entrance examination scores of music and non-music students in the United States, drawing data from the data set of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS), and claimed that students who can playmusicdid not outshine those who cannot on the SATscores on average. These studies have contradictions, leading to our further research on the relationship betweenmusic instruments and academicperformance. 2.2 Music instruments’ influence ondifferent areas oflearning Previous researches have shown that music instrument learning has different impacts on different aspects of learning. Several researchers have found that instrument learning has little to do with progress in subjects related with science and engineering. By providing three years of free piano teaching for 117 fourth-grade children attending public schools in Montreal, Costa-Giomi(2004) found that piano instruction had a positive effect on children’s self-esteem and school music marks but did not affect their academic achievement in math as measured by standardized tests and school report cards. Other studies examined music instruments’ impact on the learning of liberal arts. Moreno, Marques, Santos and Besson (2008) conducted a longitudinal study with 32 children with no instrument learning experience over 9 months and found that after musical training, children showed enhanced reading and pitch discrimination abilities in speech. Ilari(2016) claimed that two assumptions that underlie much research in early childhood music education are that music is a social endeavor and musical participation is beneficial to children’s overall social development. 2.3 Some defects in done researches Our group has found that there are various limitations existing in current work. 1)Done