Music can have a drastic impact on many things including your mood, alertness, and even education! In the past, research has been done to analyze the effect that music can have on children as they learn.
Dr. Nina Kraus has done significant research on the effects music has on the brain, and how it may benefit children who are in school. “The team showed that exposure to music lessons physically stimulated the brain and changed it for the better. However, simply being exposed to music education doesn’t seem to be sufficient, you have to also be actively involved.”
We’ve compiled a list of the benefits that music lessons can have on a student’s performance in school or academic activities.
1. Keeps Children Engaged
We all had areas of school that we didn’t like very much. Maybe we had a couple of classes that we really enjoyed and excelled in. For many children, learning music in school (or on the side, while doing school) can help them not only learn to engage, but also come to enjoy their classes. It may not have a big effect for some children, but for others it could change the way they learn.
2. Teaches Discipline
For very few, learning an instrument may come naturally. But even for students with exceptional abilities, they must be taught to some degree - and practice. Learning anything - especially an instrument - takes time and willpower. Kids can learn how to be disciplined with their work by playing an instrument. Practice makes perfect!
3. Helps with Memorization
When you play music, you are constantly having to memorize - your mind is remembering what notes to play, your fingers are remembering the correct positions, etc. The goal for some musicians is to be able to play pieces without music sheets in front of them. When kids get to exercise the skill of memorizing music, it helps them increase their skill in memorizing other things they learn in school.
4. Boosts Pattern Recognition
When you are learning to play music, you often learn repetition of patterns. This skill is also useful in subjects like math. The more a student trains their brain with music, the better they may become at quick calculations. It may vary from student to student, but in general, music helps develop these skills.
5. Improves SAT Score
There is speculation that children who learn to play music - and play frequently - may perform better on tests such as the SAT. Whether or not this is true, you can be sure that their mind may be sharper thanks to the focus it takes to learn how to play a musical instrument.
As your kids are going through school, you may want to consider having them try music lessons as an after-school or extracurricular activity!
