Is Your Child Struggling in School? Get Him (Or Her) Music Lessons

This is counterintuitive, I know. Our natural response to seeing our child struggle is to find a way to help, not to add to the burden. If a child is struggling, why should we risk setting them up for failure in music lessons?

The answer is simple. Playing music has been discovered to have a direct and almost immediate effect on the brain of the student. That's right. Music lessons have been shown in a German study to have a significant impact on the way the brain functions after as little as five weeks!

What they found, when comparing a group of students taking music lessons with a control group that was not, was that students who had taken as few as ten music lessons over a five week period exhibited a significant ear to hand link.

So? What's the big deal? Life doesn't make much use of ear to hand connections unless you want to play an instrument by ear (I've always thought that provoked a strange mental picture ? imagine the ears you'd have to have to play the trombone!). The significance is two fold. First, it means that music lessons lead to brain development which ultimately means that music lessons have the effect of giving the individual that is taking the lessons improved brain function from which to draw in the rest of his or her life. Second, (and I saved the best for last) the ear to hand brain connection from music lessons is significant because researchers in Hong Kong took the study one step further and tested a group of students with music lessons and a group without music lessons for verbal memory and found that the group that was taking music lessons outscored their nonmusical peers by a significant margin.

It gets better still. The same groups of students were tested a year later, even after some of them had discontinued their music lessons, and found that they still outscored their nonmusical peers in verbal tests!

The moral to that story is get your child (or even yourself) into music lessons if you want your child to have every advantage possible in life, because these are only two benefits that we know of, but there are bound to be far more yet to be discovered.

Duane Shinn is the author of over 500 music books and products such as DVD's, CD's, musical games for kids, chord charts, musical software, and piano lesson instructional courses for adults. He holds advanced degrees from Southern Oregon University and was the founder of Piano University in Southern Oregon. He can be reached at http://www.chordpiano.com. He is the author of the popular free 101-week e-mail newsletter titled "Amazing Secrets Of Exciting Piano Chords & Sizzling Piano Chord Progressions" with over 56,650 current subscribers. Those interested may obtain a free subscription by going to http://www.playpiano.com

---

The Art of Music

Music is the art of arranging sounds in periodic time... Read More

Creating Your Own Compositions

The idea of actually creating a complete piece of music... Read More

Playing The Violin Is For Everyone Who Loves Music

Every day musical instruments enrich the lives of people around... Read More

Form - Giving Shape to Your Music

Do you ramble on endlessly with your improvisations? If so,... Read More

Visualization Techniques for the Pianist

Controlling the images of the mind through image projection has... Read More

Five Great Practice Ideas I Learned From My Piano Students!

Sometimes the teacher learns more from the student than the... Read More

Why New Musicians (Rappers) Fail: Three Reasons and Solutions

Despite the title of this article, the purpose of it... Read More

1973 Interview with Paul McCartney - Forming Wings

July 6, 1973 Birmingham EnglandSteven: Has it been difficult for... Read More

3 Quick & Easy Steps To Playing Music by Ear

Playing by ear is the ability to play a piece... Read More

Creating Your Own Unique Music

Have you ever dreamed of penning your own compositions? Writing... Read More

Defining The True Artist - Do You Have What It Takes?

"The real communicating artists seek unique expression. They are not... Read More

The Time Machine Exist!

We call it music, ever noticed how vividly music triggers... Read More

Open Position Piano Chords - Perfect for the New Age Style

The Open Position Chord (OPC) allows you to create a... Read More

Is the Mainstream Ready Once Again for Dance Music?

Not since the heyday of Dance/Pop Artists like Taylor Dayne... Read More

Hip Hop History

Rap music originated as a cross-cultural product. Most of its... Read More

The Life and Music of Beatle George Harrison

Propelled into fame as one of the Beatles, along with... Read More

Learn to Fiddle the Orange Blossom Special, the Most Popular Fiddle Tune in the World

Learning to fiddle the Orange Blossom Special is not easy,... Read More

Music For Self Improvement

Would you like to pop in a CD and have... Read More

Improvising On The Piano: Jazz Musicians Do It -- Why Not Other Styles?

Why jazz piano improvisation?Why not gospel piano improvisation?Is it not... Read More

Tips for Buying Digital Pianos and Keyboards

Buying a digital piano could be a very delicate attempt,... Read More

Music Business Contacts: Music Business Registry connects artists, managers, publishers, producers &

"The difference between success and failure is information," notes Ritch... Read More

Just 3 Chords? No Way!

A student wrote me an email about the lesson "Ocean... Read More

Piano Playing Your Way: How To Have More Fun Playing The Piano Than You Ever Have Before

Piano playing doesn't have to be boring. There's no law... Read More

Buying A Guitar - Do You Know What To Look For?

Buying a guitar is an important decision that my students... Read More

The Art Of Practicing - How To See Real Results

I have always believed that success, in practically any subject... Read More

Beginner Guitar Lessons - Learn Guitar without Ever Leaving Your Home!

So, you think you'd like to learn to play guitar,... Read More

How Much of Your Potential Will You Release?

Do you ever feel there is an inner voice speaking... Read More

How to Become a World Class Expert in Just 20 Minutes a Day

Is it really possible to become an expert in some... Read More

Warner Music Executive Payments

"In human life, art may arise from almost any activity,... Read More

Can You Really Learn To Play a Musical Instrument From an Online Course?

Out of the 250 million people in the United States,... Read More

Arranging for New Age Piano

A while back, I wrote an article that compared flower... Read More

Music to Echo Your Mood

In what way do the kinds of music (rock, rap,... Read More

Music Making as Spiritual Experience

If you've been playing piano for some time, you may... Read More