When I was in kindergarten and first learning to play the piano, I found that learning to read and interpret music helped my overall reading skills, and that practicing the instrument every day helped me be more patient and focused. Although that was just my experience, there’s actually a lot of research to support that music can help with various skills such as cognitive skills, communication/speech, motor skills, and even social skills. While music can be beneficial to everyone, it’s especially interesting to look at how music therapy can be used to help people with disabilities.
Music is similar to language in a lot of ways – both have rhythm, pitch, and are built from patterns and structure. Studies show that music therapy (which can include activities such as playing instruments and singing) can actually boost memory of sentences and words, and understanding of sentences. This can be especially useful in children with delayed speech development, to help them improve their language skills at a young age.
Music has also been shown to help with attention. It can be useful for someone to learn a task while music is present to increase their ability to focus. This can help people with ADHD, for example. Specifically, music increases dopamine levels in the brain, which is a neurotransmitter that is in low supply for someone with ADHD. In fact, drugs used to treat ADHD, such as Aderall, boost dopamine levels in the brain. Music provides a natural way of doing this.
Finally, music is a naturally social activity that can be relaxing and stimulate different emotions. Music makes people happy, and can bring people together. At a concert I went to a few weeks ago, a man in a wheelchair was in the crowd rocking out to the music, having a great time. During one of the songs, the crowd lifted him up and carried him around, allowing him to crowd-surf. I found the scene particularly inspiring and snapped a photo.
Music has direct benefits to various cognitive, social, and other skills. It’s also a great way to bring people together and boost happiness.
Excellent post, and I agree 100%. I know for me playing in various ensembles in high school and college, and in the FJE at MIT was a source of joy and stress relief that really helped me get through difficult classes, etc. I also think that the huge variety of ways of making music is great for persons with disabilities, as there is likely to be some method that works for most people.
Overall good post, although I feel like it should have had some background music to go with it!