Can music lessons increase your child’s IQ?
Published at | Updated at![boy playing piano](https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.eastidahonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/boy-playing-piano-860x573.jpg)
![logo](https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.eastidahonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ifsymphony-logo.png)
This story is brought to you by the Idaho Falls Symphony, which has been bringing joyful music to our community for 75 years. Information about the Idaho Falls Symphony Youth Orchestra programs, LinkUp and Ambassador education programs, and tickets for Sapphire Season 75 can be found at ifsymphony.org.
I very clearly remember the day my son was fired by his piano teacher. “Carrie, Luke doesn’t practice and he told me he wants to run instead of play the piano. I think it’s time to call it quits. Actually, it’s definitely time to call it quits! Some kids just aren’t cut out for this.”
Not cut out for this! I was a little defensive at first. My kid practices … I think. My kid has some talent … maybe. I can’t believe we’re being fired …
But, with a little introspection, she was right. He didn’t put in the effort that made it worthwhile. So why had I pushed this for so long?
Luke was my third child to take piano lessons. None of them has gone on to be any kind of great virtuoso. So were the lessons and the time and the fights over practicing worth it? Did music make any difference in their lives at all? I can say with certainty, Yes!
First and foremost, music bolsters executive brain function, especially in children. Research shows that music lessons can enhance children’s cognitive abilities, including memory, attention, and problem-solving skills. These are all great skills that aren’t just applicable in music, but in so many parts of our lives. Studies have seen improvement in math, language, and social skills when exposed to music and music lessons.
Research also shows us that music enhances skills that are needed in several areas of child development. Singing, listening, movement, using your fingers, reading: these all provide practice and benefit to children in formal and informal learning settings. Making music involves more than the voice or fingers playing an instrument; a child learning about music has to tap into multiple skill sets, often simultaneously. For instance, people use their ears and eyes, as well as large and small muscles, developing greater neural plasticity and fine motor skills.
Did you know that music lessons can actually increase your child’s IQ? A study first published in 2004 by E. Glenn Schellenberg at the University of Toronto at Mississauga found a slight increase in the IQ of 6-year-olds who had weekly music lessons as compared to a test group who had drama lessons and a group who did not participate in weekly lessons. Over the course of a year, the children involved in music lessons averaged 3 IQ points higher than the other groups. The group taking drama lessons did not see the same increase in IQ but they did experience increased social behaviors not seen in the music-only group.
When kids make music (or frankly, when any of us make music) their brains work harder. When you are making music there is more neural activity taking place; you’re using more of your brain.
And as kids practice music, they are training their brains to concentrate and increase their spatial-temporal skills. These skills become important as children work on solving multi-step problems one might encounter in architecture, engineering, math, art, working with computers and even gaming.
I could probably go on and on, but one last thing I wanted to mention about music and kids is that making music can be joyful! It can be transformative for children’s souls. So putting aside formal studies and research, think of the last time you saw a little child twirl while singing a song.
Or singing a song in their carseat. Or playing chopsticks on the piano. I’m guessing they may have been smiling or laughing or just simply happy in the moment because they felt the music in their soul.
So Luke did quit the piano, or at least he quit taking piano lessons. But last night when I arrived home from work I heard something very familiar: Luke playing the piano…just for fun! And it was joyful.
Carrie Athay is the executive director of the Idaho Falls Symphony.
Sources:
- 2004 Glen Shellenberg study
- This article outlines studies dealing with executive brain function and neural plasticity and cognitive abilities
- A comparative study of music intervention and childhood development