Why Your Child Should Learn How to Play an Instrument
Learning an instrument in childhood can pay off later in life and could even prevent memory loss or other cognitive issues.
To say my life has been enriched by playing music would be an understatement.
In 4th grade, I wanted to play the saxophone. My parents surprised me by renting an alto sax from the town music store, then hid it in their closet. When I got home from school, they asked me to get my dad’s slippers from his closet, then followed me into their room to see my reaction.
I took it out of the case, and it shined. I was excited to learn how to play it, so I started taking lessons at school.
Once I learned how to read music, I moved on to guitar, trumpet, and then singing lessons.
Throughout the process, it never felt like work. It was fun and enjoyable because I was doing something that I loved.
Looking back as a parent now, I can strongly suggest one bit of sage advice: have your child learn an instrument.
There are plenty of benefits. Here are a few I learned firsthand.
Learning to read music is like learning a different language.
Reading music forces my brain to think differently and process the notes and shapes on paper into musical notes.
I learned to read music in my alto saxophone days but honed it when I started learning guitar at 14.
My teacher started by showing me notes and scales. I was quickly bored and wondered when I would graduate from Three Blind Mice.
I didn’t realize at the time that I needed first to learn the foundation — the fingering of notes on the fretboard, the right way to hold the guitar pick — before I could put those notes together to form a chord.
After months of practice, it started to trigger muscle memory, where the note I was looking at automatically put my fingers in the correct position. It became effortless.
I was playing faster and with more confidence and finally evolved to full chords. Then I learned my first power chord, and the rest is history!
Time flies when you’re in the zone
Playing music is a form of mediation. That may sound weird, but it’s true.
According to Headspace.com, the flow state was made famous by positive psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Jeanne Nakamura. Flow state describes a feeling where, under the right conditions, you become fully immersed in whatever you are doing.
That flow you can get while playing video games, sports, or music. It’s an altered state of mind where time slows down, and nothing else exists outside of what you’re doing in the present.
For me, the chords and strumming flow automatically. Most of the time, my eyes are closed without me even noticing it.
I would call it ‘zoning out’ when I was younger before I knew what flow was.
I slip into auto-pilot. Singing, playing guitar, and harmonica simultaneously takes excellent coordination and balance. If I realize I’m doing it, I’ll mess up. I have to slip into the flow for it to happen.
I made friends for life as bandmates
This may be the most important reason from my perspective.
I had bleach blonde hair in my high school days and wore black and white wingtip shoes because I loved Ska and Punk music.
One day I was in the lunchroom my freshman year, and an older junior approached me and commented on how much he liked my shoes.
Immediately he knew I was into ska and asked if I played an instrument. I told him proudly that I knew how to play guitar, and he asked if I wanted to jam some time with a few other kids from school.
I was so excited about the idea of getting together with other kids and playing music. That jam session turned into us learning a few Christmas songs, punk rock style, and playing them in front of the entire school in the auditorium at our upcoming Christmas assembly.
That was my first time playing in front of people. I was nervous as hell, but what a rush. It turns out I would continue to chase that feeling for another 15 years or so all over the country. At the time, I had no idea how much that feeling would change my life.
The drummer from the Christmas assembly show was my wedding officiant. The promoter of my Midwest shows and videographer was my best man. I met everyone at my wedding party through music except for my brother (obviously), but he was my producer and recording engineer for a stretch of a few years.
My longest-lasting relationships revolve around those I’ve played music with.
Touring
Self Expression
Outside of playing the instrument, there’s also writing and composing.
I get lost in writing the lyrics, which has also served as journaling for me through the years. I have two decade’s worth of notebooks full of lyrics.
Is become a cathartic form of expressing my feelings. Then marrying the lyrics with melodies of my creation is a thing of beauty and a sense of accomplishment.
Cognitive benefits
Not only is it a productive and rewarding hobby, but playing music is known to have great cognitive benefits, as well.
The following excerpt is pulled from Alzdiscovery.org:
Recent studies suggest that music may enhance cognitive function and promote healthy aging. Playing a musical instrument throughout life is associated with a lower risk of developing dementia. This has been attributed to the ability of musical training and performance to increase the resiliency of the brain.
The “throughout life” part implies that instruments would be learned at any time (and it’s never too late to learn). But getting them started at a young age ensures they will carry the skill with them throughout their life.
National Geographic cites several studies that back this claim, stating the following:
Music lessons in childhood can do something perhaps more valuable for the brain than childhood gains: provide benefits for the long run, as we age, in the form of an added defense against memory loss, cognitive decline, and diminished ability to distinguish consonants and spoken words.
Not only that, you may well get those benefits even if you haven’t tickled the ivories, strummed the guitar, or unpacked your instrument from its case in years. And dividends could even be in store if you decide to pick up an instrument for the very first time in midlife or beyond.
The reason is that musical training can have a “profound” and lasting impact on the brain, creating additional neural connections in childhood that can last a lifetime and thus help compensate for cognitive declines later in life, says neuropsychologist Brenda Hanna-Pladdy of Emory University in Atlanta. Those many hours spent learning and practicing specific types of motor control and coordination (each finger on each hand doing something different, and for wind and brass instruments, also using your mouth and breathing), along with the music-reading and listening skills that go into playing an instrument in youth, are all factors contributing to the brain boost that shows up later in life.
In Conclusion
- Reading music is like learning another language
- Playing an instrument is a quick way to get into the flow state
- Make friends with other music-loving people and practice self-expression through creative writing
- Learning an instrument in childhood gives your little one a brain boost that will pay off later in life and could even prevent memory loss or other cognitive issues
