Learning a musical instrument has a range of benefits attached to it. We share the academic benefits of learning a musical instrument In Roseville, CA.
Between the age-old wisdom of practice, practice, practice and you are what you eat is the idea that effort matters. The thing is, effort doesn’t matter because it adds value to an experience. Effort matters because it strengths your body and mind.
Lifting and running each day will keep your body fit. In the exact same way, your brain improves as one of the benefits of learning a musical instrument.
Which is why its such a shame that only 10% of young adults retain an instrument and only 6% of seniors. We’ve already gone over the benefits of music for children in regards to discipline.
This article will cover the mental and academic benefits that go outside of music and into many other aspects of learning.
Benefits of Learning a Musical Instrument
Understanding how many processes occur in the brain when studying music would take several lifetimes of study.
You get emotional edification and psychological benefits from music.
You get neural pathways being created and reinforced by playing and hearing music.
You get specific neurotransmitters including CREB, BDNF, and synapsin I that releases.
Mostly, you get a well-rounded exercise of that grey matter. Music is the triathlon of mental efforts.
Event 1: Curiosity
Curiosity is a quantifiable mental process. It comes from the brain knowing enough about a subject to know it needs to find additional information. That yearning, not unlike a craving for salt or protein, is verifiable.
Music theory for children creates a foundation of math, timing, and emotional appeal that can be built on.
Event 2: Cultural Empathy
Music has been created by many different generations across many different cultures. Learning music is about learning the history and roots of many different elements.
Why an indigenous group picked up certain tones, what they hard in their world, how they sought to express their fears and hopes.
Music reaches into these places and pulls out something resonant across cultural barriers. Only food has more reach than music in introducing cultures to children.
this is a great reason to introduce online music to kids. You can reach some exciting places with just a few keystrokes.
Event 3: Memory
In progressive medical science, music is used to treat memory dysfunction. Music has shown promise in delaying the onset of conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The reason that music works so well on establishing and building memory comes from the multi-channel process it utilizes.
Ther brain has regions which specialize, much like organs in the body. These regions are not as collected as an internal organ, but they do light up in fMRI.
Music activates areas in the visuospatial and verbal. Further, they enhance recognition in semantic and episodic tasks.
Playing music activates language, visualization, long term, and short term memory all at once. That is why hearing music can be such a heady experience. The amount of blood flow that hits the brain is actually that intense.
Get in Tune
So, you see that the benefits of learning a musical instrument permeate through academic thought. While the discipline and practice establish positive aims, the mental benefits increase understanding.
Music is performed, conceived, and experienced all at the same time. This is some powerful somatic learning. Which is why those that see the potential need to keep the tempo high.
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