I enjoyed playing the piano at an early age but never really liked the long hours of practice and became the nightmare of my piano teachers back then. The monotony of playing the same piece everyday made me impatient as I imagined myself doing a Liberace instead of my lame abridged version of Minuet in G. Had my teachers informed me back then that piano lessons could actually boost a child’s IQ, I would have been less of a headache to them when I was in my pre-teens!
Math skills: Studies are increasingly linking math skills and piano lessons especially when learned at a young age. Apparently, the entire exercise of memorizing notes and sequences, expressing emotion while playing a piece and studying musical measures and beats, stimulates the same parts of the brain that are responsible for a child’s mathematical skills and spatial intelligence. Spatial intelligence is the ability to think through 3-dimensional puzzles without actually seeing the actual model.
Communication skills: Playing a musical instrument, especially the piano, promotes the same brain processes that sharpens a person’s language skills. In fact, piano training is currently being used by special education programs for autistic children as early as age 3 or 4! The effects are more pronounced in students who have been training for years.
In addition to increasing intelligence, piano training is also a great way to improve a child’s self esteem and instill cooperation in the classroom.
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