There is a small, but growing, body of real scientific evidence regarding the value of studying a musical instrument at a young age. The impetus for the existence of this evidence is the music industry - specifically the National Association of Music Merchants (NAAM) - who is funding much of the current research. Along with this sponsored research, the subjects of the psychology of music and acoustics are growing academic fields, judging from the symposia announcements I receive every year. I suppose the great question these researchers seek to answer is, what good is learning music, anyhow?

It should come as no surprise that what has driven the current research into the benefits aspects of learning a musical instrument has much to do with the public school budgets, which, when strained, tend to exclude the subjects of arts and music. These subjects have been de-prioritized because of many factors. The overall political reason is that the subjects of music and art, being confused with entertainment in our modern world, lack demonstrable utilitarian value. What is the measure of utility for education? How can our students compete in the marketplace if they waste their time with music? This attitude is an historically recent and ironic twist to the foundations of Western culture, where the wise did not subordinate the noble for the mundane, but subjugated the mundane to support their aspirations of nobility.

However, for you practical minded, here are a few recent findings that suggest learning music may help people achieve higher economic goals as well as an ennobling and enrichment of character.

• According to a 1998 survey of SAT and Achievement tests, The College Board reported that students who study music and the arts score higher on the verbal and math portions of the SAT than students with no coursework or experience in the arts.
• Physician and biologist Lewis Thomas studied the undergraduate majors of medical school applicants. He found that 66 percent of music majors who applied to medical school were admitted, the highest percentage of any group. Forty-four percent of biochemistry majors were admitted. As reported in “The Case for Music in the Schools,” Phi Delta Kappa, February 1994.
• Several research projects have found that music training can dramatically enhance children’s spatial-temporal reasoning skills, the skills crucial for greater success in subjects like math and science. Neurological Research, February 1997; Rauscher and Shaw, and Neurological Research, March 1999; Shaw, Graziano, and Peterson. This research continues.
• According to Grant Venerable, author of, “The Paradox of the Silicon Savior,” the very best engineers and technical designers in the Silicon Valley are, nearly without exception, practicing musicians. (It is well known that there is no shortage of garage bands and performing musicians among the 'hi-tech' engineers in Austin.)
• The publication Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need To Know and Be Able To Do states that “preparation in the arts will be valuable to college entrants whatever their intended field of study.” The College Board, New York, 1983 (still in use).

Regardless of these impressive suggestions, which prior to this century had not existed, people have always found plenty of reason to make and study music. In fact, I wonder why it has taken so long - over 1200 years of the Western Musical tradition and 400 years of the scientific method - to bother to actually seek a utilitarian answer to that question! Oddly enough, the answer to that question may also be found in the current research. Susan Black, in her article, “The Musical Mind,” in The American School Board Journal, January 1997.

On the basis of observations and experiments with newborns, neuroscientists now know that infants are born with neural mechanisms devoted exclusively tomusic. Studies show that early and ongoing musical training helps organize and develop children’s brains. Even without referring to the new musical research, I have seen the benefits of musical training in the hundreds of students I have taught.

What made the girl, who was so shy that she didn't leave her mother's arms for 2 lessons and didn't speak in class for three months decide to spontaneously volunteer to play a solo at a recital in front of 200 people - and play it backwards!? Though I don't have any research to back me up, I think it has something to do with self-expression through music making.

How could the boy who couldn't sit still or control his attention easily play scales for a half hour? I think it has something to do with self-control one develops in music making.

What makes the 12 year old boy, whose size, sullen disposition and social sensitivity make him a perfect lineman on his football team, enjoy playing Spanish Court music of the 16th. century? I think it is the inescapable beauty in music.

What has made the boy, cowered by constant criticism parental overcome this environment by crafting a superior skill that has brought him a new status and identity in his family? I think it is in the elevation of the person that musicianship brings.

How come the girl, who used to pound violently on her guitar at the least mistake, now seeks out the most difficult pieces to play? I think the answer comes with the joy of mastery of music.

What has made the boy, whose family is racked with the tension of violence, practice everyday without being told, practice hard and with a mission everyday to reach levels of rare skill? I think it is the power that music can give.

Whether you have led your child to music or have been led by your child to it, know, that for the last 2500 years of history, humankind has found value in the study of this form of expression, which is of all human activities perhaps the most mysteriously and, universally, closest to the human heart.

On a rainy day, what would your child rather do: a) sit inside and listen to J.S. Bach's Golberg Variations, or b) go outside and catch roofwater in his mouth? Those of us with children somewhere in the middle of the bell curve know the answer to that question: the kid is outside with his mouth open and rain in his face.

The issue of leading children to the world of higher music has been addressed in music educational research for over three decades. This literature is replete with investigations into what children like in music, who makes the best musicians and listeners, and what teachers can do, if anything, to influence children's taste. Oddly enough, in these thirty years of articles in the Music Education Journal and the Journal of Research in Music Education, I can recall no study that addresses what can be done by parents to directly influence the development of a child's musical taste even though we parents assume the most responsibility in the matter.

