piano lessons: investing in your children
By David and Carrie Brett
As a parent, you undoubtedly realize the
importance of preparing your children for
the future. Since education is one of the
key elements to future success, if you were
shown a way to increase your child's I.Q.
right now, wouldn't that be a step in the
right direction?
You, the parent, must be actively involved
in the education process to be certain your
children succeed academically. Besides offering
help and encouragement, there is another
less known, but carefully researched "educational
tool" that can help your children achieve
greater academic success.
It is now known, according to numerous studies,
that there is a profound link between music
and intelligence. As a parent, it is of
extreme importance that you learn more about
the amazing results of these studies and
how your children can experience the same
benefits.
Overall, the children who received the piano/keyboard
training performed 34% higher on tests measuring
spatial temporal ability.
The February 19, 1996 issue of Newsweek
magazine contains two eye-opening articles.
The first article entitled, "Your Child's
Brain," revealed a study that was led by
psychologists Dr. Gordon Shaw and Dr. Frances
Rauscher at UC Irvine. It was found that
after giving nineteen preschoolers either
singing or piano lessons, the children's
"spatial reasoning had dramatically improved".
Compared with children who had not received
music lessons, as displayed by their ability
to work mazes, draw geometric figures or
shapes and copy patterns of two- color blocks
"Music," says the UC team, "excites the
inherent brain patterns and enhances their
use in complex reasoning tasks."
The second article, "Why do schools flaunt
Biology?" goes into greater detail about
neurons, synapses, and axonal connections.
Detailed, but not impossible to understand.
We recommend that you drop by your local
library and read the articles in full
Another fascinating study done by the same
UC team revealed that, "music lessons, specifically
piano instruction, is far superior to computer
instruction in dramatically enhancing childrenĦs
abstract reasoning skills necessary for
learning math and science." Published in
the February 1997 issue of Neurological
Research, these findings are the result
of a two-year experiment with four groups
of preschoolers.
In the experiment, one group of preschoolers
received private piano/keyboard lessons.
Another group was given singing lessons,
while the third group received private computer
lessons. The fourth group received no training.
Overall, the children who received the piano/keyboard
training performed 34% higher on test measuring
spatial-temporal ability. Obviously, music
enhances brain functions needed for mathematics,
science, and engineering.
These findings can change the way educators
view the core school curricula, as music
tends to "nurture" the intellect and produces
long-term improvements.
Dr. Rauscher stated, "It has been clearly
documented that young students have difficulty
understanding the concepts of proportion
(heavily used in math and science) and that
no successful program has been developed
to teach these concepts in the school system."
As a result, Dr. Shaw added, "The high proportion
of children who evidenced dramatic improvement
in spatial-temporal reasoning as a result
of music training should be of great interest
to scientists and educators."
What the UC team's studies indicate is that
music training generates the neural connections
used for abstract reasoning like those necessary
for understanding mathematical concepts.
Neural connections are responsible for all
types of intelligence and a child's brain
will develop to its full potential only
with exposure to enriching childhood experiences.
Early experiences determine which brain
cells (neurons) will connect with other
brain cells and which will die away,
Drs. Shaw and Rauscher, through earlier
studies, have reported a "casual relationship
between music training and spatial-temporal
ability enhancement in preschoolers (1994)
and among college students who simply listened
to a Mozart sonata (1993, 1995)!
Although piano lessons are a fundamental
way to give a child a broad appreciation
of music, the benefits are largely non-musical.
Incidentally, it is not important for a
child to play a song to perfection. What
is important is for a child to develop to
the best of his or her abilities. The piano
is the "educational tool" that can help
accelerate a child's development.
Children that take piano lessons learn valuable
qualities such as concentration, coordination
and confidence. These qualities have been
termed the "three C's", and they can help
children reach their full potential.
Complete concentration is required when
studying piano. In lessons, a child learns
to read two lines of music and uses both
ears, arms, legs, feet and all ten fingers
with the brain sending a different message
to each of the body parts, causing them
to work together. No other activity allows
these skills to be used so constructively!
Coordination of the mind and muscles is
also developed with piano lessons, transferring
into many daily activities, which can include
improved hand-eye coordination, greater
sports enjoyment, and the fuller use of
both sides of the brain.
Confidence is then developed as a child
begins to experience the benefits of concentration
and coordination. It is very rewarding for
a child to complete a difficult task, allowing
him or her to feel good about the accomplishment.
In other words, the "three C's" can help
build a foundation that will cause a child
to grow and benefit now and also in the
future.
In 1991, a pilot piano/keyboard project
had some remarkably convincing results.
In fact, it was described boldly as, "a
revolution in the art of teaching." School
officials and business leaders had nothing
but praise for the project that was started
in 1990, for first and second graders.
Davis Elementary of Greenwood, Mississippi
was chosen due to the ample room available,
making it easier to implement the program.
The program was modeled after a similar
program in Japan, with the results being
the same... positive.
As you can see in the bar graph, there were
substantial increases in both reading and
especially math. Without lessons, there
was only a marginal increase for both. The
percentile increases were based on the SAT
scores taken before and after the program.
The results were pretty amazing when you
consider that the lessons were given to
a group of twelve to fifteen students just
once a week. Sound familiar? It's just like
the piano lessons many students receive
today with piano teachers around the world.
With private one-on-one lessons the results
would probably be even better, especially
for those who are encouraged to practice
regularly.
According to an article by public relations
chairman for the Sounds of Aloha chorus
and the HawaiiĦs men's barbershop chorus,
Tom Hutton, entitled, "Music improves school
grades," the social development that results
from a child who receives music instruction
are only the tip of the iceberg."
The real results are in academic achievement.
The article points out, "Particularly in
a child's early formative years, the impact
of music instruction and activity on mental
development is dramatic." There is also
some evidence that the benefits are particularly
pronounced in "slow learners."
Students with music backgrounds have consistently
exceeded the national average on SAT scores
by 19-31 points on the verbal portion and
14-23 points on the math portion, according
to the College Entrance Examination Board.
The investment you make now can translate
into scholarship money later because of
the higher SAT scores, saving you money
in the long run.
As a parent, you only have a short amount
of time to influence and mold your children
in a positive way for the future.
We're not sure who wrote the following,
but we think it effectively sums everything
up¸
"A hundred years from now it will not matter
what my bank account was, or the sort of
house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove¸
but the world may be different because I
was important in the life of a child"
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