PPP100: Ten Non-Musical Benefits of Studying Music

Summary: Today, the Piano Parent Podcast is celebrating it’s 100th episode! The Piano Parent Podcast has been downloaded 28,821 times from people all around the world. Thank you for listening and thank you for sharing the podcast with you piano parent friends.While this is a podcast milestone, it is also our 10th “10 musical somethings” episode. So today, I would like to give you 10 non-musical benefits of studying music! Over the years I’ve spoken to lots of teachers; some would argue that music is worthwhile simply for the beauty of music. I don’t disagree with them. When teachers at the schools where I teach approach me about using music to enhance their subjects, I get territorial. I encourage them to use music in their classroom for memorizing multiplication tables or historical facts but I cannot take up my limit music time with the students for those things: there is already too much music-related information I want to share with the children – just for the sake of music.Within that, however, and as they’re learning beautiful music, I love that all these other benefits come into play in a music lesson. 10 Non-Musical Benefits of Learning Music * Listening – Learning to listen to their teacher and the instructions they are giving, as well as to listen to the music they’re making. Are they playing the correct rhythms and melodies? Can they identify the different parts of the music like the bass line, melody and harmony? Learning music gives your child an extra opportunity to practice their listening skills.* Problem Solving – Each week, your piano child is faced with different challenges within their lesson. Whether it is sight-reading, identifying new musical symbols, breaking down a difficult passage, or just getting their fingers to do what they want them to, your student is learning new ways to problem solve and overcome the challenges they face.* Self Correction – As your student works with a new piece of music, in order to learn it well, they must learn how to self correct. Does the music they’re playing match the music on the page? Are they making those connections themselves or are they completely reliant on others to point out their mistakes? Music gives students the opportunity to practice self correction, and to remap their brains to avoid the same mistakes in the future.* Interpretation/Discernment – Learning music is like learning a new language. They are taking black dots and lines on a page and creating beautiful music from it. Instead of just mechanically interpreting what they see, your piano kid learns to read between the lines and interpret the meaning and purpose of the music they are creating.* Patience – In a world focused on instant gratification, the effort it takes to learn music is a great way for your child to practice patience. Mastering a new piece of music takes lots of time and pa...

PPP100: Ten Non-Musical Benefits of Studying Music

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