Why Learn A Musical Instrument..., and what are the advantages Options

[skylark]

OK folks, Malone's second thread asking "why did you take up learning a musical instrument and what are the advantages" got deleted as well because it had the title "why did my thread get deleted".

So third time lucky, let's try and recreate it again, and let's not give the mods any reason to delete this one.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)



Malone, fortunately I still haven't emptied my trash can so I can retrieve the Topic emails that I received from the last day or so of the first thread, just give me a few minutes....

... and if I were you, I'd download the thread as soon as you get a few replies, just in case (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[skylark]

Hey, I've discovered I've got all the contents of the second thread in my email box cos I contributed to that one fairly early on (IMG:style_emoticons/default/party2.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)



boogiecat

Someone should learn a musical instrument because it's so much fun! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/woot.gif)


Things that you can get from learning a musical instrument

Social interaction
Self motivation
Motor neurone skills
Listening skills
Improve maths
Perseverance
Can help to build confidence
...list goes on and on, but I'm not sure I would think of these as reasons for wanting to learn, just happy coincidences.

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anacrusis

Why learn an instrument?

In order to bug the family and neighbours, who have to endure practice sessions
To provide a bottomless pit in which to pour one's funds
To get RSI and other interesting conditions, like calluses on fingertips or inside lips.....


All right, I didn't mean it.

I learn because I get joy from making music, especially when it goes the way I can hear it in my head.
It is indeed a sociable activity, but also one you can indulge in on your own.
There is music to match almost any mood - no, make that every mood, because there's always John Cage's 4'33"...(put the track on repeat if desperate...). Music can be therapeutic both to listen to and to produce.
You can develop transferrable skills - finger dexterity, aural ability, reading ability amongst others.
There is the satisfaction of steady work providing improvement and expanding horizons.
Although learning music does involve some repetitive work, the range of music is wide and varied.

And even though recorder players get laughed at for their interest....by and large, people respect musicians for their toil and abilities (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) .

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Maizie

To be involved with something that you enjoy SO SO SO much that you don't care about bugging your family, spending all your money, getting strange deformities, or even being laughed at for being a recorder player!


Because you can go home after a rotten day and sink in to it and nothing is that bothersome anymore.
Because you find there are other people who find it just as enjoyable as you do and even though socialising is Not Your Thing you still get to join in and have fun (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Because learning is utterly essential to stop you going crackers (OK, that may just be me - but if I'm not learning something, my anxiety gets noticeably worse and I get obsessive over the littlest things. Distracting my mind, by making it learn something, keeps me stable).
Because it's great to spend your day thinking about 'what shall I play tonight?'
There's always something to look forward to, whether it's the challenge of something difficult or the fact that there's an old piece you can play really well (whichever suits your mood on a particular day).
Because it's something that can only take 10 minutes but change your entire day.


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DaisyChain

Absolutely!! ^^^

I use my poor old piano to take my frustrations out on; to cry to; to laugh at and to celebrate with! And does he ever let me down?? No! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)
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cat_loves_flute

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QUOTE(flutecake @ Sep 13 2007, 09:50 AM)
Another reason could be as physical therapy. One girl in our school orchestra had been advised by the doctor to take up a wind instrument as a way of helping her to control her asthma. Obviously if she had had no interest in music at all this may not have been enough motivation to start (I suppose she could have just done breathing exercises on their own), but it did influence her choice which was the oboe.

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I've heard this. Personally I learn because I just really love music!
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rosfrog

I think I learn instruments because I have to... I hear so much music in my head that I have to have a way to externalise it - this was certainly my motivation to sing. As for my other instruments, I loved the sound so much that I wanted to have it with me all the time and use that sound to externalise the music that I hear and love...

Does that make any sense at all... reading it back I don't think it does, but then I think the drive to learn an instrument is rather abstract, so perhaps it's fitting.
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lizbun

Why learn an musical instrument?



becuase:
it's funit Improves self confidenceit Gives you something to doit's good for maths


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pikkoloflautist

hmm... maybe that's why most of the people who play instruments in my year are in top set maths. i never made that connection before!
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maggiemay

There was the social aspect that someone mentioned - the fun of playing with other people. That was why I took up the cello at high school.
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The Old Lady

I have found that the benefits of learning an instrument are that mainly it relieves stress, and allows me to "create".

Bev.
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barry-clari
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QUOTE(maggiemay @ Sep 14 2007, 11:00 PM)

There was the social aspect that someone mentioned - the fun of playing with other people. That was why I took up the cello at high school.

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It's something I think is very valuable - I mentioned that you do get to meet all sorts of new people when you play a musical instrument. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
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LooneyTunes

And for me as an adult learner it is a chance to do something totally different from what I do on a day to day basis - it's incredibly therapeutic, it helps to relax after a stressful day, and I really enjoy it!
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kerioboe

It is a non-verbal way of expressing yourself.

