I recently came across this incredible article/research. The importance of music in young children's lives has always been evident to me. But never in a way that I could tangibly describe to a non-musician parent who understandably is often looking at music lessons through the plethora of dollar signs that are associated with involvement in extra curricular music lessons.
The skills learned when first learning the piano or another instrument are skills we all want our children to develop: focus, attention to detail, patience, organization, and a sense of hard work being the key so success, to name a few.
Although it is true that your child may never be the next Mozart, and they may not make it past 3 years of piano lessons before you finally give into the losing daily practice battle, but it IS true that the not only will the music they learn, but the skills they develop while learning music, will enrich their lives forever.
From the study:
"What we found was the more a child trained on an instrument," Hudziak told the Washington Post, "it accelerated cortical organization in attention skill, anxiety management and emotional control...Learning music is one of the best things a person can do. Who knows — running scales may have changed your life."
If you're debating the value of music lessons, I encourage you to go read this article and the research itself as it directly outlines so many more extraordinary connections between musical training and child development.
Anyone interested in enrolling their children in piano or oboe lessons this fall can contact me via my email link at the top right of this page or by filling out my New Student Registration form.
The article
Link to the research
