5 Surprising Benefits Of Learning Music For Children

1
benefits of learning music for children

Children commonly face challenges during their development. These challenges range from learning problems, which manifest in low grades or frustration with a specific subject, to more complex psychological, physical, and social disorders.

Learning problems, poor school performance, attention deficits, socialization problems, and even stress in children, even when mild, can cause anxiety for parents. Fortunately, learning music can be a way to counteract these problems, offering extraordinary benefits for children.

Why should children learn to play a musical instrument?

Listening to music offers apparent benefits. However, it requires active participation and learning to play an instrument. It is only through the active creation and manipulation of sound that music can rewire the brain.

A ‘Mozart effect’ suggests that listening to music improves intelligence. Still, those biological changes do not appear in those who simply listen to music and do not play an instrument.

1. Music stimulates children’s intelligence.

According to UNICEF International, music education allows children to strengthen many intellectual functions, such as observing, exploring, listening, producing, comparing, and hypothesizing. In other words, it enables the progressive and meaningful construction of thought and its different types of knowledge.

Music has an exceptional formative value, especially in the first years of life. Playing a musical instrument allows them to use their intelligence in everyday situations like writing wow essays or coping with domestic chores. This benefit will give them an advantage in their academic and, in the future, working life.

2. It improves their ability to socialize

The ability to socialize improves through activities such as playing a song accompanied by other instruments, as the child shares the experience with other peers.

In addition, learning an instrument involves many activities that encourage and facilitate social interaction: going to lessons, practicing on the instrument, and simply talking about the activity with other children. Thus, these activities allow children to socialize and build relationships with friends with mutual interests.

3. It can also improve their learning ability

One of the most notable benefits of music for children is strengthening the learning process. In fact, playing an instrument makes a person more organized. Playing an instrument also allows students to plan their tasks and improves their attention span.

Studies support these claims: according to The Harmony Project, a non-profit organization that provides music training to youth in impoverished and troubled areas of Los Angeles, since 1998, 93% of students who participated in the project went on to college, despite a dropout rate in their neighborhoods of 50% or more.

So, this data also translates into an appreciation for the learning process as young adults, which often leads to successful college careers.

4. Music boosts children’s study performance

Progress in learning ability is reflected in areas such as long-term memory, coordination of finger movements with the eyes, and overall academic performance. In addition, music has been shown to improve reading skills, increase vocabulary and facilitate language learning.

Children who learn an instrument better understand mathematics as their related brain areas are stimulated. Thus, young musicians improve their ability to deal with numbers, operations, algebraic functions, and even geometry. This means better grades and a greater appreciation for study.

5. It boosts their self-esteem

The intellectual and social benefits are significant, but so are the psychological ones. Surprisingly, music can help increase self-esteem and promote autonomy. In fact, children with low self-esteem are often overly dependent on others. Musical improvisation activities stimulate independence in children. Musical training can also help promote autonomy.

Children who experienced any kind of abuse need great help in this area. A musical environment with a specific structure so that the child cannot fail will automatically help raise the self-esteem of this individual. Finally, playing their favorite song can help them express their fears and frustrations as well as their happy moments.

In the end, music is the skill they will enjoy for life.

Learning an instrument in children certainly directly affects their school performance, understanding, socialization, self-esteem, and even their intelligence.

However, studying an instrument is a skill that will last a lifetime and open up a world of possibilities for them. It will make them pursue things that make them happy and lead them on a constant quest for self-improvement.

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here