Helping kids select suitable after-school activities can be challenging. Sports will keep them active. The arts will broaden their perspective. With so many choices, what’s a parent supposed to do?

While there was once a piano in almost every home, the numbers have been declining. Even for those parents that value music, there are a wide array of options. Is piano the right choice? Or violin? Or what about technology – should you rely on apps to bring music to life?

The way we learn has also changed in recent years. While it once took hours of research and attention to understand a subject, now, with a click of a mouse, you can open up entire databases on a topic and learn something new in an afternoon. 

Especially Generation Z and beyond, their attention spans are quite different from older generations. We’re now living with instant gratification. Unless you’re committed to a lifetime in the arts, many wonder what point really is. 

Piano is a core instrument in the world of music. That’s because it’s one of the easiest instruments to learn, and it’s unique in playing both melody and accompaniment with every song. You can play and enjoy it alone, or bring in other instruments for blending. If you want to progress in music, piano is one of the best places to start. 

It’s also a gift that keeps on giving. If a child plays soccer as a child, they may enjoy the game for a lifetime, but won’t be able to participate for more than a handful of decades. With a piano, it can bring a lifetime of enjoyment. It’s as easy to sit down at a piano at 10 as it is at 100. 

Studies also show that piano brings many benefits at every age. It helps with reading and comprehension skills. It can enhance hand-eye coordination. More medical students have a past in musical arts. And as you age, it can enhance memory association, and is often used in various therapies. It brings a calming effect to help reduce stress at any age. 

Whether you’re looking for an activity for your child, or want to pick up a new hobby for yourself, there’s never been a better time to bring the piano into your life. 

Do you eat better to improve your health?

Do you exercise to stay fit? 

What if you could do something for your brain to make it stay healthy too?

You can. 

Piano playing has been around for hundreds of years. And while it’s easy to look at it as a wonderful hobby that adds music to your life, there’s more to it than that. Studies continually show that piano playing can help what ails you, and make you happy and healthy for life. 

Piano playing reduces stress

This past year has shown us stress can leap to entirely new levels. It also showed us we can stop and spend more time at home doing the things we love. Stress can release into the body in many different ways. For some, it shows up as mood changes, fatigue, and even digestive problems. For others, it can slowly impact health until you have chronic conditions. But taking up a hobby can give you a release for that energy. Piano playing requires concentration, and gives your brain a chance to relax from the constant barrage of content that comes at you all the time. Piano playing allows you to go into an almost meditative state, which can help lower blood pressure and allow the tension to release from your body. 

Piano playing improves cognitive function

People have long since documented that piano playing in young children can improve memory, help with language, and increase test taking skills. When you continue playing as you age, it can help improve memory, slow the process of dementia, and help increase brain function. If you push your skills, learn to read sheet music, and become better at piano playing through daily practice, it can continue to help you grow as an individual, and give you purpose and drive. 

Piano playing increases self esteem

As people age, they spend more time alone. For some, that can be a lonely experience, which can lead to adverse effects such as further withdrawal. Playing the piano increases your skills and allows you to concentrate on things outside of your norm. It gives you a chance to connect with people on a different level, especially if you start taking lessons. Share what you do – you’ll be amazed at how it can help connect you with others in the world. 

Music therapy is just beginning to break into helping people with all kinds of ailments. Whether it’s listening or playing, participating actively, or simply sitting and listening, music can have a long lasting impact on our health. 

Have you turned to piano playing over this past year? 

This past year, self care has taken on an entirely new life. Stress is a part of our everyday lives. It’s here in ways we never thought possible, and it’s impacting all of us in new ways. 

While staying in place had an impact on all of us, it did make us look at ourselves and try and find ways of bringing peace and calm to each new day. People picked up new hobbies at record-breaking speed. Making bread became a new norm. 

But once we settled into our homes, and realized we’re home to stay, we started finding new opportunities that passed us by before. 

Is piano playing a new hobby for you? Congratulations. Studies show it’s one of the best activities you can take on for your mental health. It’s not just good for living through a pandemic; it can help you with stress relief for life. 

Piano playing relieves stress – when you sit down to play the piano, you can’t bring your problems to the keyboard. It requires full concentration, which makes you leave your cares behind. It gives you something else to focus on while you’re creating music. It’s also a booster to your self-esteem, as well as gives you a more positive outlook on life. 

Piano improves concentration – had brain fog this past year? A lot of people have. It’s difficult to concentrate when the world is changing at break-neck speed, and you’re doing everything you can to keep up. When you sit down to play the piano, it regulates you to split your concentration to read the music, interpret the notes, and move that down into your hands to take action on the keys. Don’t forget about your foot to tap the sustain pedal as needed. You can’t have other things on your mind and play well. Playing allows you to push “stuff” away for a while, and focus only on what’s important now. 

Piano improves language – when you’re playing the piano, your listening skills automatically gain a boost. You listen for intervals and chords while playing, and develop voice and a sense of pitch. This transfers into your language skills as well as your memory. It helps you pick up the fine tonal qualities that make you better at listening, as well as hear sounds and differences in a new way. This helps kids become better at school, learn foreign languages faster, and do better on tests. It continues throughout life, assisting seniors to remember better and be more concise with their language skills. Hand-eye coordination also improves as you connect with the keyboard with all of your senses intact. 

Sometimes taking control over your mental health starts with stress relief. Whether you’re just starting to play the piano as a new hobby, or have played for years, it’s the one activity that you can carry with you through life, and have it inspire you every time you sit down. 