As a music teacher of young people for over twenty years, I have discovered the secret to expanding a child's musical preferences. No, it is not limiting the sounds of your household to classical recordings. The secret to influencing your child's inclination towards higher and more noble music is very simple: get them to make music. Kids like what they can do! Their stylistic preferences tend towards the familiar and what they do is most familiar. Furthermore, as children age from 5 to 12, their specific preferences extrapolate to general style. What this means is, if we wish to open a child's tastes (and that is about all we can hope for) to music of higher value then we should get them making music of higher value at a preadolescent age. A successful applied music education experience is the most effective way to grow a child's musical interest and develop what is known in the music education circles as "open earedness."

Of course, skill on any musical instrument takes time to develop. It is important for parents to involve themselves in every aspect of the child's music education experience for the experience to be successful. This is especially true for younger children (age 5-10) who go through many emotional, physical and cognitive growth stages on the way to becoming skillful musicians. It is difficult for children to cultivate their own talents in the absence of support and models. Their tastes are first formed within the context of the familiar, and family provides the familiar context for your child's talent development. Cultured families raise cultured kids. And a talented child can raise the culture of any family.

It can be difficult for parents to involve themselves in the music education process. An effective involvement style takes awhile to develop. After interviewing over 400 parents whose kids are involved with music lessons, it appears that there are three negative reoccurring factors that affect the motivation development and hence the success of the music education process. These three "motivational herbicides" are force, abandonment and perfectionism. These arise out of past experiences with music lessons and expectations that we parents bring to the educational process which, in turn, form our involvement style.

Often couched in caring term, these three Involvement styles are as follows:
"You're going to get what I never had a chance to have" involvement style
Parents who had little or no musical training as children are often puzzled by their children's response to learning about music. I hear most often from these puzzled parents, "He just doesn't want to practice!" The parents, however, are not seeing the situation from the child's point of view. Why would the poor child want to sit by himself, in an uncomfortable position, at a time convenient for the parent, and play his 20 seconds worth of material for an hour (while being reminded how much it is costing)?

Adults who have never learned what it takes to practice a musical instrument often force unrealistic practice habits upon their child. "Go to your room and practice" are not words your child is likely going to cherish hearing. The hour-a-day method of practice can change a prescription for growth into a prison sentence in the mind of the child. Unless you wish to be a warden, I would suggest avoiding those words. The great music educator,

Shinichi Suzuki, recommended playing only "two minutes a day...with love." The greatest challenge for such a parent is to encourage the child to practice, and the simplest and most effective way for a parent to do this is to ask the child to play for him or her. If a parent can take the time to listen attentively, appreciatively and without criticism each day, the child will take the time to play. This is the easiest and most effective way to bring music-making and listening into the culture of your household.

"If he doesn't want to practice, I'm not going to make him," involvement style
Perhaps you were forced to take music lessons as a child. You remember what the years of forced piano lessons were like, and are determined not to repeat the situation with your own children. A little voice will whisper, "If he doesn't want to practice don't make him." But the reality is that all children desire things -- including skill -- and they need help in learning how to get these things. Abandoning or isolating the child with only his or her immature aspiration to learn is a sure way to extinguish the desire. Children need the detailed guidance and structuring of their time necessary to show them how to reach their goals. I have never heard anyone say, "I wish my parents didn't make me brush my teeth when I was young. I would appreciate brushing so much more now." However, I have heard many parents say, "I wish my parents would not have let me give up music when I was a child." Parents who are involved with their children in the music education process have already discovered that buying the instrument was the easy part. Sticking with the ups and downs of a skill development program is much more difficult. Commitment is necessary -- more so for the parent than the child. If you think you don't know how to help your child without force, here are helpful suggestions:
1) Teach your child how to work playing into his or her lifestyle without giving up other enjoyments;
2) Be available to the student when he or she practices;
3) Bring the child out into the living room or kitchen to play;
4) Know the details of the pieces he or she is working on and help guide
the realistic day-to-day goals.

"If we just start him young enough, there's no telling how good he can become," involvement style
It is difficult for anyone, let alone a child, to learn within a structure of perfect expectations, where the product of music takes priority over the process of learning. Parents must involve themselves without creating tension. The way to do this, as hard as it may be, is to avoid becoming the teacher and be a supportive, dumb parent.

Parents should let the instructor assume the role of the teacher, and allow their roles to be the nurturing Mom or Dad. Kids with short tempers and low frustration levels -- suspiciously common traits among bright children in families of high achievers -- especially appreciate recognition of their hard work. It is best to defer conflict to the class, and let the child become the expert at home. Children who live in environments of high expectations do extremely well when music is allowed to become a source of parental pride and nurturing rather than parental scrutiny.

These are the insidious parental threats to long-term motivation in children -- force, abandonment, and perfectionism. Every child I have ever taught has had to deal with these parental challenges occasionally. Children are born with only the seeds of artistry and talent. Those seeds must be cultivated. The successful students and parents are those who have used teamwork and "timework," respect, humility, good humor, clear structure and
honest communication with each other to overcome the obstacles that inhibit the growth of those beautiful seeds of musical interest that sprout in children.

Kevin Taylor is the Founder of The Childbloom Guitar Program.
Address all comments to him at: childbloom@aol.com.