Learning a musical instrument is great in so many ways, why wouldn't you want to?! In my experience, nothing bad can come from having more knowledge. You can impress mild manner lazy citizens by playing your favorite pop hits on the side walk and even earning some money doing it as well. Here is 11 reasons to why you should learn a musical instrument today.
1. It's scientifically proven to make you smarter.
Some may not believe it, but studies have shown that people who do play musical instruments have an enhanced ability to integrate sensory information from hearing, touch, and sight, according to Psychology Today. And the earlier someone learns, the more it impacts them. It can also improve your cognitive abilities, from having to be very coordinated and precise in music. It's believed that it also improves students academic abilities and achievements.
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2. Broadens your musical horizon.
Learning music theory and the history of music introduces you to some of the most beautiful music in the world. You find so many things you've never heard before to add to your itunes and have a more wide range of music that you can enjoy and listen to.
3. Can work as a type of therapy.
Surprisingly, music is one of the best ways to relieve stress and anxiety. Listening to your favorite band may be soothing but playing a soothing sonata can take away all of your meaningless worries and can block some of the bad stress in your life. Many people use a musical instrument as their way to escape and relax.
4. Creates an outlet to express emotions and creativity.
Music has always been one of the best ways to tell a story without having to speak. Every piece has it's own emotion and story to tell. Depending on your mood, or what you're feeling, there is a piece to play out there that knows exactly how you are feeling. Composing music also puts you in complete control of everything, and makes anything you want possible.
5. Teaches patience and discipline.
One of the best practices you learn from music is patience. Patience with yourself, your skills, the music, and the time. You have to work hard over and over and over again on the same part of a song just to get it right. You learn how to work hard towards a goal which helps you in real life with jobs, deadlines, school, etc. It gives you responsibility to keep at your goal, to not be such a flake.
6. Improves memory.
Playing the same thing hundreds of times not only gets set in your mental memory, but develops muscle memory as well. Learning a finger pattern is hard until you do it so many times to where your fingers do it without even thinking about it. Your body remembers better than your mind what it needs to do to succeed, which is a pretty cool skill.
7. Gives you a sense of accomplishment.
Challenging yourself with difficult pieces doesn't sound fun, but once you complete it and play through it just once without mistakes you feel like you've climbed a giant mountain. Nothing can top the feeling of mastering something you've worked on for months. And if you don't really have anything to make you feel like that in life, music gives you the confidence to recognize your hard work.
8. In a way, music is like time traveling.
With the history of music, you can read about and learn about times way before we were alive. Just pick up a piece of music and you can learn so much more about the 1800's than in books.
9. Improves hand eye coordination.
This one is a given, reading music while doing two different things with your hands gets confusing a lot more than you think. But this skilll in music will give you benefits in the real world too when typing, playing sports, or maybe if you're a brain surgeon.
10. Teaches you to communicate in non-verbal ways.
Sitting in a chair and watching your conductor tell you what to play, when to play, and how to play it all while not speaking takes practice. It gives you a strong sense of physical cues and how to watch someone carefully to follow direction well and communicate in a silent way.
11. Lastly, playing an instrument is a skill that will stick with you forever.
You can't simply just forget all that you've learned through music over night. The benefits from playing a musical instrument will still benefit you in the years ahead even if you no longer play. Even if you wanted to, it would be pretty damn hard to forget how to play an instrument after years of experience. The things you learn and accomplish follow you through life and will always be there.
