The Often-Overlooked Benefits
of Music Education
No matter a music student's age, exposure to music education
can provide lots of positive results for the student
Numerous studies have shown that for developing children and teens, being involved in musical studies can improve the students' ability to learn and process languages. It can help develop creativity, it can nurture empathy, and it can promote teamwork and a community mindset—all things that have been shown to assist in the growth and development of children. For more info, please see this article about a 5-year study at USC, and this study published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience in 2016, about the accelerated auditory processing often experienced by children engaged in music training.
Music education has been shown to provide more than twice the benefit for young folks as sports, theater, or dance—benefits like increased brain power/functionality, enhanced motor skills, and accelerated sensory development. It also encourages creativity, builds communities, and helps students develop important skills like cooperation, perseverance, and leadership. You can take a deeper dive into some of this material here, in this Wall Street Journal article from 2014, and in this article from Frontiers In Psychology about another USC study published in 2023.
Lots of studies that show that those who actively participate in music education will find their auditory systems maturing faster, as well as improvements in executive function; additional studies also indicate that memory and study habits are also improved when one actively participates in a reasonable music education program. You can read more about all of that in the 2016 article in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience that was also referenced earlier in this article, as well as this article published by Sage Journals in 2011.
A reasonable music education program would involve an experienced and qualified music teacher, who knows the material they are presenting but also takes the time to customize everything to best serve each individual student. To "actively participate" in such a program, the student would need to commit to weekly lessons (it's generally accepted that, for most instruments, weekly lessons are the ideal frequency), and to practicing sufficiently between lessons.
That word "sufficiently" can be a tough one, because it differs for each student—some students will need to log more time on their instrument between lessons, but most aspiring musicians can see good progress with regular, consistent practice sessions averaging somewhere around 30-60 minutes, every day or at least every other day (different students will have different needs in that area).
It can be hard for a new music student to gauge what will work best for them—and that is where an experienced and qualified music teacher will once again be invaluable. Good music teachers are devoted to helping others learn to play better, and as a result they are usually the best source for music instruction.
Ready to get started? Give me a call (or send me a text) at VIP-PLAY-GTR (847-752-9487), or contact me through the website to set up your FREE intro lesson today!
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