WHY LEARN MUSIC ?
THE BENEFITS OF MUSIC EDUCATION
Research has found that learning music facilitates learning other subjects and enhances skills that children inevitably use in other areas. A good music experience for children, such as listening to songs, singing, and playing instruments brings a very serious benefit to children as they progress into a more formal learning. Making music involves more than a voice or fingers to play an instrument, a child learning about music has to tap into multiple skill sets, often simultaneously.
THE BRAINS DEVELOPS MORE
Research indicates the brain of a musician, even a young one, works differently than that of a nonmusician. There’s some good neuroscience research that children involved in music have larger growth of neural activity than people not in music training. When you’re a musician and you’re playing an instrument, you have to be using more of your brain. The students who received music instruction had improved sound identification and fine motor tasks and brain imaging showed changes to the networks in the brain associated with those abilities, according to the Dana Foundation, a private philanthropic organization that supports brain research.
SPATIAL TEMPORAL SKILLS
Research has also found a causal link between music and spatial intelligence, which means that understanding music can help children visualize various elements that should go together, like they would do when solving a math problem. These skills come into play in solving multistep problems one would encounter in architecture, engineering, math, art, gaming, and especially working with computers.
LENGUAGE DEVELOPEMENT
When you look at children ages two to nine, one of the breakthroughs in that area is music’s benefit for language development, which is so important at that stage. While children come into the world ready to decode sounds and words, music education helps enhance those natural abilities. Growing up in a musically rich environment has advantages for children’s language development. The effect of music education on language development can be seen in the brain. Recent studies have clearly indicated that musical training develops the part of the left side of the brain known to be involved with processing language. This relationship between music and language development is also socially advantageous to young children. Musical experience strengthens the capacity to be verbally competent.
INCREASED IQ
A study by E. Glenn Schellenberg at the University of Toronto, as published in a 2004 issue of Psychological Science found the children who were given music lessons over the school year tested on average three IQ points higher than the other groups.
INPROVED TEST SCORES
A study published in 2007 by Christopher Johnson, professor of music education and music therapy at the University of Kansas, revealed that students in elementary schools with superior music education programs scored around 22 percent higher in English and 20 percent higher in math scores on standardized tests, compared to schools with low-quality music programs, regardless of socioeconomic disparities among the schools or school districts. Aside from test score results, Johnson’s study highlights the positive effects that a quality music education can have on a young child’s success.
BEING MUSICAL
Music can improve your child’ abilities in learning and other nonmusic tasks, but it’s important to understand that music does not make only smarter. The many intrinsic benefits to music education include being disciplined, learning a skill, being part of the music world, managing performance, being part of something you can be proud of. Music makes your kid interesting and happy.
