We
live in dark times. The age of austerity is upon us, the eurozone is
circling the drain and even the Chinese have discovered their economy
can't keep growing forever. In the midst of all this economic doom
and gloom, any cash strapped parent could be forgiven for looking at
the idea of music lessons for their child as something of an
unnecessary frivolity. Far better to spend their time and money on
academic or vocational pursuits. Music lessons... well, they're just
a bit of fun, aren't they?
So
speaks conventional wisdom.
However,
as with so many things, conventional wisdom is very, very, wide of
the mark. There are a huge number of cognitive and developmental
benefits associated with learning an instrument – and I'd make the
case that the guitar, with its portability, relative cheapness,
attractive image and history of improvisation rather than rigid
adherence to classical strictures is about the best place it's
possible to start.
First
off, let's look at the academic benefits. Intelligence is a hard
thing to define – let's not forget that Einstein was a completely
average pupil at school – but at it's heart lies the capacity to
understand a subject from first principles, and then extrapolate
different outcomes from those principles. An understanding of
software coding built from the ground up enables a software developer
to come up with programs to cover any eventuality he or she can think
of – someone trying to achieve the same result forcing together
chunks of rote learned code isn't going to succeed. Music is a
fantastic primer for these thought patterns, as there are only twelve
notes so the building blocks are very simple. From the chromatic
scale we get the major scale, from the major scale we build chord
progressions which we can recognise and identify using the Nashville
Number System and so on.
That
ability to understand and extrapolate, those thought patterns which
are so essential to problem solving, once mastered in one easy,
enjoyable recreational field, can be very simply applied to others.
Extensive
research done in this area has proved that children who learn to play
a musical instrument do better in academics. Shaw, Rauscher, Levine,
Wright, Dennis and Newcomb, in their research paper titled Music
Training Causes Long-Term Enhancement Of Preschool Children's
Spatial-Temporal Reasoning, speak about, “a research team exploring
the link between music and intelligence reported that music training
is far superior to computer instruction in dramatically enhancing
children's abstract reasoning skills, the skills necessary for
learning math and science."
Hand
in hand with these benefits go the additional ones of improving short
term memory – a big part of a musician is learning to recognise,
internalise and recreate patterns. This is an essential part of
learning and understanding any discipline, from languages to physics.
Maestro
Eduardo Marturet, reiterates this point when he says, "Further
research has shown that participation in music at an early age can
help improve a child's learning ability and memory by stimulating
different patterns of brain development." Music education is
also linked to higher IQ levels and the physical development of
certain parts of the brain.
Discipline,
patience and focus are essential qualities for success in any field
and these are all qualities which will be exercised and developed by
learning a musical instrument. The discipline to apply yourself to a
regular practice routine, the patience to keep working on a
particular song or section or solo until it comes good, the focus
needed to look at a part and work out where the problems are and how
to solve them.. these qualities have a huge carryover into the real
world. If you've got the discipline, patience and focus to keep
plugging away at crafting the perfect solo for your band's new song,
you're more than likely to have the discipline, patience and focus to
root out the bad line of code or trace the engine problem or even
just keep the burger under the grill for exactly the right
amount of time to bring out the flavour. It's all about the attitude.
Let's
also not forget that learning in itself is a skill. Learning an
instrument is a multilayered process that involves looking at what
you want to do, looking at what you're currently doing, evaluating
the two and working out what problems are there and how they can be
solved (I've encountered people who can't – or won't – do this,
as I'm sure we all have). Applying this self-critical approach to
everyday activities brings interesting results, especially for kids
on the edge of adolescence when their perceptions of themselves and
the world around them start to change rapidly. Learning how to learn,
how to truly understand
something, is a complete game changer for younger students.
This
brings me onto another interesting psychological issue, particularly
applicable to younger students who are in their early teens and
starting to define themselves. If you have a skill, or even the
beginnings of a skill, you have a tool with which to define yourself
in a world which can seem uncertain and confusing. Without something
to define yourself positively, it's natural that a child will tend to
fall back on acting out and bad behaviour because they can only
define themselves negatively – I'm
not one of those nerds, I'm not one of those goths
etc etc. Give him or her a skill, something that they can
do, and their confidence rises, solving a whole lot of issues along
the way. I've seen this happen myself – kids who've had behavioural
issues calming down because they have something that is theirs they
can focus their energy on. No longer is little Johnny only
identifying himself as the class clown in the back row who gets
detention each week, he's little Johnny who's an awesome guitar
player. And as he keeps playing, keeps practicing, he gets more
awesome. And he stops getting detentions because he's got better
things to do.
It
happens. Not 100% of the time, and not overnight, but it happens.
Finally,
let's not forget the fact that music is a highly social
activity – bands, school orchestras, singing groups etc. If your
child is starting a new school or struggling find friends at their
current one, being able to play an instrument instantly gives him or
her a skill in common with which they can bond with other ids. Being
in a band or orchestra also gives them the experience of being part
of a group, all working towards the same goal, which is invaluable
training for all manner of occupations.
Every
kid has a hobby. Why not encourage one that has academic, social and
behavioural benefits? That guitar, or keyboard, or even (God forbid)
drum kit might seem expensive and noisy, but it may well be the
smartest investment you ever make in your child's future.
