Emotional, cognitive, and motor development in youth orchestras: A two-year longitudinal study

Does being part of an orchestra from an early age have an impact on cognitive and emotional capacities? Researchers from the University of Geneva (Unige), Switzerland, the University of Genoa (Unige-IT), and the Institute of Research and Coordination Acoustic/Music (IRCAM) in Paris investigated this question in the context of the Demos orchestras organized by the Philharmonie de Paris-Cité. This two-year study evaluated the development and evolution of the cognitive, emotional, and motor skills of 255 children engaged in two Demos orchestras, aged 7 to 13 years living in education priority zones (ZEPs) in France. The results showed that after two years of playing music as part of a group, the working memory, cognitive flexibility, and emotion understanding skills of the children improved at a higher rate than the published measurements on standard tests. Important improvements were also shown in movement synchronization.