Learning to play an instrument takes focus, dedication, and practise, but the benefits are huge! Apart from simply the enjoyment of learning and playing music, here are a bunch of reasons why you should start your music journey!
Learning a musical instrument teaches the brain to create, store and retrieve memories more efficiently. You should check out this fantastic short video for more!
Learning a musical instrument requires the student to use their time productively. Having a solid tuition/music lesson routine with an instructor and accompanying practice routine is an essential part of the process. Being dedicated to this each week will see the emerging musician flourish.
Learning any instrument takes lots of time, practice and patience. A child's music teacher will instruct them on goal setting and measuring success. Hitting milestones is deeply rewarding, encouraging the student to persevere and stick with it.
Playing an instrument requires the brain to work quickly and effectively. Reading music is converted through the brain into the actual motion of playing the instrument. This results in improved hand-eye coordination.
Although music may seem to be purely creative, the foundations are highly mathematical - full of patterns and problems for the musician to work with. Developing an understanding of how music is created puts mathematics into a different perspective for children who are required to constantly use problem-solving skills whilst playing or learning a new piece of music.
Learning and playing music requires constant and real-time reading and comprehension. Students need to identify a note on the page and recognise which note (pitch) to play on their instrument, how long to hold it, what finger to use, or how to sing it and how loud/soft to do so! They also need to identify if the note should be played short and crisp, or smooth and connected to the next note. It's a full brain workout and has significant flow-on effects on reading, studying and comprehension in other areas.
Musical instruments require care, maintenance and upkeep. This can range from restringing to oiling to cleaning. Encouraging students to stay on top of regular maintenance creates a level of responsibility for them.
Music is often a reflection of the culture/era it was composed in. Exposing a child to multiple types of music (e.g. classical, contemporary, rock, jazz, blues, folk, medieval etc.) will allow them to have a glimpse into the past, and an appreciation for other genres.
Owning an instrument allows a student to play whatever they want when they want! We will always encourage our students to learn music outside of their experience and knowledge as well as spending time in the music they love, encouraging both self-expression and exploration.
Playing an instrument requires the student to listen carefully to a bunch of different things! Not only do they need to listen to instructions from their teacher, but students also need to listen for rhythm, dynamics, pitch, tempo and texture (just to name a few)!
