What Can Music Lessons Teach My Child?
Aside from teaching your child to read and play music, there are many advantages of taking music lessons. Many desirable skills and character traits are also developed by music lessons. Some of those skills include perserverance, math skills, courage, poise, and confidence.
Perseverance
Even the most gifted musician will eventually find a piece that challenges them. Sticking with practicing a song that’s challenging until you get better at it and finding success at that teaches a child perseverance. This trait will help your child stick with hard tasks later in life. When she encounters a particularly hard college course or begins her first job, she will know that sticking with something can lead to success even when at first the task at hand seems overwhelming. Taking in home piano lessons can help your child learn the valuable trait of perseverance.
Math skills
As a math teacher, I can tell the students who take music lessons because when we encounter fractions, they are more comfortable with them. They understand how many quarters or eighths are in a half because they’ve heard it and played it. Music is a very sensory-based way of understanding fractions, patterns, time, and ratios. Seeing that what they learn in math class has real life, concrete applications in something they enjoy motivates them to care about math as well. In home piano lessons or any sort of music lessons, can help your child develop a deeper and richer understanding and appreciation of math.
Courage and poise
Getting up on stage and performing in front of an audience takes great courage. To graciously accept the audience’s attention and applause takes poise. Having an opportunity to practice this for example, on stage at their cello recital, will build your child’s ability to perform and speak in front of a group. Having the poise to play, even when nervous, will translate to having poise when giving a presentation in Spanish class or a speech at a graduation.
Confidence
Especially for children who might struggle academically, finding another area of their life where they feel successful and proud of themselves will help build their confidence.
Music lessons teach your child to read music, to play an instrument or better use his or her voice, music appreciation, and expose your child to a variety of music. Beyond that, music lessons give your child an opportunity to improve their math sense and grow in perseverance, poise, courage, and confidence.
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Image #2 sourced from (www.istockphoto.com)
