That screech of air vibrating your air drums may be very good for your child's brain. According to a 2006 study from McMaster University in Canada, children ages 4-6 who took music lessons had better memories and higher reading and math literacy. The full study appeared in the science journal Brain.
Professor Laurel Trainor, team leader, said "This is the first study to show that brain responses in young, musically trained and untrained children change differently over the course of a year.
"While the greater improvement that we found in musical tasks is not surprising after one year of music lessons, greater improvement on a non-musical memory task in children taking music lessons is very interesting as memory performance is correlated with abilities such as literacy, verbal memory, visiospatial processing, mathematics and IQ.," continued Trainor, professor of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior.
Trainor said that the study is also important because it shows to parents and educators that value of including music in any school-based curriculum for preschool and primary-aged children. Funding for this study came from the International Foundation for Music Research, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and The Sound Technology Promotion Foundation.
Trainor concluded that “musical training is having an effect on how the brain gets wired for general cognitive functioning related to memory and attention."
In other words, musical training is good for kids during lessons and, most importantly, in the outside world especially when it comes to learning and brain development.
Trainor and her team have plans to extend the study to adults. No information is yet available on what effect the studies, increased participation in music lessons, or new school programs will have on the ear-plug industry.
Comments
SOUNDS good to me!
I agree with the results of this study. When I was 5, my mom started me with ballet lessons. On of the most interesting and enjoyable exercises was to repeat a short series of claps that our teacher clapped for the kids. It taught me how to use my aural memory and timing. Although I have no formal music training (I can't read music), I can play the piano just by listening to a tune, and I write and sing songs, but get someone else to write the music so that those who read music can join along with me. By the age of 7, I was reading books that 9 year olds would read. By the age of 12, I was reading books that university undergraduates were studying. I thank my mom for those early ballet lessons, it was a fun time in my life.
Only now I can look back and thank my parents for enrolling me into musical "school" at age 7. I studied violin for 6 years and have a "musical ear". I have a gift of languages and can speak other languages without accent. This is a privilege of having a" musical ear". Teach your children music as early as newborns and of course enroll them into music classes to help them built the growing brains! :)
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