Posted in Music literacy, Music Motivation, Practicing, Science of Music

Why Should Children Take Music Lessons?

There are lots and lots of benefits as to why children should take music lessons. Here are just a few.

Music builds coordination

When it comes to piano, or really any musical instrument, it’s building hand-eye coordination, using the dominant and non-dominant hand, and in the case of the piano, can have different motions for each hand at the same time!

 

Music strengthens academic skills

There are many things that can be strengthened when it comes to musicianship, be it math, or language, especially when it comes to learning about phrasing and shaping the phrase, music helps to strengthen skills that students need in the classroom.

 

Music makes students more empathetic

Learning how to be a musician takes the student from making robotic music, to interpreting the music in their own way, making certain parts louder or softer than others, as well as bringing out the overall ethos of the music.

 

Music build discipline and patience

Learning how to practice and the discipline of regular, daily practice helps to build a positive habit that can translate to other aspects of life, as well as helping students be patient and persistent in practicing.

 

 

These and many more things help students grow and build skills that benefit as musicians and in life. Harmanny Music Education can help! Summer lessons for June and July are currently being scheduled and you can find out more and more about the ukulele camp to be held the week of June 27th here.

Posted in Musical Creativity, Science of Music

We Don’t Talk About….Earworms

If you’ve seen the movie “Encanto”, you know what the next word would be. Well, you probably will start singing the rest of the song, if you’re anything like me! If you haven’t seen the movie, or you want to indulge yourself, here you go:

Don’t talk about him!

So, why does this song (and other songs) get stuck in our head? I remember back a few years ago when my girls were in the “Frozen” phase of life. The song “Let It Go” was sung non-stop in my house….and in my head. Why do we get these….earworms?

It could be something as simple as the rhythm or the melody, but I think in songs like these, it’s the repetition of lyrics. If you know “Bruno” or you just watched the linked video, the line of “We don’t talk about Bruno” gets repeated. This isn’t something original to Lin-Manuel Miranda, but if you listen to some of the songs or themes in his musical “Hamilton”, you’ll understand how he excels at this concept.

Here’s another video explaining the science of earworms:

Yes, studies have been done by researchers to figure out how songs get stuck in our head. The “catchiness” or repetitiveness of the song is usually what makes it easy to get stuck in our head, but there’s really no easy trick to get it out.

So, I apologize for getting a song stuck in your head today. But actually, I’m not sorry. If you haven’t watched “Encanto” on Disney+, you need to. It’s an excellent movie with excellent songs that will get stuck in your head!