Why Should I Listen To Music With My Child?

Studies have shown that playing music jump-starts parts of the brain responsible for spatial-temporal reasoning – the child’s ability to identify a pattern and understand how various pieces play important roles in the pattern.

Playing music with your son or daughter may foster the development of his or her mind. Recent data indicates that music may affect the development of your child’s brain in many positive ways, including:

1. Improved Brain Architecture – UPMC HealthBeat reports studies have shown that kids who learn to play a musical instrument at a young age often can improve their brain architecture.
   • Playing a musical instrument may help your child develop stronger connections across the corpus callosum, a band of nerve fibers that links the left and right hemispheres of the brain. These connections impact how different parts of the brain communicate with one another.
2. Increased Brain Volume – Some studies have indicated there is a direct correlation between learning music and developing grey matter, darker tissue of the brain and spinal cord that helps a child process and retrieve information. Thus, playing music with your child may help him or her boost numerous intellectual and emotional skills, including:
   • Listening
   • Mathematics
   • Motor skills
   • Reading comprehension
   • Spelling

   UPMC HealthBeat also pointed out that several university researchers have found playing music jump-starts the parts of the brain that are responsible for spatial-temporal reasoning, i.e. the ability for a child to identify a pattern and understand how various pieces play important roles in the pattern itself.
   As a result, playing music may enable your son or daughter to build his or her problem-solving skill set and better understand how to resolve problems both now and in the future.
   

3. Enhanced Neural Processing – Playing music may allow your child to enhance his or her neural processing. Time reported a recent Northeastern University study revealed that children need to become active participants in a music class to reap the course’s cognitive benefits. Also, the study indicated students who played musical instruments were able to improve their neural processing more than those who did not.
4. Longer Toothbrushing – In fact, research shows a 73% increase in brushing time, when kids brush to music.