Key Benefits of Music Lessons

Learning to play music is the kind of activity that has the potential to change a person’s life. Aside from the simple pleasure of playing an instrument, which in itself can be immensely enjoyable, there are also lots of benefits of music lessons and ways in which music can expand your experience as a human being. It’s often compared to learning another language, in that it teaches you to think and understand certain ideas in new ways. For early learners especially, these lessons can make an imprint on the mind and its development for a lifetime. Children who take music lessons are exposed to concepts and challenges that they can continuously build upon as they grow, beginning a journey of constant learning and persistent enjoyment as they master the craft. Along the way, those same lessons can provide a foundation that extends to aspects of life beyond the music itself.

8 Key Benefits of Music Lessons

With learning music, as with learning new languages, there’s a lot more than just memorization involved. It really is like learning to think in a new way, interpreting and performing sounds in increasingly intricate variations. As a result, there are a variety of ways in which this knowledge has the potential to enhance your life. Being musical is like an exercise in thought and feeling that opens doors beyond the music itself. Though playing music is undoubtedly rewarding on its own, it has become increasingly apparent that music can have many positive effects for us socially, emotionally, and cognitively. The following are just a few key benefits of music lessons that can make a difference in one’s quality of life.

1. Improved Language & Reasoning Skills

According to studies, music lessons can actually change a person’s brain chemistry in ways that improve one’s ability to learn and comprehend language. In part, this occurs because musical training can make you more aware of slight changes in sound and tone, which can also give you an edge in the phonetic skills needed for language learning and reading. Forming links between music and new information can also make an impression on the way a person reasons and remembers what they’ve learned.

2. Improved Spatial Intelligence

This kind of intelligence is about being able to perceive the world accurately and visualize ways in which different elements go together. For example, arranging supplies in a backpack neatly or hitting the right keys on a piano. Studies say that music can improve spatial intelligence, which can have a variety of applications in mathematics and problem-solving.

3. Improved Executive Function

Two of the most crucial aspects of learning music are focus and timekeeping, both of which are also in the category of executive functions. Among other things, executive functions include organization, memory, prioritizing, and other mental processes that enable you to get things done. Musical training is known for improving executive function overall, which can make an enormous improvement in completing tasks of all sorts.

4. Higher Test Scores

Students who take music lessons are also known to score higher in tests across all subjects. In fact, studies show that the more engaged a student is in music the better they perform academically. On average, students who have taken music lessons for several years are about one year ahead of their peers who had little-to-no musical training.

5. Learning Music Improves Self-Esteem

Music has always been a tool for enabling people to express their innermost feelings. Not only is this a cathartic and meaningful exercise for many who learn music, it can also make a difference in the way we feel overall. In particular, the satisfaction of learning and mastering the craft has a way of improving your confidence. With confidence comes self-worth and better self-esteem, which can lead a person to embrace new challenges in other areas of life.

6. Music Can Encourage Empathy

Calling music the “universal language” is more apt than you may realize. The more music we’re exposed to, the more we can experience life and emotions from other points of view. Children with a background in music are given access to bridges across cultures that can make them more empathetic as they grow. Neuroscience has even demonstrated a link between music and empathy, demonstrating how the two go hand in hand.

7. Music Lessons Encourage Creativity

Being creative is an important quality for any form of art, but it can have applications in other areas as well. Learning to think outside the box and imagine novel solutions to a problem are skills that can be invaluable in a lot of areas, both professional and in general. Being creative is one of the most enjoyable parts of learning music. The more a person exercises their creativity in this way, the more they can adapt the same kind of thinking to new situations from coming up with a new project to inventing a solution that’s never been tried before.

8. Music As An Outlet For Emotional Exploration

Growing up, many of us gravitate towards one form of music or another. It’s a way of finding ourselves and understanding our feelings through emotional exploration. When you learn to sing or play an instrument, you gain a tool for even more emotional exploration by way of putting your feelings into the world through art. It’s a way to express oneself uniquely and honestly, which can be invaluable throughout a person’s lifetime.

Embrace Your Musical Education at Grace Music School

Whether you’re starting as a child or as an adult, Grace Music School offers lessons that can help you embrace all the opportunities that music can provide. Our lessons are fun, innovative, and tailored for each individual. Whatever your skill level or style may be, our instructors are here to provide the knowledge and guidance you need to take the next step on your musical journey. We offer lessons for almost all instruments including the voice, piano, guitar, and more. Contact us here to learn more and enroll in one of our lesson programs today.