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How Music Can Help Your Child Succeed and Overall Development
Whether playing a musical instrument, singing in the church choir, or plucking out an original tune on a guitar, music helps children develop valuable skills that will help them succeed later in life.
Although music and the arts are often considered last in a long line of school requirements, including reading, writing, mathematics, science, and passing those all-important standardized tests, students have been proven to benefit from involvement in the visual and performing arts. While there has been extensive scientific research about the neurological benefits of music and music in regards to higher test scores, below I have outlined some basic benefits of being involved in a music program.
Concentration Skills
Playing a musical instrument improves a child's ability to focus, while children that learn how to play "by ear" learn how to concentrate on what they hear and recreate it through an instrument or their voice. Students that learn how to practice for an hour to several hours a day further hone their focusing skills. Even with my own at-risk students, many of which had a diagnosis of ADHD or ADD, learning to play a small piano keyboard worked on extending their concentration abilities from a few minutes to thirty minutes.
Math Skills
Music is based on mathematical principles, from the number of beats in a measure, to rhythmic figures, to pitch and chord progressions. Students involved in music learn how to correlate math to a real world experience like playing in a band or singing in a choir.
Cooperation
Student performing within an ensemble learn the importance of working cooperatively within a group setting. Following a conductor's every gesture and nuance works on a child's ability to follow instructions. Musicians learn the importance of the part within the whole, and while society glamorizes soloists, in fact, each member of the ensemble has an invaluable part in a concert or recording's success.
Eye-Hand Coordination
Children learn how to translate notes on a page into real sound. They accomplish this through coordinate what they see with their eyes with the actions of their hands or voice. Excellent eye-hand coordination is invaluable in life, whether your child decides to pursue music, become a surgeon, or pursue baseball.
Confidence-Building
Nothing can tax a musician's nerves more than the first performance of a piece. Yet, when the concert is done, and massive applause ensues, nothing can compare. Even failed performances teach a performer to get back on the horse and hone those skills that failed.
Creativity
Music moves us. It can be passionate when we are angry, morose when we are sad, excited when we are happy, and tranquil when we are at peace. Music gives your child a way to voice that which cannot be expressed through words or writing.
Problem-Solving
When learning a composition, a student must ask themselves to find ways to work around the difficulties in order to perfect their skills. Whether they have to learn to curve their pinky while playing piano, have to train their ears to hear that A-440 at the beginning of the concert, or have to learn how to sing in Italian, performers learn how to problem solve to achieve a successful performance.
Goal-Setting
Musicians need to set goals for themselves on a daily basis. Often these goals involve performing well at an upcoming concert, winning that next audition, moving up a chair, becoming a soloist, or securing that coveted high-profile gig. Musicians are not satisfied with mediocrity, and instead are constantly learning and challenging themselves to reach that next level of proficiency.
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