Benefits of Learning Music

As a certified Music Therapist and music educator, I often get asked the question: "what are the benefits of learning music?"  I feel strongly that learning music is an extremely healthy thing for children and adults alike.  Here are some beautifully written points about the benefits of music education, courtesy of the Merry Melody Music Academy in Whitman MA.

"Learning a musical instrument promotes self-expression, creativity, cognitive development, abstract thought, and motor & rhythmic development.  Recent research supports findings that music study may be linked to higher brain function in learning. Learning to play an instrument can help your child be more successful in school and develop skills that they can use their entire life.  Music lessons will raise self-esteem and foster devotion, self-discipline, and confidence.

Not only will learning an instrument help children grow cognitively, but there is something about the timelessness and the universality of music that makes it a special gift for a student.  To be able to experience the joy of music is unique to the human experience and is the only transcending thing that has cross through every single human culture in history.  Not even language can make this claim."

Wow!  Let's start making some music!