The benefits of music in children: what you can expect
Learning music helps children listen, concentrate, persevere and express themselves. We tell you what benefits you can expect and what are exaggerated promises.
Learning music gives a child a constant practice of things that serve far more than to play: listening with care, keeping an effort, tolerating an error, expressing ourselves to others and working as a team. They are benefits that are seen in class and often at home as well.
That's right, they don't come by magic or from day to day and we don't have to inflate them. Music isn't a formula for uploading the school's grades or "making them more intelligent" to anyone. Here we tell you what you can expect realistically and what makes these benefits come up.
To sum up
- Music trains listening and attention: following a pulse, noticing if something's out of tune, expecting an entrance.
- Learning an instrument teaches constancy: advances come with frequent practice and patience with error.
- To play for others opens an area of expression and confidence, also for shy children.
- Bandas, choirs and assemblies teach how to listen to others and how to assume a responsibility in the group.
- The benefits depend on the process: good faith, constancy and enjoyment. No automatic results.
Attention and listen
In a music class the child's listening all the time: the example of teacher, his own sound, the pulse of the song. To play a piece have to care for several things at once (what note follows, with what finger, at what speed) and, little by little, hold that care for more time.
At home this can be noted in details: she recognizes how soon a song changes his speed, she distinguishes instruments from his listening music, she realizes something "sounded weird." It's a more thin listening that doesn't appear alone and she trains week by week.
Constance and tolerance to frustration
Few activities have shown so clear that the effort works. A passage that Monday seemed impossible to leave on Friday after a few days of slow practice. That repeated experience teaches something very valuable: knowing how to do something isn't the same as not how to do something.
He also teaches how to coexist with error. In music one gets wrong all the time, and what we learn is to stop: to correct and follow. A good faith celebrates the process and not just the result, and that changes how the child faces the difficult.
Expression and confidence
Music is a way to say words without words. To play a cheerful or sad piece, to improvise and to come up with a song: all that gives the child more language to express itself.
To appear before others, though at a mini concert for the family, works confidence. Stories appear and to learn how to manage them with care and with gradual experiences is a skill that serves at school and in life. If your child costs a great deal, this guide can serve you to overcome stage fear..
Group work and membership
In a band, a choir or an ensemble each member has a role. If the clarinet doesn't practice his share, the band will note that. That teaches responsibility with the group, listen to others and the satisfaction of building something that nobody could do alone.
The music also links with the roots. Learning a bamboo, a cumbia or a curulao is a way to get to know Colombian culture from within, and many families enjoy discovering that their son plays songs that sounded at their grandparents' place.
Coordination and body awareness
Each instrument calls for different co-ordination and to learn about it is part of the challenge:
- At [piano]](/clases/piano)Each hand does something different and his fingers move independently.
- The [violin]](/clases/violin)One hand looks for tuning and the other controls the arch with the posture of the whole body involved.
- In the winds, air is dosed and coordinated with his fingers and his tongue.
- At the percussion, hands and feet have different rhythms at the same time.
- At [musical initiation]](/clases/iniciacion-musical), the smaller coordinate movement, voice and rhythm through the game.
Also, they learn to notice their own body: where there's tension, how to sit, how to breathe to play or better to sing.
What music doesn't promise
A number of challenges have been expressed about child music and some have been put to care:
| That's what you usually say. | The most realistic |
|---|---|
| "Music makes him smarter." | He practises attention, memory and listening within the music. How they reflect them in other areas depends on many factors. |
| "He's gonna get his grades better at school." | Some children move study and constancy habits and are neither automatic nor can be promised. |
| "He's gonna calm him down if he's so restless." | It can be a space to channel energy and to concentrate and do not replace professional support if necessary. |
| "If you start up so small, you'll be a great musician." | To start early helps to build bases, but interest, practice and good accompaniment weigh more than age. |
If your child has a diagnosis as an ADHD, music can be a very positive activity with appropriate adjustments but it's not a treatment. We have it in [music and ADHD]](/blog/musica-y-tdah-como-apoyar-el-aprendizaje).
What makes benefits appear
- A teacher who can teach children his age and comune demand with care.
- Constancy: a weekly class and a short practice most of the day.
- Repertoire you like, so you'll get back to the instrument.
- Opportunities to play for others and with others.
- Papers that accompany and celebrate the effort, with no pressure or comparisons.
If you still don't know where to start, this guide about what instrument to choose for your child It helps you get first step.
Frequently asked questions
Do music make children smarter?
It's something that can be promised. What you do about training skills such as listening, care, memory and constancy within a demanding and enjoyable activity. It's worth it by itself, as shortcuts to something else.
How old are the benefits of music shown?
From very small, at-home music and musical initiation are a place of play, link and expression. The benefits attached to an instrument, such as constancy or fine co-ordination, become more visible after a few months of regular classes.
What instrument has more benefits for a child?
No particular one. The best one's his best, his age and his body, and his motivation to practice. A tool he enjoys brings him more than an "ideal" that he doesn't want to play.
That's enough with the high school music class?
It's a good first contact, but in large groups it's difficult to work with each child's technique. If your child shows an interest, a particular class or a small group allows him to advance at his or her best and with closer monitoring.