Benefits
Students of music develop skills with direct application to music (obviously) and have benefits in other areas:
- Listening: Good musicians are, by necessity, good listeners. They are trained to listen purposefully, intently, and carefully for differences between every note and every chord they play. They listen to discern harmony versus dissonance. They listen to distinguish when a note is sharp, flat, or just plain off-key. They have a developed sense of hearing to focus and pay attention to sound.
- Rhythm: Through the study of music, students recognize and create rhythm. This has clear benefits for students who are also involved in dance, gymnastics and figure skating. Music is a fun and entertaining way to learn about rhythm, patterns and ratios.
- Memory and Concentration: In order to play piano, students learn the names and placement of notes on the staff as well as the corresponding keys to strike in a certain order, at a certain moment, at a certain speed. Music is eventually committed to memory and memorization skills are strengthened with regular use.
Early musical training helps to develop brain regions involved in language and reasoning as well as spatial intelligence.
- A research team exploring the link between music and intelligence reported that music training is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for learning math and science. -- Shaw, Rauscher, Levine, Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, "Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning," Neurological Research, Vol. 19, February 1997
- A McGill University study found that pattern recognition and mental representation scores improved significantly for students given piano instruction over a three-year period. They also found that self-esteem and musical skills measures improved for the students given piano instruction. -- Costa-Giomi, E. (1998, April). The McGill Piano Project: Effects of three years of piano instruction on children's cognitive abilities, academic achievement and self-esteem. Paper presented at the meeting of the Music Educators National Conference, Phoenix, AZ
- Musicians have better development of their left temporal lobes compared to non-musicians. This region of the brain facilitates cognitive processes that also contribute to verbal memory skills. Brain functions are not simply "left side" or "right side." Rather, they are part of a more interconnected system in which developing one region is likely to enhance the performance of other regions as well.
Music is a wonderful means of self-expression and creativity. For the listener and the performer it has the power to influence mood, energy and imagination. It can relax, soothe, energize, pump up and inspire. It fuels the brain for high-octane creativity.
Musicians have a special creative outlet in shaping, crafting and developing performances that are uniquely their own. Whether it's applying their signature style to a classic standard for their own personal interpretations or in-the-moment freestyle improvisation, performers can communicate anything from the deepest sorrow to the greatest joy to an audience.
There is a considerable sense of satisfaction in active music making compared to passive music consumption because of the opportunity to create and express music with a personal touch.
An education in music also provides important and enduring life lessons such as:
- Craftsmanship: Musicians understand how musical details come together to produce good, rather than mediocre, sound. These exacting standards in the craft of music demand a level of excellence that, when applied to other endeavors, teach students to push their own limits.
- Perseverance: Making music requires focused and sustained effort in regular practice. Professional musicians rehearse daily for hours to stay on top of their repertoire. It is only after a great investment of time and effort that a successful performance is possible. There are no shortcuts. Through music, students learn the value of perseverance to achieve positive results.
- Performance: Music making is all about doing rather than watching and it teaches students, quite literally, how to perform in front of an audience.
- Poise: Stage fright is not uncommon when called upon to perform in public, whether formally or informally. Opportunities to perform make it less intimidating and hopefully enjoyable to share entertaining, fun and stimulating music with an appreciative audience. Poise, self-esteem and self-confidence are natural results of accomplishing challenging and rewarding musical goals.
Making music contributes to better health and quality of life on the following dimensions:
- Brain Health: Playing and appreciating music keeps your mind active and healthy. It doesn't have to be classical music. Any music that you enjoy stimulates your brain to improve memory, verbal ability and other mental powers. If you have children, expose them to music. They'll do better in reading and math.
- Happiness: Music that you love hits you a special way by causing your brain to release dopamine, a natural feel-good chemical. Music can create feelings of excitement, joy and happiness. Nothing like good music (like Rihanna or Katy Perry) to chase away the blues.
- Hearing: Older musicians generally to not experience typical aging in the part of the brain (auditory cortex) that often leads to hearing troubles. But don't fret. You don't have to be a virtuoso to benefit. It's never too late to take lessons and prevent these age-related changes.
- Immune Function and Pain: Reduced stress levels mean reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This leads to a stronger immune system and a reduced perception of pain intensity.
- Stress: Thirty minutes a day of soothing music (like Norah Jones or Frank Sinatra) significantly lowers blood pressure and the risk of heart disease. It has also been shown to calm heart rates in critically ill hospital patients by as much as 5 beats per minute. This was enough to reduce anxiety and speed up recovery time.
Music students frequently outscore non-music students in standardized tests and general school performance.
- Students with coursework / experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT. Students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on the verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation. -- College-Bound Seniors National Report: Profile of SAT Program Test Takers. Princeton, NJ: The College Entrance Examination Board, 2001.
- In an analysis of US Department of Education data on more than 25,000 secondary school students (NELS:88, National Education Longitudinal Survey), researchers found that students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show "significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12." This observation holds true regardless of student socioeconomic status, and differences in those who are involved with instrumental music versus those who are not is more significant over time. -- Catterall, James S., Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga. "Involvement in the Arts and Human Development: General Involvement and Intensive Involvement in Music and Theater Arts." Los Angeles, CA: The Imagination Project at UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, 1999.
- In a recent study, researchers observed a correlation between verbal skills and music training. Children who had been taught to play an instrument had better verbal memory scores compared to their non-instrument-playing peers. Music training develops a brain region that also may support areas of the brain responsible for language.