The past 12 months of the current global pandemic have been very stressful. Many people’s routines were upended, and most of us have nevertheless, have not yet even gone back to any sense of normalcy (whatever that could be now). Unrelenting moms and dads are fighting through however (our hats off to them!), adopting and applying new techniques to preserve some sense of normalcy for their youngsters.
Thankfully, there are ways that you can help your child cope with the worries of pandemic life. Among them: consider getting your kids into learning music and rocking out on an instrument such as the guitar, piano/keyboard, ukulele or drums through music lessons!
Studies have shown that, music lessons and regular practice can not only offer a calming escape from the daily pressures of life, it also brings about and develops better communication skills, regulates emotions and decreases feelings of anxiety and agitation.
Listed here are five benefits of music lessons that can help your youngster cope with daily routines:
1. Discipline, Persistence and Accomplishment
Because mastering a musical instrument doesn't happen instantly, it brings about a sense of delayed gratification.
Think about learning how to play the guitar for instance, in order to even play a decent sounding chord, the student needs to develop the ability to hold the strings in the correct positions of the fretboard with appropriate strength.
Young ones have to dedicate hours, months or many years into practice to develop a sense of control over their music instrument. This inevitably leads to a sense of routine and self-discipline.
2. Memory, Attention and Focus
Mastering a music instrument requires reasonably high levels of focus. With kids, these extended periods of concentration during practise and study help to expand their attention span. Studies have shown that musically trained individuals display improved abilities to retain information when it comes to tasks that require memory work.
3. Social abilities and EQ levels
More often than so, learning and playing music will lead to social interactions. Whether it is trying to interpret the instructor in a 1-to-1 music lesson or playing with other musicians in a band or orchestra, learning and playing music brings out and enhances a youngster’s social abilities. On a deeper level, studies have also shown that the prolonged study of music brings about a heightened sense of EQ in individuals. This is mostly attributed to the fact that music compositions can often have a profound emotional impact on people making which in turn, develops children’s abilities to sense and read the emotions of their peers.
4. Brain growth
It goes without saying, that learning and mastering a music instrument requires a fair amount of mental work. Often, it involves sight reading, bodily coordination and listening all at the same time! This multi-tasking leads to an improved permanent mind framework, producing neural connections that are completely brand-new, in accordance with studies in neuroscience.
5. Creativity
Playing music can be an extension of a child’s ability to express themselves. Have you noticed how children from as young as a toddler’s age begin to explore sound and later on start to imitate songs they’ve heard? This eventually leads to completely changing lyrics and rhyme to their own creative concoctions. If you’ve picked up an instrument yourself for the first time, you would have probably be inclined to noodle around with it’s different sound properties and attempt to create some music of your own. Creativity is a natural outcome of learning a music instrument and music lessons provide for the tools required to create with music!
The benefits of music lessons for children go on and on. As their lives become increasingly stressful, especially in the current pandemic situation, it may be a relief to know that there is still a craft worth pursuing in the safety of their own homes which brings about quality outcomes, beneficial in molding their characters and attitudes.