Brain Training

Why is music education so important? Of the many, many reasons, I`ll focus on just one: learning how to practice, and executing what you`ve learned in the practice room is a necessary life skill that is transferable to other areas of life. Music is important to everyone, and if you don`t think so, I dare you to throw away all your CDs, DVDs, digital entertainment files, keep your radio turned off, and throw away your TV as well. You`ll also have to consider rethinking the way you group certain people in your head by cultures, sub cultures and niches, cause those all require listening to certain types of music. So you say,"Yeah, I like music, but I`m not talented and I don`t have the ear for it." So what? Get over yourself and just learn, because the skills you learn in the practice room, whether you play five hours a day or five minutes a day, are valuable life skills. One thing practicing an instrument teaches you is that the only way forward is repetition, repetition, repetition. There are too many people claiming that they`ve found a short cut to success, when in reality planned repetition is the only way. This is true in any skill, but in music the results on a short term basis can be so rewarding and eye opening that once you reach your first short term goal, you`ll be pushing harder than you thought for the next one. Whether you`re a body builder, a mathematician, a chef or whatever, you`ll have to go through the repetition process to hone your skill. But learning an instrument in this way provides your brain with a certain real-time observation and reaction training that other areas don`t. When you learn to play an instrument properly, you learn to observe the present situation, visualise (or auralise) what`s supposed to happen next, anticipate any potential mistakes, and execute properly, all within a split second. This type of training is extremely valuable to your brain, and it`s all being done without you even realising it because you`re having so much fun playing your axe. So find a good teacher, get an instrument, get a little culture in your life, impress your friends and more, and get a bit of brain training in.