here's one of many in depth scientific studies -
http://www.menc.org/documents/advocacy/harrispoll/universityofkansasstudy.pdf

This was Univ. of Kansas, and similar studies at UofM and UCLA had similar results

UCLA was larger by comparison -
"UCLA tracked 25,000 students over ten years with U.S. Department of Education data
Music-making students outperformed non-musical peers
Results same for all socioeconomic groups"

MUSIC STUDENTS Score Higher on SATs-
Average 57 points higher in verbal
Average 41 points higher in math

One recent argument regarding this concept is that the kids who take music are the advanced students to begin with (think about that for a second), so the fact that they are music student who score higher doesn't attest to much, but the Kansas study (although it has weak points in some areas) DOES show that the better the music program is, the better the students performed, even those 'already gifted' students.. which is why I used it.

(sorry - couldn't help myself once I started reading this stuff again)

I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!