Sometimes it takes a long time for educators to catch on to simple teaching concepts that are essentially no brainers.
Rudolph Steiner was an Austrian intellectual who wrote extensively about architecture, agriculture, spirituality, and education starting around 1880 until his death in 1925. He is credited with the development of a system of learning called “Waldorf”, which was named after the school he started for employees of the Waldorf-Astoria in 1919.
One of the discoveries Steiner made early on was the importance of integrating music into the teaching of mathematics which continues to this day in the approximately 1,000 Waldorf schools throughout the world. This model has been incredibly successful within these institutions where every child learns how to play a stringed instrument.
Now just recently a “new study” found significant benefits between music engagement and the learning of math in public education. Up to 75% of the kids did better when music was woven into the math lesson than those without this advantage.
You’d think that given the long history of this common sense approach, every student in America would be learning how to play a musical instrument - and excelling in mathematics.
Even Albert Einstein played the violin.
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