To benefit from all of music’s health benefits, children and parents do not need to be musically gifted. Dancing to your favorite song is a great way to lift your spirits and get your heart rate up. Consider the alphabet album. Teaching tunes to children is an effective way to help them learn basic lessons. Learning to play a musical instrument will help you develop self-control and trust. The following are some of the children’s health benefits from music.
Language processing
Many studies have shown that music and language are processed in similar ways in the brain and that music training aids in the development of a number of language-related skills, including vocabulary building and phoneme production. According to the Neurosciences Institute, its analysis has “revealed a large degree of overlap between music and language processing,” and Stanford University researchers found in a 2005 study that learning a musical instrument enhances the way the human brain handles parts of spoken language. Musical training can be particularly beneficial to students who are struggling with language and reading skills, according to the findings.
Memory
Children’s health benefits from music. Music preparation seems to have memory effects as well. Researchers from The Chinese University of Hong Kong discovered that children who had received musical training had greater verbal memory than their peers in a study. “Those who had started or continued music training showed substantial verbal memory development when these children were followed up after a year,” the study’s authors wrote. To put it another way, memorizing music parts were linked to changes in non-musical memory. In a 2018 study, researchers from York University confirmed that music training improves working memory in young adults.
Math
The connection may be due to the unique ways in which music “challenges” young minds. Takako Fujioka, a researcher at the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and co-author of a study that found musically trained children improved more on memory tests over the course of a year than their non-musically trained peers, explains that playing music “requires the brain to solve problems of how to assign focus and memory toward complex tasks.”
Self-Awareness
Dr. Frank Wilson, a neurologist and an authority on the relationship of hand use to human cognitive development, explains that the study of music teaches children to “self assess,” rather than to rely on external rewards. While much of our schooling focuses on grades and prizes, music can foster internal motivation. The precision and attention required to play an instrument — the instant feedback loop that requires you to adjust your own performance — encourages an “ongoing surveillance of yourself,” Wilson says. “It leads you to become a critic of your own work, to not be satisfied with anything less than achieving what it was you intended to do.”
If you’ve ever attempted to interpret even a basic piece of music — or bang a drum in time to a rhythm — you know that music necessitates performing mathematical operations (such as division) on the fly. However, studies have found a correlation between music education and school math performance. Students in the arts program “scored substantially higher on mathematical measures of computation and estimation” than students in a control group, according to a report conducted by The Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada.
Social skills
The Rotman Research Institute’s Takako Fujioka points out that playing music has benefits beyond academics: “When you engage in music in a group or a school, you create mutual memories during musical activities.” It’s a great way to get to know each other.”
This bonding will also help children learn to work together. Researchers from Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina, discovered that at-risk elementary school students who received music lessons in an after-school program had fewer behavioral issues. Sharon Burch, an elementary school music teacher who created the “Freddy the Frog” series of books and activities to teach children the basics of music, has also seen the positive impact of music on students’ social well-being. “I teach 450 kids a year,” she says, “and I find that the kids who participate in music are the most well-behaved, confident, and perform well in their academic classes.”
Academic success
With all of the advantages that music has for children’s language, math, memory, and self-evaluation, it’s no wonder that there is a clear connection between music and academic achievement. According to the College Board, students in music programs scored higher in English and math than students who did not have any music at all, and high school students with music experience scored higher on the SAT than their non-musical peers. According to a 1994 survey, music majors had the highest acceptance rate to medical school as a category.