This is a summary of research into the positive effects on academic, mental functioning and social skills resulting from a music education. The summary was assembled by the Australian Music Association and the following text is published in an attractive brochure under its Music Makers program. You can get copies of this brochure to distribute by contacting http://www.mca.org.au/
Music is a wonderful skill for any child, but new research shows how learning music can help your child in so many more ways:

• Improved reasoning capacity and problem solving skills

• Improve maths and language performance

• Better memory

• Greater social and team skills

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Why should my child learn music?

 

For many years, we have believed that children should learn music ‘for music’s sake’, because music was an excellent accomplishment and part of a well rounded, balanced education. And so it is. But these days children are expected to learn so many more skills and parents have begun to ask which subjects their child could ignore or drop. The answer is: not music!
As every parent knows, their child is a mixture of nature and nurture. A newborn baby already has all his or her brain cells and as the child develops he or she naturally builds pathways between these cells or neurons. These pathways (referred to as neural pathways) are there for life. Learning music from an early age enables those neural pathways to grow in ways that can help your child maximise the potential they were born with. Research shows that playing music can make significant differences to children’s abilities related to learning, memory and social interactions. Music is still an excellent accomplishment, but it can also make the difference for a child
So when should a child start to learn music? Any time is a good time, but the earlier the better. 

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When should my child start to learn music?

Any time is a good time, but the earlier the better.