Should your child be learning a musical instrument?

Studies are important, and so are extracurricular activities outside of school such as sports and music to ensure your child grows up to be well-rounded in the future. Are they paying extra attention to music around them, such as buskers strumming their guitars on the street, or listening to distant piano keys from a neighbour? As a parent, you may sometimes wonder if your child is ready to start learning a musical instrument. The short answer to this is yes! Besides allowing them to fuel a new interest outside of schoolwork, there are also many benefits to the knowledge and practice of music. Here are seven tried and tested reasons why you should consider letting your child learn at least one musical instrument.

Improves Memory

Learning a musical instrument is a way of training the brain to store, process and retrieve information, which results in enhanced memory skills. This effect increases when it’s done systematically and consistently over time. It becomes easier for your child to recall units of data and combine them.

You can think of it as giving your child a complete brain workout for better performance. As Eduardo Marturet, the conductor, composer and musical director for the Miami Symphony Orchestra points out, research shows that learning music from an early age helps to improve a child’s learning ability and memory by stimulating different patterns of brain development.

Teaches Persistence and Discipline

It takes self-control and patience to pick up any new skills. This is especially the case when it comes to learning a musical instrument. Children develop staying power with regular practice. They realise the value of such qualities when they see an improvement in their playing abilities.

Regular encouragement from music teachers and parents underlines this. The more effort they put in, the better the results. The lesson they learn through this is that persistence and discipline are necessary to push forward.

Helps to Build Coordination

Learning a musical instrument means effective coordination between the mind and the body. For example, children who learn to read musical notes have to convert these into physical motion. This means that many times, those who play an instrument have better hand-eye coordination.

The instrument of choice could be the piano, guitar, drums, or anything else your child is interested in. Getting better at playing these and other instruments translates to an improvement in coordination.

Boosts Confidence

Getting better at learning how to play a musical instrument means a series of significant achievements. Every time your child moves to the next level, there is a corresponding rise in confidence and self-expression. Satisfaction levels increase along with a boost in self-confidence.

With more confidence, children will be able to handle future challenges that may come their way. It could be an end-of-term exam, a public debate or anything else.

Enhances Maths Abilities

It may come as a surprise, but some studies show that learning music improves mathematics abilities! Learning and playing an instrument strengthens the same parts of the brain used for maths. Neuroscientists refer to this aspect as spatial-temporal reasoning.

The reason? Playing music is about time signatures, beats per minute and progressions. Children are learning how to divide, create fractions and recognise patterns. By its very nature, music is mathematical. Music theory often uses mathematics to develop and express ideas, which means that music can be the formula for a better score on your child’s next mathematics test!

Boosts Teamwork and Social Skills

Often, children learn music as part of a group. Even if they start off with solo lessons, they will gradually have opportunities to begin playing together with other musicians. Such interactions mean that children learn the essential social skills of participating, listening and working as a group to achieve objectives.

These same skills are equally useful even outside of a musical environment. After all, part of the knowledge necessary to progress forward is the value of teamwork.

Develops Concentration

Learning a musical instrument means being able to concentrate and pay attention. It’s like a muscle: the more it’s practised, the stronger it gets. With an instrument, the benefits of concentration are much more evident.

When the brain is trained in this way, it becomes easier to concentrate in other areas. With music lessons, your child could find it much easier to pay attention in class and focus on their studies.

Music is one of many ways for your child to strengthen foundations and accelerate improvement in their personal and academic lives. At Geniebook, we utilise unique AI tools to achieve the same results. Get in touch with our team to discover more about how to power up your child’s academic performance!