22nd November 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
New research published in the Journal of Neuroscience Work suggests that learning a musical instrument as a child helps the brain develop in ways that shape the adult brain. The research showed that adults who played an instrument when they were children had faster responses to speech sounds, even if they had not played an instrument since they were young. The longer the children played an instrument, the faster their responses as adults. The researchers studied adults in their 50s, 60s and 70s, and measured electrical activity in their brains in the region the processes sound information.
None of the research subjects had played an instrument in nearly 40 years, but those who had played an instrument for between four and fourteen years during childhood had significantly faster responses to speech sounds than those who have not learned to play an instrument. One of the most significant findings of the study was that learning an instrument as a child causes a positive change in brain activity that lasts for their entire lives, no matter whether they continue playing music into adulthood. This study constitutes further evidence of that fact that encouraging children to learn instruments is a very positive thing to do for their education.
Yet in recent years, it has become more and more challenging for parents to be able to provide music lessons for their children, with the previous government’s school instrumental lessons programme being cut, and schools increasingly focussing on core subjects at the expense of arts subjects such as music. Concurrently, the most popular subjects for private tuition are English, Science and Maths. This in itself is to be expected, but it is disappointing to see that so few families are requesting music or instrumental tuition. As the curriculum narrows to focus on core subjects and cuts funds for arts, parents have to prioritise accordingly. This study shows that learning an instrument not only helps children develop a love of music, but actually helps their brain develop in a number of ways which benefit them throughout their entire lives. The government should re-think the decision to side-line the arts, and give parents opportunities to allow their children a rounded education.