Playing an instrument, learning music theory, and listening to compositions are important activities that every child should pursue. At a base level, these activities add new skills, increase knowledge, and serve as creative hobbies.
Music opens up new avenues such as pursuing your dreams as a live performer or composer. These, however, are future dreams that will be realized once your child comes of age. The more immediate benefits offered by music have only recently been shown and proven through research.
New studies have shown the great positive impact that learning or listening to music has on young children. By learning and honing their musical skills, children are able to augment their traditional academic activities and improve their grades.
Through this article we seek to increase your awareness about the impact music has on your child’s development, helping them achieve better results in their studies.

Alleviates Stress

Students manage a hectic workload, which involves classes covering multiple subjects, coupled with the added burden of completing assignments from home. Stress piles on and children may experience frustration and mood swings without the knowledge or ability required to deal with the negative emotions that end up hampering their ability to study.
Studies have proven that music is directly linked to our emotions and certain types of musical compositions produce an immediate response in our bodies. Music has a therapeutic effect as children listen and concentrate on the beat or vocals.
For example, slow classical music is a genre that is soothing and helps induce relaxation by reducing the heart rate and lowering blood pressure. The beneficial effect of this genre, when exposed to children, shows improved cognitive functions as it helps distract them from factors causing distress. The peace of mind and management of stress allows children to refocus on their studies.
On the other end of the spectrum, loud rock music provides your child a healthy outlet of expression through which they can rid themselves of angst. This is doubly true for young drummers or guitarists that can hammer the cymbals or churn out a riff, the physicality of which helps in the release of the adrenal hormones. If as a parent, you feel your child suffers from anxiety caused by academics and you desire to channel their interests towards drumming, you can find many expert drum instructors in the Seattle area.

A Learning Tool

As a child, you might recall your parents performing simple memory exercises with you that involved sing-alongs to remember the ABC’s. In fact, as an adult, you might still remember the song, music, or jingle you associated with a certain alphabet, or as a teenager helped you memorize a list.
Latest scientific research has revealed that when music is paired with learning activities, it enhances the learning and recall ability of a child. Young children and adolescents that struggle to remain attentive and find it difficult to retain information and recall it during their studies should be bolstered towards listening to music. Additionally, listening to music while studying helps children retain information, and improves academic performance.
Furthermore, instead of your child simply listening to music, they could be motivated towards learning a musical instrument as well. Research reveals that musical training improves memory, spatial learning, verbal memory, literacy, and verbal intelligence. A child that plays an instrument or sings shows a greater ability to process and retain information over one that is musically naïve.
If your child has a poor memory, have them take up the violin, a great first instrument that you can find many experienced music tutors for.

Increases IQ

Many parents may be familiar with the myth of the Mozart effect. A test environment in which subjects listened to compositions from the famed musician Mozart for 10 minutes and showed immediate results with their IQ increasing by 9 points.
If this were true we would all be listening to classical music non-stop. However, other studies have also been able to establish a positive correlation between music and improved intelligence. The research states that a child that takes music lessons shows improvements in their academic performance and intelligence quotient.
Studies reveal that children who received music lessons for a period of 36 weeks showed significantly larger increases in full-scale IQ, and received greater marks in standardized academic tests. The research is proof that children should take up an instrument or singing lessons to perform well at school.
If you’re a parent concerned about their child receiving poor grades and feel their academics could be supplemented with music skills for better grades, consider hiring an expert music or voice tutors, most of whom are willing to come to your doorstep and teach your child important skills in the comfort of their own homes, to reveal their natural ability.