I read every study I can get my hands on about the benefits of music training. I know how beneficial formal training is, but I like to have the proof in my hands when I try to convince a parent or a teacher to help add it to the schools. The following is a few of those, and as I find more they will be added to the page. I try to include articles that have a summary of it, along with access to the studies themselves. I realize that not everyone wants to read pages of scientific research!
NeuroNet Learning is a great resource for the research, they read through pages and pages of data then blog about it with a fantastic summary. Many of the studies I’ve found have been there.
NeuroNet Learning Blog
Musical Training Heightens Auditory Brainstem Function During Sensitive Periods in Development
Biological impact of preschool music classes on processing speech in noise
Musical Experience Influences Statistical Learning of a Novel Language
Music training for kids with language problems
Musical Training Shapes Developmental Processes
ScienceDirect.com
Biological impact of preschool music classes on processing speech noise
American Journal of Psychiatry
Musical Experience Influences Statistical Learning of a Novel Language
Carnegie-Melon University Psychiatry Department
National Institute for Health
Music training for the development of speech segmentation.