• Music-based content allows young people to hone their logic, critical thinking, and linguistic skills, as well as their memory, imagination, and creativity.
• In the field of education, music can be a powerful pedagogical strategy that facilitates learning and improves information retention.

Madrid, June 21, 2023 – European Music Day is celebrated every June 21. The EU reminds us through this event of the importance of this art as an element of social togetherness present in all cultures and that, beyond its ability to make us feel and generate emotions, it is also a discipline capable of promoting cognitive development. 

Research by psychologists from the University of Bath (England) published in the scientific journal ‘Nature’ has already concluded that playing the piano has a positive impact on the ability to receive and process multisensory stimuli. However, this is just one example of the advantages offered by music in terms of cognitive development. 

Experts at ODILO, the Spanish EdTech that has created a category in the education market for any organization to build its own Unlimited Learning Ecosystem, have identified five important benefits of including music in education during a student’s school years:  

• Cultivates concentration and memory: musical activity requires constant and prolonged focus and attention over time, as with the reading of sheet music or with exercises based on repetition and remembering melodies and rhythms.
• Sharpens linguistic ability: because it is similar to a language in structure, using common rules and codes, music presents an excellent opportunity to expand vocabulary, provide strength to oral expression, and learn languages more easily. Likewise, practices such as solfège and singing invite students to work on pronunciation, intonation, and listening comprehension.
• Improves critical thinking: music improves critical thinking skills as well as creativity and problem-solving by using ingenuity, imagination, and decision-making in activities such as composing musical pieces. This task gives students a wide range of possibilities to explore and improvise. 
• Promotes emotional well-being: music can relax the body and help manage stress. This is a matter of great importance, considering that 40% of Spaniards have mental health problems, according to the study ‘The situation of mental health in Spain’ by the Confederation of Mental Health Spain.
• Broadens the horizons of cultural awareness: by exposing young people to a wide variety of styles and genres, music allows them to establish contact with the tradition, customs, and history of other societies. It cultivates tolerance and respect for what is different and creates a sense of appreciation for diversity.

Music can be considered as a methodological alternative in a number of academic contexts due to its wide range of benefits. Although traditionally associated with art and entertainment, music also has the capacity to be an effective educational and therapeutic tool.

In the field of education, music provides a powerful teaching strategy that facilitates learning and improves information retention. By stimulating memory, concentration and attention, music benefits the teaching-learning process. In addition, music can be used as a tool to teach abstract concepts in a more accessible and entertaining way, including mathematics or science. Through music, students can experience an emotional and cognitive connection to academic content, which can improve their comprehension and retention.

Within this framework, ODILO has incorporated more than 500 multi-format music education resources including audiobooks, e-books, videos, and courses. It has also designed a collection of music-focused content with which institutions can help their students enrich their knowledge of the basic elements of the different musical languages and their historical transformations, the development of the inner ear as the basis of intonation, the improvement of harmonic hearing and musical interpretation, or how to make music an element for sharing group experiences in the classroom, among other issues.

According to Ángel L. González, ODILO’s K12 Product Director, “considering that music is a very important element in the cognitive, emotional, and social development of people, it was inevitable that it would not have a space in our catalog. Especially if we consider our commitment to encourage all people to become the best version of themselves and to enable institutions to accompany them in this process in an efficient way and generating maximum value”.

Thus, the Spanish Edtech company offers its users multi-format resources and experiences that promote unlimited learning and that adapt to the educational needs of different users, in this particular case, those who learn through music.

ABOUT ODILO

ODILO is a B2B2C company, which has created a new category in the education market: Unlimited Learning Ecosystems. In this way, the firm allows any organization to create its own fully customized learning ecosystems, and offer its users unlimited access to the world’s largest catalog of educational content and create all kinds of learning experiences without restrictions. In addition, through the use of Artificial Intelligence, ODILO enables the creation of unique learning paths and experiences for both organizations and users, as well as its unique Business Intelligence system that is capable of measuring all possible forms of learning, and also offers the advisory service of industry experts. 

More than 8,500 organizations in 52 countries – including governments in Europe, North America, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Australia and Africa; academic leaders such as Peking University and top companies such as Vodafone, Nestlé and Banco Santander – have already created Unlimited Learning Ecosystems from the more than 4 million pieces of content available on the platform. In total, ODILO is part of the learning experiences of more than 170 million users worldwide.