a less important factor. When hierarchical regressions were conducted with
digit span entered on step 1, phonemic awareness on step 2, and the musical
skill variable (music for 4-year-olds, pitch for 5-year-olds) on step 3, only for
the 5-year-olds did pitch explain additional variance in reading scores (Table
6). These results are consistent with musical skill being associated with enhanced
auditory memory, but that only in the younger children can this association
explain the relation between music and reading. In the 5-year-olds,
music continues to explain variance in reading after variance due to auditory
memory and phonemic awareness has been factored out.