As a parent, you’re concerned with child development from the moment you find out you’re pregnant. You scour the internet looking for ways to improve your child’s skill set. You sign up for different classes to push them in all the right places. 

Yet with so much to choose from, how are you sure you’re signing up for the right things? 

Sports promise team building and coordination. Computer based classes push STEM concepts. 

But what about music? How about piano playing? 

It doesn’t take a lot of research to discover music has a profound effect on human development. Looking back throughout time, music has always been a part of our lives. We use music for enrichment, for its calming factors. We’ve used music to tell stories. 

That’s because music builds neural pathways throughout the brain. Neurologists who study this believe it has a whole range of benefits, from problem solving to better memory skills throughout a child’s life. 

Have you heard of the Mozart effect? Simply stated, the research behind this says that children who listen to classical music are smarter. As they listen, it builds a child’s sense of hearing and the ability to process the sounds as it hears it. The distinct patterns in highly skilled works of art can increase cognitive performance. 

While it is truly difficult to determine if music puts your child on a different path, making them smarter, there is solid proof it does improve child development. It helps develop skills such as:

• Language skills, including increased ability to pick up foreign languages
  
• Stress reduction skills, which can help with anxiety and mood regulation
  
• Patience and discipline
  
• Fine motor skills
  
• Improved memory and concentration
  
• Self confidence and self esteem
  
• Higher scores on tests
  

Yes, having music in your child’s life will influence your child’s behavior. The sooner you make it a part of their daily lives, the more they can gain. Babies are musical. They love to listen and even play with all kinds of musical instruments. Studies show that when you start playing before the age of seven, it changes the way the brain forms and grows. That stays with a child for life. 

Is it time to give your child the gift of piano playing? 

So you want your kids to be successful. You push them in many ways. 

Put them onto a sports team – maybe they can get a scholarship.

Help them do well in school – college is in their future.

Let them build their own YouTube channel. What!?

A lot of parents have trouble seeing the world through their kids’ eyes. Kids want to play video games. They spend way too much time online. They are obsessed with social media. 

And we try to put a stop to it all because … we don’t understand it. 

But here’s the thing you should know about social media. Despite what you hear in the news, not all of it is bad. It’s just a new way of life. 

Did you know a lot of YouTubers are making millions of dollars just by posting regularly to their YouTube channel?

How? 

You can join the YouTube Partner Program

If you start a YouTube channel and build it with a lot of followers who watch regularly, YouTube has a program where they pay you based on your views and subscriptions. 

You can earn from Premium Subscriptions

Not all videos on YouTube are available for view to the general public. Some are walled off and available only if you pay for the premium content. The more people willing to pay to view your content, the more you get paid. 

You can get paid via third-party distributors

If your music becomes popular, other services may want to stream it too. iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon music may all be interested in selling downloads of your content on their own platforms. 

You can build a brand

The more popular you become, the more you can take your brand out to the world in different ways. Build a website. Take your show on the road. Work with other companies and artists to grow your following. Potential opens up the more creative you are. 

You can make other products

Many businesses are set up on YouTube that are tools and helpers for people that have a love of playing the piano. These businesses all have the potential of making money in the exact same way as mentioned above. 

Check these out for inspiration:

The Piano Guys

VK Goes Wild

Lara de Wit

Imagine trying to learn a new sport – football – at the age of 85. 

That’s not going to happen. No matter how well physically an 85 year old is, the thought of running up and down a field probably isn’t reality. 

Now imagine an 85 year old sitting down and learning to play the piano. A little more realistic, right?

Musicality isn’t something that ever goes away. You can pick up an instrument and learn how to play, whether you’re 5 or 85. You bring different things to the table. You learn for different reasons. 

And once you learn to play the piano, you’ll have a lifetime to perfect it. It will stay with you and be a part of who you are until the day you die. 

It’s not just musicians, educators, or piano dealers that say this. It’s backed by science too. 

Playing the piano can fine tune your brain, both biologically and neurologically

You don’t have to look farther than some of the greatest musicians on earth to know that they remain sharp well into their sixties, seventies, eighties, and beyond. Think Paul McCartney or Mick Jagger. A study out of Northwestern University confirms it too. There is biological evidence that keeping music in your life has a good impact on the aging process. It impacts everything from retaining memory to hearing. 

Playing the piano gives you a full body workout

When you listen to music – especially classical music – a whole host of benefits occur in your body. But when you engage in the actual act of creating music, it ramps up and helps you even more. Think of it as a whole body workout, mind and body. It strengthens multiple areas of your brain, increasing concentration, focus, and memory. It carries forward discipline into multiple areas of your life. 

Playing the piano reduces stress and anxiety

Do you have stress or anxiety in your life? It almost seems like a silly question, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t? But studies show that adults who sit down at the piano have a therapeutic way of reducing stress and anxiety. The simple nature of sitting down and practicing can help calm your nerves and improve your self-awareness. It gives you a chance to breathe deep and take the focus off what’s not working in your life. 

Playing the piano changes your brain structure and mental awareness

The great thing about playing the piano is you can pick it up at any time, no matter how old you are, and the results are instantaneous. Multiple studies confirm that playing music can change the way their brain processes information. Your brain stays stronger and you become more mentally aware of your surroundings. You don’t have to be good at it, or even reach a certain level before it kicks in. This is something you do for you. It’s something that works for a lifetime.