We have always heard that music is food for the soul. Research indicates that it’s more than that. Music can also easily be food for the brain. Listening to or learning a musical instrument helps your child in both his academic and social life.
7 Surprising Ways Learning a Musical Instrument Helps Your Child
You probably have heard about the Mozart effect. When children or babies listen to Mozart or other forms of classical music, it helps in their brain development. They show a marked improvement in their development when compared to their peers.
Brain Development
This is the most discussed and proven benefits of music. In various studies conducted on the effects of music on brain development, it has been found that children who played a musical instrument performed better in both language and math skills than their peers.
Learning to play a musical instrument changes the way your brain functions. Your brain simply functions better. Studies show that musicians have a bigger corpus callosum, or grey matter, than non-musicians.
Just the process of listening to music, specifically classical music, been played improves brain development. Listening to music activates both sides of your child’s brain.
With an improved brain function, the quality of your child’s life improves through:
Improved Fine Motor Skills
Learning a musical instrument helps your child develop his fine motor skills. Research suggests that children who started learning a musical instrument developed fine motor skills earlier than their peers who weren’t exposed to any musical instrument.
Any instrument, be it a guitar or a drum, requires good coordination and movement. Continued practice with the same instrument helps to strengthen this coordination. This, in turn, improves fine motor skills.
Develops Confidence and Self-Esteem
When a child learns something new, it’s usually followed by positive reinforcement by parents. Even something as simple as clapping hands is following by oohs and aahs. This prompts the child to repeat his performance and indulge in his newest achievement. He feels like he has achieved something great to receive such compliments from his parents.
Almost the same happens when your child learns a musical instrument. On some level, he also understands that not anyone can play the piano or a violin. This creates a strong sense of accomplishment in your child. This does wonders to his confidence and self-esteem.
Improves Memory
When your brain matter increases, the ability to receive and retrieve memory also improves. Moreover, musicians play and perfect their musical instruments through memory. They memorize certain keys and notes. This helps them activate the portion of the brain that deals with memory and information retention.
Increased Attention Span
Learning any musical instrument requires you to put your entire attention to the instrument. You have to remove distractions from the environment Concentrate on just your music. This helps improve attention span for your child. You will also observe better focus and concentration levels.
Improves Mood and Relieves Anxiety
Have you experienced a time when listening to music automatically made you feel better? That’s exactly what I am talking about.
Listening to music stimulates the flow of neurotransmitter dopamine and oxytocin. Research on the effects of dopamine and music found that listening to music increased dopamine levels by 9%. Dopamine and Oxytocin, the happiness hormone, help improve mood. They bring on a feeling of euphoria. You will also observe that babies who listen to music more often, smile more often.
Social Development
When you introduce your child to a musical instrument early on in his life, then it also paves his way for increased social interactions. Playing in an orchestra will allow him to meet and interact with new people. As discussed earlier, his improved confidence and self-esteem will then help him forge better connection during these interactions.
We will be discussing more on how learning a musical instrument helps your child on As Kids Blossom Group. Join now to stimulate your child’s brain development.
