What are the benefits of your child playing piano?
We’ve all heard before, plenty of times, how music is beneficial to children as they are developing. Do we know why? We here at PianoCommuters certainly do, but over the years we’ve found some folks aren’t sure really why this is a great skill for your child to learn. We work with all different ages; experience levels and learning need here at PianoCommuters. You might be familiar with the benefits of adults playing the piano, there are some similarities but there are also some differences!
Let’s dive into what benefits your child could get from learning to play the piano. Interested in signing up for a free consolation – book yours today!
Playing the piano Motor skills and discipline for the students
Piano players who study piano theory and practice piano have shown through studies that they have improved concentration compared to before they began learning to play the piano. For pianist kids, this also applies, and that it helps with increasing test scores, improving motor skills, and helping recall and concentrate with education.
Additionally, your child can help with improving their reading comprehension, patience, and discipline through learning to play the piano. This is huge when it comes to thinking about your child and their development.
One of the most well-known benefits of child piano play is it inspires creativity and stimulates the left side of the brain. Music is a beautiful way to bring creativity and the arts into your child’s life at a young age.
Playing the piano increases focus
As mentioned above, playing the piano can help increase your attention span, patience, and concentration. I think it’s safe to say most parents would be looking to increase those skills for their children. For kids playing piano, there have been researched studies that show their focus is increased, compared to others who do not practice the piano.
The main area we see in piano lessons where they’re increasing their focus, concentration, and attention is through their piano practice. During piano lessons, we take time to teach the students new skills, practice those skills and identify ways to help improve their playing. However, when it comes to practicing the piano this is where they are doing repetition, focused learning, and working on their patience as they practice their skills.
Each week we meet with students we provide a lesson plan. This allows each student to have a sense of routine, as well as to know what will be taught. This also helps with improving focus by having a routine and scheduled time to work on practicing.
Music is a form of therapy
The past almost two years now, has been a difficult one for everyone. We’ve spent most of our time indoors and living with stress from the uncertainty of the global pandemic. The piano has been a blessing, and truly an escape for a lot of people during this time.
The piano can provide your child with a form of therapy that allows your child to decompress and de-stress. It has been beautiful to see children use the piano during this time to help relieve stress. Kids playing the piano even just 10-20 minutes a day can bring a lot of relief and relaxation to them.
It’s a great break from screen time for the kids
Let’s be real for a moment, screens have taken over most areas of our lives. The past year has only sped that up and increased how much screen time we have. For your children, they likely spent the year online for their education, staring at a screen for anywhere from 2-7 hours a day, not to mention any entertainment screen time they may have as well.
Well, one of the great benefits of your child playing the piano is this provides a natural screen break. When your child plays piano, they’re taking time away from the screen to practice songs or compose their own music. We encourage students to show their creativity and enjoy music and sounds on the piano. It doesn’t always have to be the songs they have for homework.
Learning to play the piano (or any instrument) builds one's confidence.
When learning to play the piano as a child it helps to build your confidence and self-esteem. This is done through being proud of your accomplishments on the piano, connecting with your musical voice/talents, and increasing your motor skills. As well, we see pianists playing at recitals helps build confidence as they’re playing in front of an audience.
Learning to play the piano is outlining and setting small goals for the students. As students achieve these goals their confidence in their piano skills will increase. Often this boost of confidence will bleed into other areas of the child’s life, not just a kids piano play.
One of our favourite things to see is children learn new techniques and songs on the piano. Having recitals and exams gives the child pianists a chance to showcase all of their hard work. It warms our hearts to see students play their songs and be proud of them at the recitals!
Interested in signing your child up for lessons – book here!