The Benefits of Music

Music enriches a child’s life.  Research has found that music enhances other areas by facilitating learning.  It’s more than the voice singing or the fingers playing an instrument.  Music taps into multiple skills sets, often simultaneously eg. using eyes and ears as well as large and small muscles.

Musical training physically develops the part of the left side of the brain involved with processing language.  Linking familiar songs to new information can also help imprint information on young minds. As teachers we often sing times tables, or the Thrass rap, to enhance learning.

Research indicates the brain of music students works differently to that of non-music students. Apparently children involved in music have larger growth of neural activity because more of the brain is used when playing an instrument or singing.

Research has also found a causal link between music and spatial intelligence. This means understanding music can help children visualise various elements which should go together, like they would do when solving a maths problem.  These skills are used when solving multistep problems in engineering, maths, art, gaming, IT and architecture.

It doesn’t end there: along with better performance results on concentration-based tasks, music training can help with basic memory recall. Music is also associated with other cognitive strengths such as verbal recall proficiency.  People who have had formal musical training tend to be better at remembering verbal information stored in memory.

So, get very excited when your child tells you they enjoy music!  The benefits are greater than you imagine!