5 Surprising Benefits of Music Education For Children

Music education has long been a subject of controversy. As it becomes less prevalent within school curriculums, parents start to question the benefits and advantages that music can provide for their children. Budget cuts tend to impact the arts and creative studies first and most schools have instead moved toward focusing on career preparation as part of their mandated teachings.

But, courses that include music and art actually have a big impact on growth and development within children. Here are some benefits that are found from music education you may not have been aware of. Many of these assets can be utilized not just within the lessons themselves, but throughout their lives.

BRAINPOWER

When you listen to music, play music, or sing, your brain is actually working harder than those who do not have music within their lives. “There’s some good neuroscience research that children involved in music have larger growth of neural activity than people not in music training. When you’re a musician and you’re playing an instrument, you have to be using more of your brain,” says Dr. Eric Rasmussen, chair of the Early Childhood Music Department at the Peabody Preparatory of The Johns Hopkins University. So children who have music lessons will be sure to exercise their brains more.

MEMORY AND COORDINATION

There is a lot of repetition when learning a new song. You have to work on memorizing lyrics and notes while taking your singing lessons, or breaking down a tough part within a piece to work on it over and over again. While doing this, your child will improve their memory, since they are working with that part of their brain.

The other side of this is that, with the repetition, children learning music are also practicing and learning coordination. This is more noticeable if you are learning how to play an instrument. You work fine motor skills and enhance your dexterity and hand-eye coordination, which is also part of reading the music as well.

There are many ways to incorporate music in your own home, such as creating fun instruments out of household items for your young children, utilizing the online world for music inspiration, or by booking lessons with an in-home or online school like Music To Your Home at https://www.musictoyourhome.com/voice-singing-lessons-nyc. You don’t have to leave home to find music education, you can have it come to you.

TIME MANAGEMENT AND STUDY HABITS

Practice is a large part of learning music. Outside of regular lessons, there are expectations that you come prepared for the next one. So it is important to set aside some time to practice an instrument or piece of music. In doing so, children learn how to manage their time efficiently and set themselves up with a working routine that incorporates time to study or practice.

The time that is spent retaining information and learning is going to be essential to success. Mastering the craft of singing or playing takes patience and consistent effort, so habits are formed to set yourself on that successful path. These habits can be applied in regular study time in other subjects as well.

SOCIAL SKILLS AND EXPRESSION

When you encourage a love of music, it gives the benefit of creative expression as music evokes emotion and connection to one’s feelings. This can build a foundation for a more empathetic or understanding personality, and in turn, grow and develop your child’s social skills. It equips you with the ability to express your own feelings, and relate to other people, making you more susceptible to others’ feelings as well.

Music can be utilized as a method to share a heightened sense of connectivity. These skills provide a pathway for working well within teams and being helpful with others.

BUILDING CONFIDENCE AND SELF-ESTEEM

Confidence is a large part of success and achievement. Including music education will provide your child with a higher degree of self-esteem. This is found through the art of mastering a tough part of a song, or singing through a transition, or finally getting all the way through a piece of music. As you try new things you develop more confidence in your own abilities and increase your likelihood of trying some more.

When your child works toward a goal, they’ll learn to appreciate when their hard work has earned its recognition. The process of taking music lessons provides a huge boost to self-esteem and feeling more confident. They’ll feel proud, accepted, accomplished, and content.

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Music education can give you, as a parent, the added reward of providing your child with a more well-rounded lifestyle, where they are more confident and equipped with solid social skills. Music also establishes the foundation for improved brainpower, memory, and can even teach your child to master study habits and time management skills, there is no better time than now to include music education in your child’s growth and development.