There are all kinds of great clichés about music.
There's musical chairs.
Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast.
Then there's Shakespeare's 'if music be the food of love, play on.'
And don't forget the old canard that music makes you smarter.
Never heard that last one? You have now.
Two Harvard researchers have found that giving your kids music lessons and teaching them to play an instrument can have a significant effect on a wide range of their developing brain functions - and those advantages can last a lifetime.
The scientists compared a group of 41 kids between the ages of eight and 11 who had all played some kind of instrument for at least three years to 18 youngsters who studied music in school but never actually took up anything.
What they found will be music to the ears of every mom who forced their kids to play the piano. The children who practiced on an instrument of some kind had better hearing and increased finger dexterity. That wasn't that big a surprise.
But this was - those same kids were better at things like language, math and figuring out visual patterns. And the longer the kid had been playing, the better the test scores were.
At Toronto's Joyce Public School, teachers are putting the idea into practice.
"Music permeates the school from junior kindergarten to Grade 5," says Principal Cheryl Paige.
"We believe it's an incredibly enriching experience and just a wonderful and beautiful experience."
And it seems to be working.
"Music helps me concentrate," admits nine-year-old Patricia. "Because you're trying to learn the piece and you're trying to figure out the notes."
The necessity of multi-tasking for a successful musician could be part of music's value at an early age.
"It requires a lot of integration of learning, it requires looking, hearing, moving your fingers and following the music," Paige adds.
For some special musical math lessons that can help your son or daughter improve their abilities in both subjects, click here.
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