School of Music Director Yana Stotland isn’t just passionate about making music part of children’s lives, she’s passionate about what it does for their developing brains. “Learning to play an instrument is a joy, and one a person can carry with them for a lifetime. So it’s win-win when that joy is supported by benefits that can help your child succeed in life.”

Yana’s top 10 reasons why playing an instrument is good for your child’s brain:

1. It teaches all kinds of things your child's brain has never needed to do before, like multitask cognitive functions at a whole new level. The “workout” makes a child’s brain so strong, it begins to out-perform in areas beyond music, like literacy.

2. It can help a child develop a growth mindset—the kind constantly eager to take on new challenges—and, with it, an understanding of what results from dedication and hard work. People with a growth mindset achieve great things!

3. It improves executive function, which enables children to process and retain information, regulate our behavior, solve problems, plan, and adjust to changing demands.

4. It positively impacts test scores (really!)

5. It reduce stress, anxiety and depression.

6. It enhance spatial reasoning.

7. It boosts memory.

8. It speeds up reaction times.

9. Its effects are long-lasting—scientists have found that musical training in childhood boosts the brain in adulthood–even 40 years later!

10. Most expansively, playing music fuels creativity, empathy, intuition and understanding.