If you google "benefits of studying the piano" you will see pages and pages of articles, all with great information about the how the brain interacts and develops whilelistening to music, and learning to play the piano, or any musical instrument, or singing. This is from Keynotes Piano Studio in Tallahasse, Florida: "A piano student learns to read two lines of music, use both ears, arms, legs, feet and all ten fingers, with the brain giving each body part a different assignment to perform simultaneously. No other activity allows a child to exercise all of these skills in such a constructive manner. Piano lessons, therefore, develop coordination in both mind and muscles, which transfers to many daily activities. This includes improved hand-eye coordination, greater enjoyment and ability in sports, and the full use of both left and right sides of the brain." Go to their website and you'll find links to articles on a MIT study, an article on enhanced verbal skills, an article on how musical training affects brain development in young children and much more.
This site, "Cooper Piano Studio" in Atlanta Georgia, has gathered information in a blog post from May, 2011 titled "Top Ten Ways Playing Piano Makes You Healthier and Smarter", and is definitely worth reading.
The website of The National Piano Foundation has several articles, and they have added something that some of the others have not: listening! Listening is a very important aspect to learning music, and it is also extremely beneficial in so many ways. This is from an article on their website: "Kids are ready to begin making music even earlier than you may think. Before then, there are benefits to just listening. Hearing music stimulates the mind, improves the mood and brings people together." I like that last part..it brings people together! From my point of view as a composer and performer, I can tell you that the experience of listening to music is enhanced greatly when you share that with other people. As a performer, I know that the act of making music becomes a "deeper" experience when I feel everyone in the performance space is really listening. It's wonderful to hear from audience members after a performance who tell me how much the music moved them, made them feel happy, lifted their burdens of the day, or as one audience member once told me...he saw all kinds of colors after listening to a solo performance of mine.
I had a discussion with a good friend of mine about the experience of listening to live music, and what that does for the performer, and even more so, what that does for the listener. He responded the next day with an article from The Daily Kos:"The ghosts, joys and obsessions of seeing it live" by Laura Clawson (4.20.2014) Ms. Clawson says: "When you get down to it, being part of an audience is a collective experience we don't most of us get on a regular basis, and it can heighten the immediacy of the performance itself. "
So imagine how listening to music with your child, with your whole family, and how that can bring everyone together. Listening is not only great for the brain, it's great for the soul.
Here is a list of what parents can do, from an article titled "Your Child's Lifetime of Music" from The National Piano Foundation.
- Make music a part of your home.
- Expose your children to different types of music. Go to musical events, listen to the radio, enjoy musical performances on television, play CDs — there are lots of ways to explore the world of music.
- Make music as a family. Maybe you’re an accomplished musician with a
gift to pass on to your kids; or maybe you can pass a rainy day making
your own instruments out of coffee cans, broomsticks
or water glasses. It’s fun either way. - Encourage and support your children when they become interested in playing an instrument.
- If you are a musician in your own right, be a model for your children. If you’re not, you can learn together!
And lastly, if you want to skip all of the reading and just watch a cool 4 min video on the brain and music, check this out...it says it all!
