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Why playing a musical instrument can
help children learn with language skills
If you spent hours learning a musical instrument as a child only to lose interest when you reached
your teens, it may not have been a complete waste of time after all, according to a leading expert.
Learning to play an instrument has major advantages for a growing brain and should be a key part of
school education, says neuroscientist Professor Nina Kraus.
She points out there is strong evidence to show that music lessons help children improve their
language skills. Prof Kraus has led the first research to demonstrate that playing a musical
instrument significantly enhances the brain's sensitivity to speech sounds.
Playing an instrument may help children better process speech in a noisy classroom.
The benefits could help normal children as well as those with developmental problems such as
dyslexia and autism, she argues.
‘Playing an instrument may help youngsters better process speech in noisy classrooms and more
accurately interpret the nuances of language that are conveyed by subtle changes in the human
voice,' Prof Klaus told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Diego,
California.
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‘Cash-strapped school districts are making a mistake when they cut music from the curriculum.’
At her laboratory at Northwestern University in Everston, Illinois, researchers developed a way to
show how the nervous system responds to the acoustic properties of speech and music sounds with
sub-millisecond precision.
They found the effectiveness with which the nervous system interprets sound patterns is linked to
musical ability.
‘Playing music engages the ability to extract relevant patterns, such as the sound of one's own
instrument, harmonies and rhythms, from the “soundscape",' said Prof Kraus.
‘Not surprisingly, musicians' nervous systems are more effective at utilising the patterns in music
and speech alike.’
Previously her team found that sensitivity to sound patterns correlates with reading skill and the
ability to hear speech against background noise.
‘People's hearing systems are fine-tuned by the experiences they've had with sound throughout
their lives,’ said Prof Kraus.
‘Music training is not only beneficial for processing music stimuli. We've found that years of music
training may also improve how sounds are processed for language and emotion.
‘The neural enhancements seen in individuals with musical training is not just an amplifying or
volume knob effect. Individuals with music training show a selective fine-tuning of relevant aspects
of auditory signals.’
Her research indicates that playing a musical instrument affects automatic processing in the
brainstem, the lower part of the brain that joins onto the spinal cord.
The brainstem is an evolutionarily ancient brain region that controls many vital functions such as
breathing and heartbeat, as well as responses to complex sounds.
‘Now we know that music can fundamentally shape our sub-cortical sensory circuitry in ways that
may enhance everyday tasks, including reading and listening in noise,’ said Prof Kraus.
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Benefits of Music Education
Five Reasons to Play a Musical Instrument
Learning to play a musical instrument offers a lot of benefits. If there's one thing you should learn in
your lifetime, it's how to play an instrument. Here are five reasons why:
1. Playing a Musical Instrument Makes You Smarter
Many studies have been conducted on the effects of music to the brain. Scientists say that children
who are exposed to music, or those who play an instrument, do better in school than those who
don't. Recent research suggests exposure to music may benefit a child's reading age, IQ and the
development of certain parts of the brain. Adults can benefit from learning to play an instrument too
as it helps the mind to be alert and remain active eventually helping to sharpen the memory.
2. It Teaches Discipline
Learning to play an instrument is like learning to speak another language and it can be challenging at
times. One of the qualities musicians possess is discipline. You have to be disciplined in order to
master playing your instrument. You have to set time each day to practice, practice and practice
some more.
3. Playing a Musical Instrument Relieves Stress
We all have days when we are so stressed out and we just want to take a break from it all. Have you
ever noticed that when you hear soft, soothing music you feel more relaxed? Playing an instrument
can do that and more, especially if you're the one playing. Music is one of life's simple joys; it helps
calm the mind.
4. Sense of Achievement
If you're a beginner learning to play your first piece, it can be frustrating. But once you've mastered
it, the satisfaction you'll feel is priceless. Never mind if it's just a simple piece, believe me you'll
never forget the first piece you've mastered. You are one more step closer to achieving your goal
and that is certainly something to be proud of.
5. Playing a Musical Instrument is Fun
Sure it can be a lot of hard work but there is no denying playing an instrument is fun. Once you get
better at it, opportunities will arise for you to share your newly learned skill with your family and
friends in school concerts and recitals. Who knows, you may also consider playing professionally in
the future. Playing a musical instrument opens up a lot of good possibilities that will surely enrich
your life.
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Children - Why You Should Play A
Musical Instrument?
In a way, you don't need to consider this. You either want to do it, or you don't. And if you WANT to
do it, you should. Lots of other people do, so why not you? However, you may need to justify this
decision to other people - to your parents, who will be footing the bill, or to your school teachers
who will wonder why you should be allowing this "hobby" (as they see it) to interfere with the really
important things like Maths and English, or to your friends who wonder why you can't come out to
play so often. So here are some things you can tell them ......
Music in our society
By becoming a musician you are joining in one of the most important facets of modern society.
Everyone listens to music of some sort for a large part of their life. Some do so deliberately, others
do it passively (think of all the music you hear without even realising it, in shops and so on) and most
of us do it while enjoying other forms of entertainment - few films and television programmes are
made without music as an important part of the action.
This means that music has become a major industry. Even twenty years ago it was the biggest dollarearner in the UK, and bigger than the British steel industry in the days when Britain still had one!
By becoming a musician you are opening the door to your own understanding and greater
enjoyment of something that touches all our lives every day.
