A year or so ago Rhys’ class at school started learning to play the recorder.
It’s a time-honoured tradition I suppose. I remember playing it in primary school and absolutely loving it. I still have the different recorders my parents bought me over the years, and my children have both been having great fun trying them out recently.
After Rhys started to learn at school I bought him his own recorder and a beginners music book to practise at home. Then, of course, Nerys wanted to join in so quite recently we’ve bought her one too.
It was, interesting, to start with. There was a lot of noise that didn’t sound much like music at all, for a fair while.
Then something amazing happened. They both actually read through the book, paid attention to their finger positions, and mastered the blowing technique needed to produce sounds that are really quite pleasant.
It’s been a fascinating process to watch, and I’m so proud of both of them for persevering with it. There are so many benefits to learning to play a musical instrument, and it’s something that’s well worth encouraging your child to do, if you can stick it out through that first, interesting stage!
If you’re not quite convinced yet, here are 5 key benefits of learning to play a musical instrument:
1. It boosts memory skills
Learning a musical instrument can be a great way to boost your child’s memory skills.
The whole process of learning to read music and play a new instrument helps their brains create, store and retrieve memories more effectively and efficiently. Studies have found that playing an instrument involves using both sides of your brain, which in turn helps to strengthen its memory power.
2. It gives your child a sense of responsibility
Whether your child starts with learning the recorder, the violin, or the piano, they’ll have some new found responsibilities when it comes to taking care of their new instrument.
They’ll need to take good care of it, keep it safe, keep it clean and make sure it’s tuned correctly.
All these things are great for teaching your child to be responsible for their belongings.
3. It helps with motor skills and coordination
Learning to play a musical instrument requires quite a bit of hand-brain coordination. Once you get past the very basics you need to quickly learn to do one thing with one hand and something different with the other.
Quite often the two hands will be doing things that are really quite different, that still need to be in sync with each other.
Practising these skills is great for improving coordination and motor skills all round.
4. It improves listening skills
Listening is a huge part of learning to play an instrument.
Children will have to listen to their teacher, both when they’re explaining something and when they’re playing music themselves to demonstrate what a certain note or piece of music should sound like.
They’ll also learn to listen out for the beat of the music, and the tempo they need to be playing at. This is especially true if they decide to play as part of an orchestra or in a group class where they’ll be playing with other children.
5. It encourages perseverance
Learning anything new can be hard, but musical instruments in particular can be really tricky to get the hang of.
In the beginning there is so much to learn that it’s easy to get frustrated, but if your child can stick with it they’ll feel so proud of themselves when things do start to click.
There are so many little victories along the way with learning to play music, which is great for encouraging children to persevere and learn to use a growth mindset instead of giving up when things are hard.
Do your children play any musical instruments? Did you learn to play any when you were younger?
What do you think the biggest benefit of learning an instrument is?
I agree with this, and one of my biggest regrets is not learning to play an instrument. My husband has recently got back into playing guitars and loves it
Maybe you could start now, get him to teach you!
I love the recorder as the opening pic as i think its the instrument we all reflect back on the most fondly but as parents despise the most! lol
Hahaha, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head with that description of the recorder!
I agree with all you say, learning to play an instrument is so rewarding. I started on a recorder and can play most of the wind instruments although I preferred the oboe to clarinet. I can read and write music and play a little piano too. My husband plays guitar really well, but he plays by ear and can’t read music. My kids were learning the ukelele at school which was fun for a while. Their Dad has tried to teach them guitar but they’d rather play on their laptops 🙁 (oh and my eldest daughter can play the violin!)
Love this, I did the recorder at school and attempted guitar in later life but I wasn’t very good. I’d love to be able to play.
Maybe it’s time to give the guitar another go!
I agree there are so many benefits!! Not sure my family felt the same way when I was going through the ‘interesting’ stage with my violin though!!
Ha, I’m sure my parents loved listening to me practicing both the recorder and all the scales on the piano when I was younger! x
I was always desperate to play the piano or drums. Unfortunately, my parents couldn’t afford lessons, and school only gave me a Baritone. (Which was far too big and heavy to drag on 2 buses each time I had a lesson) so I quit. #Blogtober
That’s such a shame. Maybe you could take up the drums or piano now, I keep seeing people giving away pianos on local facebook groups at the moment! x
I agree. I actually used to play the flute when I was a kid.
I’ve always thought of the flute as being so tricky to play! It makes such a beautiful sound though! x
Well done your kids. It sounds like they’re doing really well with the recorder. My girls both learned to play in school and could hold a tune. For a couple of years my youngest played the trombone. She loved it and was sad to give it up when she moved up to secondary school x
These are all such great points – I use to play the clarinet as a kid.
Oh amazing, I would love to try one of those! x
My three eldest children learnt the recorder in reception class, and then the school stopped teaching them, they were all then taught to play either a cornet or a baritone in year 3, I was actually quite surprised how, well they all could play when we attended their concert!
I bet that was so lovely getting to see them all perform! x
I have both a ukulele and a recorder, but I don’t actually know how to play either! I really need to get stuck in (and I also need to stop being an impulse shopper with grand ideas!)