Music Rivals Reading For Best Childhood Development

Want to help your child or grandchild succeed in school and life? Buy them a piano! Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but bringing music into their lives at a young age can make all the difference.

It’s like a Geico commercial—did you know reading to a child helps make them better readers and learners? Everyone knows that. But did you know a new study suggests that regular informal music making with very young children may have benefits above and beyond those of reading?

Looking at 3,000 children, a University of Queensland team of researchers investigated the associations between informal home music education for very young children and later cogonitive and social-emotional outcomes. Researchers found that informal music making in the home from around the ages of 2 and 3 can lead to better literacy, numeracy, social skills and attention and emotion regulation by the age of 5. WOW, That is a lot of benefit for a little patty cake, sing-song sing-along, drum rhythms and all the fun musical moments of early childhood

Science has shown that music's effect on the brain is strong. Studies have demonstrated an improvement in IQ among students who receive music lessons and advantages in the classroom have been identified for students who study musical instruments. (Quartz)