How Music Lessons Help Kids Focus, Listen, & Grow

Written by Amy Rau – Office Manager and Music Instructor

Music lessons are valuable in more ways than one! Most families see lessons as a path to competency on a musical instrument. True enough! But a small fraction of students who take lessons continue the rigorous study required for mastery of an instrument and fewer still commit to a career path as a professional musician. So if your child most likely isn’t going to become a soloist for the Philadelphia Symphony, aren’t lessons a waste of time and money?

Let’s consider cognitive development. Music lessons teach a second (or a third or fourth!) language. Students read and translate the musical language from eyes to brain to fingers and practice to make that translation happen faster and faster, creating neural pathways, increasing brain power, and improving auditory processing and verbal memory. These mental improvements also carry over into increased IQ and academic improvement!

Music lessons also overlap into familiar scholastic circles. Physics – when we study sound waves, intonation, and the mechanical workings of our instruments. Math – when we use fractions to analyze time signatures and how notation breaks down time into a myriad of different rhythmic patterns. Art – when we explore the “textures” and “colors” we can create using different techniques to help tell stories with our music.

And personal development can’t be overlooked. Students learn patience, discipline, resilience, and goal setting. When a student conquers a tricky rhythmic passage or finally memorizes their piece, or increases their sightreading skills, they get a boost of self confidence and each small victory along the way gets stored up inside them to be recalled in the future:

“I can do hard things.”

“Let’s slow down and work at this in small chunks.”

“A little bit every day will make this large project much easier.”

“I want to do XYZ, I can reach my goals!”

The value of music lessons can’t be understated. It is wonderful way to help a child develop into a well-rounded person academically, socially, and emotionally as they connect with other musicians and find music to be a vehicle for expression. It is good for the soul to create something beautiful and put it out into the world – even more so doing it together with other people. What a gift to give your child – a gift that truly can last a lifetime.