Today’s blog was written as a report for me by Julie Shaw, Head of Music in the Prep section at Notre Dame School, and it is so good I thought I would share it with you all.
At this time of the year at Notre Dame School a wonderful little crop of afternoon Soirees and Lunchtime concerts is harvested from amongst the instrumentalists and singers in the Prep School who have been working hard all year with their individual teachers and at home practising to develop their musical skills. It is wonderful to see these pupils flourishing and gaining confidence as they perform solos to their parents and peers – children as young as Year 1 right up to Year 6 standing up in public and really showing what they are made of. As they take their bow at the end of their piece, flushed and proud to receive their applause, all those hard hours and minutes of practising seem worthwhile.
Much has been made in the press of the so-called ‘Mozart Effect’ – the effect on intelligence and on core subject skills such as literacy and numeracy of children learning an instrument or playing in an ensemble. Some claims are high flown and geared towards parting caring parents with their cash – there are for example CD players on the market fitted with special speakers to play Mozart to the unborn child in the womb. Amidst all the other activities available to enhance your child’s progress, this is another one fighting for your money and your child’s time. So what research is there to support these claims?
Many studies have reported positive associations between music education and increased abilities in non-musical (e.g. linguistic, mathematical, and spatial) domains in children and here we have only room for a few examples. Studies have been carried out in Canada, where - in one case - researchers found musically trained children (aged four to six) performed better in memory tests than those who had no instrument lessons over the course of the year-long programme. In America a study of 237 second grade children used piano keyboard training and newly designed math software to demonstrate improvement in math skills. The piano group scored 27% higher on proportional math and fractions tests than children that used only the math software. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 showed that music participants received more academic honors and awards than non-music students, and that the percentage of music participants receiving As and Bs was higher than the percentage of non- participants receiving those grades. Students who participated in arts programs in selected elementary and middle schools in New York City showed significant increases in self-esteem and thinking skills.
I am sometimes approached by parents who are worried that taking their child out of English or Maths every few weeks on a carousel for their instrumental lesson will have a detrimental effect on their progress. I am able to reassure them that there is a balancing effect of learning an instrument which is to support these core skills and improve them. Not only this, but learning an instrument also improves all sorts of other skills and abilities. Children learning an instrument practice courage, resilience and patience, they learn delayed gratification and the value of daily study in small amounts, their brains become involved in pattern making and matching, they develop abstract language skills in learning to read music notation, and they practice fine and gross motor skills with their bodies. Most importantly of all, they learn to listen, and not just to hear and process but to finely discern and tune in to fine-grained detail. Delightfully, many of them develop a joyful and beneficial relationship with their individual teacher which can last a lifetime.
How can you decide on an instrument for your child? The piano is often a first instrument of choice for many parents, and is a brilliant instrument for children to learn as it helps to get to grips with music theory, but although it seems obvious it is not always the best one to start with. Some children struggle with reading two lines of music at once. Children with learning difficulties who may benefit considerably from this different form of learning often find two line or two handed instruments difficult and would benefit from perhaps a brass instrument or at least one with a solo written line rather than chords. Many young children cannot sit still for the required length of time and need an instrument that allows physical movement such as the violin. Temperament can also play a part – a quiet child may prefer the flute to the saxophone, and a child with a lot of energy may do better with the drums than with the recorder. Development is important, for instance (with wind instruments) when children may not have all their front teeth or when they may not be big enough to get their arms around a double bass. There are books available which will help you, for example ‘The Right Instrument for Your Child’ by Arah Ben-Tovim and Douglas Boyd which is available from Amazon and on Kindle.
Most important of all is your child’s preference. If they hate the sound of the saxophone they will not commit to learning it. If they really want to learn the trumpet they may not take kindly to the piano, and “learn the instrument I want you to play and when you pass grade 1 you can do the one you have chosen,” will likely put them off both! Take your children to concerts and have them listen to a range of music styles including classical music on the radio and see what excites them. Allow them to try out instruments in music shops or get them a trial lesson on an instrument they have been interested in. The great Hungarian musician Zoltan Kodaly said that ‘Children learn best that which they already know’. If they have been nagging you for two years to learn the harp take a deep breath and hire one for a month. If you can’t pull them away from it, get saving. You may have a harpist in the making.
There are other reasons for children to learn orchestral, jazz or rock instruments other than the piano, and that is the benefit of being able to play them in an ensemble, an activity which is only really available to advanced pianists. Ensemble playing is a highly social and sociable activity which gets children working together collaboratively rather than competitively and can be begun from the very first term that the child begins the instrument. One person in an ensemble is only a tiny part of a whole picture which only the whole ensemble can produce. Concentration, listening skills, forbearance with other children working at more or less advanced levels, timing, co-operation and an understanding of gradual progression are all benefits of involvement in an orchestra, choir or band. Musically it benefits the child in every possible way, giving them a strong sense of pulse, pitch, dynamics, structure, articulation, tempo, musical style and performance convention and it also makes sense of their instrument in context. Lastly the buzz of performing in concert with many other musicians is something that can only really be understood once tried – a memorable, exhilarating and uplifting experience.
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