A personal achievement
You will be acquiring a skill that will eventually bring you the approval of your parents, teachers and
friends (and if it doesn't, you must have very sad parents, teachers and friends!). But, more
importantly, there is immense personal satisfaction to be gained from attempting something slow
and difficult - and, make no mistake, it will be both slow and difficult - and making a success of it.
Think of the pride you will and should feel when you are able to play your first tune, or make it into
the school orchestra or band for the first time. Imagine the audience clapping you at your first school
concert! And later on, your local youth orchestra, band or jazz group will give you new and exciting
opportunities - truly something worth aiming for.
And this is something that will be all your own. Nobody else can do it for you. No matter how
encouraging your parents are, no matter how good your teacher is, this is something you have to do
for yourself. And once you have made a success of it, you will be entitled to all the credit!
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A lasting pleasure
Music will stay with you all your life. You will never lose the skills you learn (they'll get a bit rusty if
you don't use them, but they'll come back when needed - like riding a bike, you never really forget
how).
And you don't even have to be very good at it. No matter how lowly your achievement, you will
always find opportunities if you want them. There are lots of amateur groups all over the country
always looking for members. Some are very fine amateur orchestras or choral societies that can
perform the same music as professionals, while others are strictly "fun" groups who aim much
lower. If you look hard enough, you'll find something to suit you.
And you don't have to be with others, either. Many people get great pleasure from simply playing by
themselves at home. These days you can buy pieces of music accompanied by a CD so that you can
play along. You get all the pleasure of playing with others without stepping outside your own front
door.
The social side
One part of being a musician that brings great pleasure to many young people is the "social" aspect
of music-making. To meet and work with other people of your own age and with similar tastes is
always enjoyable. It's like belonging to a youth club, only better because working on a common task
- like preparing a concert or a show, undertaking a concert-tour or entering a competition - brings
you all together so much more.
I have worked with young musicians in bands, choirs and orchestras for many years now, and have
been able to observe the many firm and lasting friendships that are formed through these common
experiences.
Becoming a professional musician
One very bad reason for taking up a musical instrument is in the expectation that you will be able to
make any money at it. True, a few outstanding players do get quite rich, and slightly more are at
least able to make a living. Still more are able to make it a sideline to their regular jobs by playing in
amateur dance-bands, jazz-bands, orchestras or rock groups. But the number of people who are able
to do any of these is quite small.
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I have been associated for the last twelve years with a major county youth orchestra - each year the
hundred-or-so best young musicians from the whole of a large shire county are selected for
membership, and perform in concerts, competitions, festivals and tours all over Europe. Of all the
hundreds of fine young musicians that have passed through the orchestra in that time, only a tiny
number have made it into the orchestral profession - perhaps one in a hundred. Maybe six or seven
in a hundred later make a living from music in an indirect way, perhaps by becoming music teachers.
In the field of popular music much the same applies. There are hundreds of amateur groups, many of
them very good. Only a handful ever make it as far as getting a recording contract, although many do
manage to make money on a "semi-professional" basis, playing in clubs etc. So, if you are taking up
an instrument with no other aim than to become a professional, forget it.
That's not to say that you shouldn't consider the music profession if you like it and become really
good at it. Of course you should. But it's not a good reason to start in the first place.
I’ll finish this section with a bold statement. Many people will disagree with this, and no doubt there
are many exceptions but in our opinion, in the field of classical music, if you haven't reached Grade 8
standard by the time you are 14 or 15 years old, you aren't likely to be good enough to attempt to
enter the music profession. There!
Music makes you clever!
Many young people take their instrumental tuition in school, and have to miss "normal" lessons
once in a while in order to do so. Experience shows that in very few cases is their long-term progress
in the "normal" subjects badly affected. Partly this is because pupils who take instrumental tuition
tend to be intelligent and well-motivated and have supportive parents, and of course these are just
the kind of pupils who do well in most subjects. The self-discipline and organisational skills required
to learn an instrument (and it does take a lot of discipline and organisation to remember when your
lesson is each week, to remember to take your instrument and music to school, to set aside time in
each busy day to practise, and to organise that practice time in a useful and productive way) will
help in every facet of your school life. By taking up a musical instrument you are more likely to
become a better student, not a worse one.
But there is an even more important benefit. Although the idea is still the subject of some debate,
recent research in several different countries has suggested that there are strong links between
musical experience and reading age, IQ, or the physical development of certain parts of the brain. To
put it crudely, many experts consider that "doing music" makes you more intelligent!
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In his book The Mozart Effect musician and educator Don Campbell of the American Music Research
Centre describes how French research into the use of music with children with speech and
communication disorders revealed that Mozart's music in particular can enhance time/spatial
perception, and more recent research has confirmed that Mozart's music has a beneficial effect on
the development of spatial intelligence. This year there has been publicity about the increasinglyrespectable idea of playing music to unborn babies!
In an excellent article (The Music Teacher, September 1998) Sally Goddard Blythe of the Institute for
Neuro-Physiological Psychology described music as "one of life's earliest teachers", and quoted
studies from the University of London demonstrating a clear relationship between musical
experience and reading age (Barwick, 1990) and from the University of California showing that music
lessons had a beneficial effect on spatial reasoning (Rauscher and Shaw). She concluded that music is
"... a primary language; in its most primitive form it is akin to sensory language. In its most highly
developed form it is pure art. To squeeze it from the curriculum or sideline it so that only the most
privileged or the most determined receive musical training is short sighted and may ultimately
contribute to falling standards in both literacy and numeracy .......".
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