I have just heard of someone who has had a stroke and now has trouble speaking but she can still sing and play the recorder to a high standard.
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sjc

My nephew took up an instrument because we felt that it would improve his concentration and there is evidence somewhere to suggest it improves maths?? It has indeed improved his concentration and although he has problems with reading, this is an area which has improved too. Looking at music is about recognising patterns as is reading.
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Aquarelle

I didn't manage to contribute to the original thread , Malone, but would like to point out the advantages to children in school - particularly juniors learning recorder. It is an activity which involvesthe co-ordination of eye and hand, develops powers of reasoning, increases the ability to listen, to concentrate and to co-operate. It is an activity which can open the door to an appreciation of musical culture. Above all for the young child it is something prestigious and they get enormous pleasure from the contribution a music group can make to the social life of the school- open days, fêtes, Christmas, school shows etc.

Children involved in musical activities at school tend to develop really positive attitudes to their schooling.
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And I said that I'd taken up learning an instrument in order to play when family members were having a "singalong", and now I got a huge buzz out of the learning process as well as out of playing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)




Has anyone else got anything to add to help Malone with her essay? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Misterioso]

It's a whole new dimension to life. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

[maggiemay]

Along the lines of something Aquarelle said, about benefit to children in school, there was an article about a year ago on bbc news online- I have no idea if it would still be around - however you could try a search on the bbc news website for --

536267.stm

Title is Music training boosts the brain

I'll try to check it out later when I have a moment

(ed - the above didn't find it - but a google search on the title came up with ...

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5362670.stm - looks like I missed a zero ! )

[spaceman]

Here's another reason, from heavy metal bassist "Lemmy":

Lemmy also explained that while in school he noticed a pupil who had brought a guitar to school and had been "surrounded by chicks", Lemmy's mother had a guitar, which he then took to school, even though he could not play, and was himself surrounded by girls, "in those days just having a guitar was enough"

[BerkshireMum]

In case you still need this, Malone, here for the third time is the quote from my son's music teacher!

"Whether *** wants to be a musician or not, getting his clarinet playing to the highest standard he can will be of immense benefit to him because so many of the learning/performing techniques are in fact transferable skills, unlikely as that may seem. For example, he learns in his lessons about how he learns things, how to achieve goals, how to be a self-reliant part of a team and how to perform well in front of a whole group of people and perform to them no matter how you are feeling. Added to which it can be a hobby that he will get much enjoyment from all his life."

I think I was one of the first to reply to the second thread, as you specifically mentioned me, which is probably why skylark didn't have my contribution.

Hurry up and write the essay before this thread gets deleted too!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Andromeda_Aiken]

I actually did a brief essay on the effects of music on children's academic ability in school last semester. If you're interested, I could send the essay to you. PM me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Good luck!

[Malone]

Hey, that would be great A_A. Thanks.

[Malone]

Cant beleive this thread is still here! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[skylark]

Third time lucky! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[singerpianist]

Well, there are many reasons:

* Self motivation
* Improving coordination
* You can become more culturally aware
* Playing an instrument seems to make you loved by people who can and can't play...especially with older
people and young children.
* It apparently improves your maths (although I'm yet to experience those benefits!!)
* Improves concentration.
* Boosts confidence.
* Makes you happy really easily!
* Can be both a very social activity, and an individual thing.
* It gives us aims!
* Music (singing) has been proven to released chemicals called phermones which make us HAPPY!
* Music has many career oppertunities, from being a professional musician, to teacher, to a musical director
in films etc.
* Boost motivation of peers.
* You can use music to help people with mental or physical disabilites (music therapy).
* You can never be lonely, because you can play on your instrument!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)
* For children it can be great for discipline and to give them achievable aspirations.


And know doubt there's seven hundred thousand billion more reasons!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Laura

[Becca_f]

For me personally, I find it really de-stresses me! Since I started playing my clarinet again, I come home from work and play for a while and feel so much better and forget about work!

[elisabeth_rb]

* Boost motivation of peers.
* For children it can be great for discipline and to give them achievable aspirations.

Just picked these 2 to comment on.

#1 Yes, when I read posts here I often feel more like practising. Ditto when I hear some of my fave music on CD and wanna be able to do that myself. Don't suppose I ever will be able to, but I'm not in this to make a name, just to have fun.
#2 Not just for children. Actually, you need to be VERY self-disciplined about music learning as an adult and that's something that many people, including myself (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) , are frankly in need of! Mercifully few and far between are those who can 'wing it' on a musical instrument, there's just no substitute for regular prac.

[gwu]

Actually, you need to be VERY self-disciplined about music learning as an adult

I find that I need to be very self-disciplined NOT to practise. I could easily get up in the morning and go straight to practising and practise for hours but self discipline forces me to get breakfast ready for everyone, to do the boring, sodding housework as quickly as possible and then sneak in 10 minutes before some other tedious chore requires my attention. For me, practising is a real luxury and I totally enjoy it.

For me personally, I find it really de-stresses me! Since I started playing my clarinet again, I come home from work and play for a while and feel so much better and forget about work!

Totally agree. It's one of the few things that can take me far away from the here and now.

[BerkshireMum]

Wow, gwu, you sound a bit down! I'm guessing the sleep deprivation is to do with your little ones? The phase really doesn't last for ever, so try to enjoy it as much as you can. Any chance of involving other members of the family in the "tedious chores" so that it doesn't seem quite such an effort?

Glad you're finding music a lovely escape, but I wish you were finding the "here and now" a bit more fun. Is there anything at all you could do to improve your lot?