5 Reasons Everyone Should Take Music Lessons

You hear it all the time: music lessons are beneficial, music lessons are fun, music lessons are good for you emotionally and mentally--but what does that really mean to you? If you’re going to spend the time and the money on music lessons, you should probably know some specifics:

• Increased proficiency in a variety of academic subjects
  • Music lessons help develop the areas of the brain related to language and reasoning. This means that students that study music are more proficient in math, science, reading comprehension and foreign language.
• Increased memory, fine motor skills and understanding of emotion
  • Music lessons require the development of memorization skills, fine motor skills, and the skills required to communicate emotion. Music students of all ages see improvements within these areas as they continue study.
• Increased skill at setting goals and meeting them
  • Music lessons promote craftsmanship--students want to create good work as opposed to mediocre work, and they become willing to practice to get there. Playing a piece of music well is certainly a challenge, but it is an achievable goal--students therefore get a sense of achievement when they meet every goal in their practice.
• Increased ability to understand and express emotion
  • Music lessons can improve emotional intelligence (the ability to perceive emotions, understanding how emotions operate, utilizing emotions to facilitate thinking, and successfully managing emotions in social contexts), which lends them to be more empathetic, and helps them express emotion appropriately.
• Increased quality of life
  • Music lessons help increase the production of serotonin, which is the chemical in your body that helps stabilize your mood--music therefore reduces anxiety, and promotes happiness and is helpful with generalized anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and a host of other health issues associated with brain chemistry.