Why Piano Lessons?

The kids are back at school, and if you're concerned about them making the grade this year, consider an unconventional approach: give them piano lessons.

Study after study confirms that young children who take piano lessons not only improve their coordination, they learn how to concentrate better too, improving reading scores, enhancing their memory skills and increasing their confidence levels.

Researchers at the University of California at Irvine are at the forefront of some of the lasts research on the merits of piano lessons for children. Their study, which took place over two years, found that 3 and 4-year-olds who were given weekly piano lessons for a year had improved their puzzle-solving skill by 34 percent over groups who were given singing lessons, computer lessons, or specific instruction at all.

Music is not just notes. It's patterns of notes and relationships between notes that you see as you play," says UCI neurologist Gordon Shaw. "And like in a chess game, you have to be able to see quite a bit ahead to play."