subject: Children's Piano Lessons [print this page] Studies show that children get a lot of positive benefits from piano lessons especially in the areas of cognitive and sensorimotor abilities,
Playing the piano stimulates both the right and left sides of the brain, thus helping in many areas of neural development. A study conducted in Canada reported that a gamma-induced response to music is greater in musicians than in non-musicians.
This response was seen in children who had a year of musical training at the age of 4.5 years. It is the oscillatory network that is more specifically stimulated during music training. It is found to be connected to the executive function of the brain.
Definitely, there is much value in the act of putting headphones on the belly of a pregnant woman and in enrolling your children in piano lessons. These actions help prepare them for better primary education.
Taking children's piano lessons is associated with better academic performance. The piano lessons make students read and interpret notes, focus on one activity and memorize notes and actions. Piano students have more opportunities to sharpen their spatial and problem-solving skills than do students who are not into music.
Reading musical pieces makes it easier for piano students to solve math problems involving fractions and ratios.
A study led by Dr. Frances Rauscher and Dr. Gordon Shawl, published in Neurological Research, was able to prove a direct relationship between piano music and mathematical skills. This relationship results in great enhancement of spatial - temporal reasoning.
Dr. Rauscher reported that an 8-month piano class could increase the spatial reason IQ of preschoolers by as much as 46%.
Improvements in linguistic functions resulting from children piano lessons could be explained by the link between certain aspects of communication and acoustic information. Identifying rhythm and pitch is also found to be related to verbal communication.
Music itself is a type of language, so exposing children to piano will certainly have an impact on their linguistic development. Deciphering each note and translating it into keystroke enforces a fundamental aspect of language. As a matter of fact, there are many young pianists who have improved their reading skills after taking piano lessons.
Piano lessons can also improve hand-eye coordination. Piano requires two hands working together with the eyes glancing between the keys and the music sheets. The dexterity and motor skills also receive a work out as several keys are simultaneously pressed while reading music notes.
Building self-esteem is another benefit of children taking piano lessons. Learning piano entails patience, perseverance and diligence. It takes long practice to be able to read notes and play the instrument at the same time.
So when children get the chance to perform at competitions or recitals, they feel proud of their accomplishments. Receiving public applause and having an audience are quite a rewarding experience for those who have spent months learning the piano.
With the growing number of studies backing the relationship between children development and music, the demand for piano lessons is increasing among parents who want to raise smarter and confident kids.
Countless parents can attest to the effectiveness of piano education in helping them raise intelligent kids. The challenge is for the parents to look for a child-friendly music school in order to convince their kids to take piano classes.
