Why music matters, and why the teaching does too.

Listening to and making music is a wonderful experience, with many benefits.  Read on to discover them and learn about the health warning that can negate the benefits.  

a) Music reshapes the brain
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• Music can help with phonics
• Learning to read music notation may help with reading text as many of the underlying principles are the same
• There is lots of evidence that musical training provides individuals with better overall aural memory
• There is strong evidence that making music has an impact on spatial reasoning
• Rhythm and movement seem to be particularly important for us as a species

b) Musical training helps progress

'Children who experience musical training have an advantage across all subjects except sport'

• In research studies children who learnt an instrument made better progress in school, no matter the level they started from ​
• Start young!
• The longer the training the bigger the impact 

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c) Music has a direct link to our emotions

‘It reaches the parts of the brain other things can’t do’.

• Music can improve our mood
  
• Music can reduce anger
  
• Singing and playing with others gives a sense of belonging 
  
  
  

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d) Music improves self belief

‘When children engage in music and get positive feedback it helps them to develop a stronger self belief’

• The opportunity to perform with positive and constructive feedback can be highly motivating (performance can cover a variety of contexts including informal and more formal settings)

But, what about the teaching?
All the benefits come with a vital health warning:
'If the quality of music tuition is poor and unstructured there is no impact'
Even worse, the impact of poor music tuition goes even deeper and may have:
'negative outcomes'


Next week we describe what good music teaching looks like to help you find a teacher and approach that will deliver the benefits music can bring when done well.  

What has your experience been of music lessons?  

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