Learning to play the piano has many benefits for old and young. Here are just 9 ways taking piano lessons will enhance your life and create joy.
Keyword(s): piano lessons
There is a lot of evidence that proves playing a musical instrument has a plethora of benefits.
It's something you can pick up whether you're young or old. It doesn't matter if it's a hobby or if you have dreams of stardom—anyone can start with the basics and work their way up to more complex music over time.
If you've been considering picking up an instrument, why not go with the piano? The piano is one of the most popular instruments to learn, and it will teach you a lot about music theory and music in general.
Even if you are just taking piano lessons for a short period of time, you will learn a lot and won’t regret trying it out.
From the happiness it can bring you to the new friends you'll make, here are nine ways that piano lessons will enhance your life. Let's get started.
1. Stress Reliever
Did you know that long term stress can harm your health? Instead of letting that stress consume you, consider signing up for piano lessons. The act of playing the piano or any instrument can help you channel more difficult or negative emotions into a creative outlet.
This helps control your stress or even get rid of it entirely. Simply taking the time out of your day to focus on music for even a few minutes a day will make a difference in your mental health.
It's something that you can focus on, similar to meditation, and can become something you look forward to each day to help maintain low stress levels.
2. Meet More People
Although this may not be the first thing you think about when it comes to learning piano, it can actually help bring you together with other people.
Music is inherently social, and when you learn to play the piano you can use that skill to entertain others, or to join a musical group.
Even just posting a quick practice video to your social media can make other people feel good and help you feel more connected.
You can also take adult group piano classes in person or online where you can learn at your own pace and make like-minded friends along the way. And kids group piano classes can help children build strong social skills as they also learn about music.
3. Improves Self Esteem
Starting something new can be intimidating, especially when it comes to the arts. One of the benefits of taking piano lessons is having a support system in the form of a trained piano teacher who wants you to succeed. A good teacher will nurture your strengths, and help correct weaknesses, and will also help to eliminate all of the guesswork of teaching yourself.
Mastering challenges and seeing weekly progress is a big boost for the self-esteem! With the guidance of a skilled teacher, you will likely see a lot of improvement week over week, and will gain a lot of confidence knowing that you have a knowledgable guide helping you every step of the way.
If you aren’t interested in taking private piano lessons at your teacher’s studio or taking an in person adult piano class, you can take music lessons at home and have a teacher come to you.
You can also try an online adult piano class in the comfort of your abode without the stress of travel or having to be around a group of strangers.
No matter how you choose to learn the piano, with the right teacher and a little determination, you will continue to improve over time. As you get more confidence and build self-esteem, you'll be able to work at your own pace towards that first performance or just playing a song for your friends and family.
4. Acquire New Skills
There's something incredibly satisfying about acquiring a new skill, and learning to play the piano involves a lot of new skills and ways of using your brain. Not only can it help spruce up your resume, but it can help improve your well-being, and lifelong learning has been proven to be an essential step towards overall brain health, life success, and general levels of self reported happiness.
Taking those first steps towards learning about something you're interested in is inherently fulfilling and exciting. Developing skill in an art like playing the piano is something that can help you build a framework to learn other related skills, which can open doors to a host of other subject and skills to learn.
To sum it up, learning to play the piano will allow you to have a lifetime of learning and satisfaction!
5. Enhances Academic Performance
Taking piano lessons may seem like something that only benefits kids, but it's an advantage for adults as well! There have been large-scale studies on the impact of music lessons on children's learning.
Researchers looked at the cognitive features of children's education. This includes short-term memory, language development skills, and planning over the course of three years of practical piano lessons. They concluded that their study supports "a transfer effect from music education to academic achievement." But anyone can benefit from the improvement of language and math skills that come from piano lessons as well!
6. A Break From Devices
The world is obsessed with screens. From big televisions to portable smartphones, devices are everywhere you look.
While this technology has certainly proved to be useful in some ways, it is downright dangerous in other ways. Instead of spending time scrolling through social media, people of all ages can learn to be more present and focused by playing the piano.
7. Better Brain Health & Function
Learning how to play piano can also improve the way your brain works! Music has a unique effect on your brain, and is known to do everything from increasing neuroplasticity, to growing connections between the right and left hemispheres, to even reversing certain effects of aging on the brain.
When you play piano, your brain becomes a neurological symphony unto itself, stimulating areas of the brain governing motor skills, visual and auditory processing, and can improve many types of memory function.
Kids who take piano lessons will obviously benefit, but taking piano lessons has also been shows to help adults with memory problems.
8. Decreases Depression
One of the most profound aspects of music for both listeners and performers is the ability to improve your mood and feelings of positivity. Music helps us to feel more connected, involved, and helps us to be more in the present moment.
Neurochemical responses to listening to or playing music influence mood positively. The way a song can make you want to dance, smile, or cry is something that is wired into most of us, and our natural affinity for music also helps us understand and express our own feelings.
Music is not only great for improving your mood! It’s also a great way to keep yourself physically and mentally healthy. Playing piano releases stress, which can decrease depression and have other health benefits. Even just playing for a few minutes a day can help boost your mood!
9. Creativity Booster
Between your busy schedule, responsibilities, and work commitments, it can be difficult to feel creative in the flow of life. Making time to play an instrument or write a song can refocus your mind towards the more fun and creative areas of your life, and can help you reconnect in a mature way to the playfulness of earlier years.
Because playing the piano or any other instrument acts as an exercise for the whole brain, it can make you better at creative thinking, which can have a host of benefits.
It has even been proven that creative thinking, especially playing piano or another musical instrument, gives most people a cognitive edge. Some of the most accomplished people in the world, including politicians, business leaders, scientists and tech entrepreneurs are also great musicians.
Playing an instrument, and writing, producing, or being involved with music on any level will undoubtedly boost your creativity and help your mental game stay sharp.
The Many Benefits of Piano Lessons
There are so many reasons to play the piano. If you've been dreaming about picking up a new skill or hobby, this is your sign.
Taking piano lessons has a ton of benefits, even more than listed above. You're not only improving your mental health, you’re decreasing stress, improving memory, meeting new interesting people, and setting yourself up for a lifetime of learning!
Remember that it may take you a little bit of time to learn the ropes. But after that? With the right guidance you'll be stunned by how quickly you improve. Before you know it, you'll be ready to show off your new piano skills to friends and family, and who knows? You may even be up on stage with your bandmates one day ready to count off that first song of the night!
Want to get started with lessons? You can find an awesome piano teacher here.
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