The Benefits of Music Education
Whether your passionate about learning Beethoven or Chuck Berry, music lessons are a powerful vehicle for self-expression, inspiration, and personal development. Even if you are six or eighty-six years old, music lessons sharpen the mind, calm the spirit, and enhance creativity.
But did you know music lessons could actually make you smarter?
According to a 2004 study at the University of Toronto at Mississauga, psychology professor E. Glenn Schellenberg “found a small increase in the IQs of six-year-olds who were given weekly voice and piano lessons. Schellenberg provided nine months of piano and voice lessons to a dozen six-year-olds, drama lessons (to see if exposure to arts in general versus just music had an effect) to a second group of six-year-olds, and no lessons to a third group. The children’s IQs were tested before entering the first grade, then again before entering the second grade.”
Surprisingly, the children given music lessons over the school year tested an average of three IQ points higher than the other groups.
Music also improves spatial-temporal skills. Researchers recently discovered a causal link between music and spatial intelligence. Spatial intelligence is paramount to solving complex, multi-step problems like those commonly found in architecture, engineering, math, and computer science.
But most important of all, learning an instrument instills a sense of pride and develops self-confidence. Lets face it: learning to sing or play an instrument is really hard! It takes a lot of work, dedication, and practice.
However, it’s precisely the challenge of learning music that makes it worthwhile. Mastering an instrument or the voice takes thousands of hours of practices, hundreds of hours of lessons, and a lifetime of dedication.
But if you can dedicate yourself to learning and mastering a musical instrument, you can learn and master anything at all.
