If your children do not yet play a musical instrument, please consider having them learn to do so. There are so many benefits to a child, including the 3 mentioned below:
It helps to develop discipline. Learning to play an instrument takes time and dedication. Time must be set aside on an almost daily basis to practice. Sometimes, practice needs to take place even though your child would much rather to be doing something else.
It helps build time management skills. There are only a set number of hours each day that a child has and much of this time is taken up by school, homework, chores and play. In order to practice regularly, you and your child will have to plan out a schedule and then stick to it as much as possible. Your children will learn how to prioritize their time and eliminate tasks that really do not matter.
It helps children to regulate their emotions. In a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry on the effects of learning a musical instrument on child brain development, researchers saw improvements “in regions of the brain that regulate behavior, emotions, working memory, attention and future planning.” Dr. Jim Hudziak, professor of psychiatry, medicine, pediatrics, and communication sciences and disorders at University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said that “there are things we can do to help in the development of those frontal and prefrontal regions of the brain, which are involved with attention and emotional regulation. Musical practice is one such workout.”
Monday December 13 is recognized as National Violin Day, promoting the importance of violins in our society. One of my nieces has played the violin since she was a young child and she was able to excel through discipline, including daily practice sessions. She is now attending a prestigious music college as a result.
Parents should speak with their children about what type of musical instrument they may be interested in. It may be that your child starts learning one instrument, but later, changes to another one. What is important to keep in mind is the impact learning an instrument has on the child’s brain development, not the type of instrument itself that is played.
To learn more, please visit:
https://time.com/3634995/study-kids-engaged-music-class-for-benefits-northwestern/