10 reasons why you should start learning piano TODAY!
Playing piano can have soooooo many benefits: not only for your creative self but for your brain in general. Did you know famous pianists like Mozart and Beethoven are thought to have had a higher IQ than most people? While most of the population score an IQ between 85 and 115, these two geniuses are thought to have reached 165 points! Mind-blowing, right??
Well… if you are not convinced yet about start taking piano lessons and becoming the next mastermind, these 10 reasons SURELY will:
It reduces anxiety and stress levels: It has been scientifically proven that playing piano helps to calm the mind. The soothing sound of the instrument partly contributes to this, but mostly just by sitting on the piano and practicing, let’s say, for 30 minutes, you will end up focusing on the song you are working on, rather than thinking about anything negative that happened to you that day. In addition, if you sit and play songs that you have already learnt and feel totally confident with, the result is going to be even better! Once you have finished your practice, you’ll feel super positive and rewarded.
It helps develop your creativity: Playing piano is not just about playing someone else’s compositions, but it is also about expressing yourself musically by creating your own tunes. You have sooo many keys to choose from and the possibilities of combining them in order to make a song are almost endless. What are you waiting for to release your inner genius???
It improves your memory: A great exercise for the brain is learning to play your songs by heart. It may be difficult at the beginning to remember all the right keys, but once you have memorized 3 or 4 songs it will only get easier and easier. You can start with short songs and then move to extended compositions. Trust me, your memory skills will become a superpower you’ll want to show off!!
Being a pianist makes you smarter! This is ABSOLUTELY true. Did you know that when you play piano you use parts of your brain similar to the ones used to do math? Since there are so many tasks involved at the same time when you play this instrument, such as hand-eye coordination, creativity and memory, your brain will be extra stimulated.
It contributes to building good habits: Playing piano is not always easy, which means you have to concentrate a lot and show perseverance when you are struggling to master a hard passage. This, believe it or not, affects the way you behave in other settings too, such as school! Playing piano will make you more responsible overall and remind you how important it is to keep trying and not give up, even when things get hard. Isn’t that amazing?
It develops your musical ear: Playing piano improves your listening skills, which means not only it makes it easier for you to find the keys to play any song, but it also makes you more prone to have a better pitch when singing a song. Isn’t that cool? Oh, and it also makes it easier for you to pick up any other instrument later on!
It improves your ability for multitasking. This is because you have to focus on so many things at the same time when you play piano: what your right hand is doing, what your left hand is doing, what is written on the music sheet if you are reading, how to use the pedal properly, etc. This will eventually have an effect on your everyday tasks: doing two or three or even four things at the same time will become SO easy after that!
It makes learning a new language much easier: Having Spanish as my first language, I can 100% tell you my piano skills made it easier for me to pick up English and being able to speak it fluently. Why is that? Well, because playing piano exercises the cognitive skills that you need to learn Chinese, French, Italian or whichever other language that you are interested in picking up.
It offers a great space to make new friends: At EMA, we offer group piano lessons, which means while you learn piano, you can meet other kids that do the same and are the same age as you! Our Jam Nights, where our students get together to perform live for parents and friends, are another great opportunity to meet other little musicians and expand your social circle!
Last but not least, IT’S FUN! During piano lessons, you will not only learn how to play songs, but also play music-related games and meet other kids like you. Moreover, you can make a list of songs you would like to learn and you can show off your amazing compositions to your teacher and classmates.
ANYONE can learn how to play piano! And there are so many cool reasons to start today. What are you waiting for - sign up for lessons today!
By Agustina Rivas (HOD Piano)
