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"Piano
Instruction Boosting Preschoolers' Brain Development by
34%"
(Boulder County Kids, 2003)
Most parents may not know this, but preschool children who received basic piano keyboard instruction scored an average of 34% higher on tests of their reasoning skills than children who were given computer or singing lessons according to psychologist Frances Rauscher & neurologist Gordon Shaw (“Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children’s spatial-temporal reasoning.” Neurological Research 19. no.1 (1997): 2-8.)
Looking at this research with a critical mind, and a special interest in children’s general learning process, I desire to play an active role in announcing and explaining the recent research.
Many parents wonder when to start their child in piano lessons. As a piano player and piano teacher, I used to recommend that 1st or 2nd grade is appropriate when the child is open and interested in playing piano. Now when I understand the great possibilities of piano instruction actually boosting “preschoolers” brain development, I recommend starting as young as 3 ½, because “spatial-temporal reasoning involves maintaining and transforming mental images in the absence of a physical model and is required for higher brain functions such as chess, mathematics and engineering.”
(Rausher, p.2)
We have a beautiful tool & gift to give to our preschool aged kids—learning how to play the piano as a preschooler. Not only is it an enjoyable activity, math & science skills will be elevated with the increased spatial-temporal development. In fact their brains are ready to soak up this kind of activity. According to Leng & Shaw young children’s cortices are “highly plastic” (Concepts
Neurosci, 1991) and can learn these concepts while having fun at the same time.
Here I will summarize the study that was held over a 2-year period from 1993-1995.
The study included 78 children ages 3 & 4. Thirty-four were in the keyboard and singing group where the activities included pitch intervals, sight reading, music notation & playing from memory. Children were able to perform basic melodies including simple melodies by Beethoven & Mozart. The preschools set aside an hour of keyboard playtime each day.
The singing group met 5 days a week for 20 minutes, which included popular children’s songs and folk melodies.
The computer-training group acted as a control for motor & visual coordination. This group isolated the coordination capability apart from the piano keyboard training. These students were taught to open age appropriate programs by copying simple DOS commands. Since that only took a little less than 2 months to master they continued for the next 4 months to use software to enhance reading & simple arithmetic skills.
The fourth group was the “no lessons” group.
Children were tested before the lessons and after using tasks from the Performance sub-test of the Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised
(WPPSI-R) .
The results showed that the piano keyboard group scored significantly higher when tested after 6 months than the other 3 groups--34% higher!
According to Reinhold when choosing extra curricular activities for children, it’s important to keep piano in mind at the preschool age level, and to choose a teacher whose methods take into consideration that children learn best through play. Learning the fundamentals is important, however, it is important that people learn them through a discovery process. When a child (or adult) is having fun learning to play the piano, rather than told to “practice, practice, practice,” it’s going to have a positive impact on their spatial-reasoning skills down the road as well as their continued interest in music.
Who knows? Maybe we as adults and parents can play a part in bringing up children who will gain not only an appreciation for music, but also a highly developed brain that can figure out cures for the multitude of deadly diseases that people are facing daily, because we decided to introduce piano instruction at 3, 4, & 5 years old.
Anyone interested in learning more about the research supporting preschool piano and/or available instruction are invited to call 303.725.2737 or e-mail
karen -at- enjoyablenoise -dot- com
Karen M. Reinhold’s background includes a Bachelor of Music degree from Wheaton Conservatory, experience teaching music in the public school system, as well as teaching piano to individuals & groups. Karen enjoys sharing her love for music and rebuilt her piano studio, Enjoyable Noise, in Boulder County since moving from Minneapolis May of 2001. Enjoyable Noise focuses on teaching students from preschool to adult how to play piano without the drudgery of "practicing," through small groups for preschoolers, private lessons, and workshops for adults such as "Instant Piano for Hopelessly Busy People" held at area community colleges.
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