Music
Science says teaching your kids music will make them smarter
by Tyler Munro
June 30, 2014
Science is the best. It’s turned Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson into unlikely internet heroes, and it’s constantly keeping us in tune with what makes music special. We’ve already learned that drummers have different brains than the rest of us, and that music is gradually getting louder.
Adding to that, a new study teaches us today that teaching your kids music will make them smarter, boosting their brainpower and helping them become better problem solvers
A study at the Boston Children’s Hospital used MRIs compared kids with at least two years of formal musical training with ones with none, and the results were surprisingly conclusive. According to CTV, those with training exhibited “enhanced activity levels in the prefrontal cortex,” which means they’re likely better at multi-tasking.
It extends further, too: It’s thought that teaching ADHD sufferers music could help them with executive functioning, which is a fancy way of saying “brain management.” Which, in turn, is a fancy way of saying that music makes us smarter—so maybe we should’ve paid more attention during those piano lessons.
