Music lessons make for sharper young minds

Published on 22/08/2012 01:00

THIS really will be music to parents’ ears – those expensive piano lessons really do boost children’s brainpower.

They may be the bane of many a youngster’s life but learning an instrument when they could be playing with friends increases mental ability.

Compared to peers who do not know their A major from C minor, adults with between one and five years of musical training as children had sharper
responses to complex sounds.

This made them better at picking up the lowest soundwaves, according to the findings published in the Journal of
Neuroscience.

This helped make them better listeners and communicators.

The signal, known as the “fundamental frequency”, is vital for speech and music perception, allowing recognition of sounds in complex auditory environments.

Professor Nina Kraus, of Northwestern University,
Illinois, said: “Thus, musical training as children makes
better listeners later in life.

“Based on what we already know about the ways that music helps shape the brain, the study suggests short-term music
lessons may enhance lifelong
listening and learning.”

An earlier study on highly-trained musicians and young bilinguals revealed enhanced brainstem responses to sound are associated with heightened perception, executive function and auditory skills.