Why Should I Take Music Lessons?

Why You Should Take Music Lessons

• Most people think that music education is just for children and students. While they are beneficial for young people, they can also benefit the lives of adults of all ages.

Brain Development for Children

• Music education is particularly beneficial for young children. Learning music early in life can help children develop the parts of their brain responsible for language and reasoning, as well as spatial intelligence, which helps children perceive the world accurately – a skill that many parents don’t think about when it comes to education.

Brain Development for Children

• Children that take music early on are also likely to be better advanced math because of pattern recognition skills that are developed through music education according to some experts.

Music Education Teaches the Benefits of Hard Work

• Many children find lessons to be a chore like taking out the trash or mowing the lawn when they’re young. However, later in life, many children will reap the benefits of the hard work they put in. Music lessons require precision and reward hard work with excellent performance.

Music Education Teaches the Benefits of Hard Work

• Even the most stubborn children often start to enjoy their music lessons once they realize that the lessons have made them good at something that others appreciate – playing the piano, guitar or trumpet, for example. The basic lesson that hard work is rewarded with a quality performance isn’t lost on most children, and this will work in their favor no matter what they choose to do later in life.

Heightened Neural Response

• While the link between basic music skills and heightened neural response is still unclear, many studies have shown that there is a link. Many adults that take music lessons also find that it’s easier to pay attention for longer periods of time as well.

Short-Term Memory and Reasoning Skills

• Like heightened neural response, short-term memory and reasoning skills can be improved through music education. According to a 2012 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, children that take music classes and continue them well into adulthood generally have stronger short-term memory and reasoning skills that are beneficial in their life, even in non-music related activities.

Short-Term Memory and Reasoning Skills

• While the study does suggest that those who start early will benefit the most, adults that start later in life and continue their study of music for a year or more can also improve their short-term memory function and reasoning skills.

Music Education Can Reduce Anxiety

• For many music students, both children and adults, music classes or lessons that involve performance can help to reduce feelings of anxiety. While initial performances, even in front of your music teacher or friends and family could be nerve wracking, students quickly learn that performance isn’t as difficult as it seemed and that they will make it through.

• This is an important skill that can be applied to a variety of situations outside of music, and can be beneficial for children and adults of all ages.

Further Information…

• Merriam Music offers beginner and advanced level music lessons in Missisauga, Oakville and many other locations in the Toronto area. Visit us today at http://school.merriammusic.com/ to learn more.