Instrumental Benefits

No doubt we’re all aware of the fickle nature of children. We were once younglings ourselves, after all. I distinctly remember doing exactly the opposite of what my mother told me to do a lot of the time, such as putting my hand on the cooker because I was warned it was too hot. (Yes. Yes it was.)

So, it’s easy to imagine that many children would run a mile whenever the word “forced” comes into play. Especially if “instrument” and “practice” follow suit. Learning an instrument is much like eating spinach. Something with many added benefits, but not altogether appealing.

Musical instruments, after all, are still besieged by very middle-class connotations. A piano ushered into the corner of a tastefully cream-coloured living room. Private school followed by afternoon cello practice. The eight-year-old girl throwing a tantrum (much to the chagrin and embarrassment of her well-groomed mother) prior to a Grade 2 violin exam. She is tired. And frustrated. She has had ballet and French lessons alongside violin practice this week, and the last thing she wants to do is enter a room and be forced to play scales and arpeggios in front of a stern, bespectacled gentleman. Just because her mother says she has to. It’s rare you combine the image of a council house estate or teenage delinquency with the sound of a well-practiced clarinet.

Perhaps that sounds a tad presumptuous, but the tiger-mum and her well-rounded (but exhausted) child are something to be wary of when encouraging the enforcement of playing instruments. I’m not suggesting that kids give up social time or watching [insert generic cartoon title here – I don’t want to show my age as a ’90s kid by plumping for The Tweenies] in lieu of three hours a day strumming on a guitar, just to appease pushy parents.

Instruments aren’t – or at least, they shouldn’t be – a signifier of money or an upbringing by well-to-do parents. It’s about passion and dedication to a craft: two things which everyone is surely capable of.

I’m careful, too, not to court the sentimental vision of a musically harmonious utopia; that wielding a harpsichord or hornet would suddenly enable us to overcome all societal problems. However, it is a culturally enriching and developmentally enhancing experience, and one which should be made available for all to partake in. Learning a musical instrument betters literacy rates, discipline and application to a variety of activities. Studies have proven its impact on the memory’s capacity and ability to listen. In addition, according to an article from the Telegraph, “new research suggests that regularly playing an instrument changes the shape and power of the brain and may be used in therapy to improve cognitive skills.”

Schools from a wide range of economic backgrounds should set up initiatives that enable children to play an instrument, whether that’s via instrument rental, reduced rate classes, or free practices with a tutor. Anything that gives them the option that might otherwise not have been open to them can only be positive. Andrew Lloyd Webber recently backed a similar scheme to implement compulsory musical instrument lessons in selected secondary schools.

I often see children with Game Boys, iPads, and various other technological gadgets attached to their persons as if they are limbs. It keeps them quiet and out of their parent’s hair. It’s certainly quieter than the beat of badly played drums on a Sunday afternoon. Nevertheless, it’s also potentially symptomatic of lazy – and less interactive – parenting. It seems to me to be far more rewarding for a child to show a parent a song that they’ve mastered, rather than, say, a new level completed on an Xbox game. And, later in life, it will be far more romantically rewarding to whip out a guitar to serenade a special someone than inviting them over to your house to kick-ass at Call of Duty and expect a second date.

The lasting effects of playing an instrument are, quite frankly, mind-boggling, and make me wish I had stuck with the cello or keyboard for longer than I did in my youth. Developing patience, perseverance, co-ordination, concentration, self-confidence and creativity … the list could go on and on. It needn’t necessarily be about wealth or class, or that rich kids are better at life just because they can play a musical instrument. Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash and Ringo Starr all came from impoverished backgrounds, plagued by neglect and hardships, but found the means to better their lives through music.

Instruments aren’t – or at least, they shouldn’t be – a signifier of money or an upbringing by well-to-do parents. It’s about passion and dedication to a craft: two things which everyone is surely capable of. People often go on about giving our future generations the best start in life. When that something is the gift of guitar-playing, or being capable of performing a solo in a school orchestra, it seems ridiculous for it not to be placed at the top of the parental agenda – but only for the right reasons.

photo: mindfulmum.co.uk