It probably goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway, just in case: here at The Music Studio, we love music lessons! I mean, of course we do, but not just because that’s what we do. We love music lessons for all the amazing things they can bring into the lives of all our students, no matter how old or skilled they are. In fact, we love music lessons so much, I’m going to tell you the top 10 reasons you should love them too!

1. Music Lessons Make You Smarter

Study after study has shown that even a casual education in music can increase the IQ of both children and adults. There’s a little argument over why this happens exactly; maybe it’s how much multitasking the brain does while practicing and playing, maybe it’s because learning to read music is just like learning to read a different language, maybe it’s because music is full of patterns, and playing trains our brains to see patterns better in other places. Maybe it’s all of these things, maybe it’s none. All that matters is music lesson boost your brain!

2. You’ll Learn a New Language

They say music is the universal language, and it’s not far from the truth. Like I said above, learning music is literally like learning a new language. In fact, people who start learning music are even more likely to become fluent in another spoken language! On this same premise, music lessons have been shown to help people with disorders like autism and even dyslexia, helping their brains focus on sound, and processing information in different areas.

3. Lower Stress Through Music Lessons

In today’s world, life can be hectic and stressful, and easing that stress is becoming more and more important in adult life. In fact, long-term stress can have an amazingly negative impact on your brain by releasing “an enzyme that effectively breaks down part of the structure… of the neurons in the prefrontal cortex,” according to Amy Arnsten of Yale University. That’s brain damage. Luckily, not only can this be stopped, it can be reversed, and music lessons can be just what the doctor ordered. Relaxing time, scheduled in every week. What could be better for your brain?

4. Music Offers A Built-In Community

Meeting new people and making new friends can be difficult at any age, but especially for post-college adults with busy lives. Most new friendly relationships are based on common interests, and signing up for a music class automatically opens the door to meeting other people of all ages who have at least one similar interest. Having a class in common with someone can bring whole new opportunities for exploring new aspects of the friendship: they might have other hobbies you’ve been meaning to try, kids close in age to yours, or just looking for someone to hang out with too! And unlike recreational sports teams, which carry a certain physical demand, virtually anyone, at any age can take music lessons.

5. Lessons Will Boost Your Self-Esteem

Once you make new connections through music, it can act like a “social glue” that pulls together different ideas, different perspectives, different voices, and different cultures. Music introduces you to like-minded, and not-so-like-minded artists and music fans, sharing incredible experiences together. When you find yourself in unfamiliar territory, you’ll always be able to play music to get to know those around you. Learning to play music can help you handle anxious or nervous situations well, which in turn boosts your self-esteem and confidence.

6. You Might Be Better Than You Think

A lot of people start music lessons as children, then stop and never go back to it. A lot more people never pick up an instrument in the first place. Both groups of people often start to think that it’s too late for them and music, but it’s not! Not only does everyone have the same capacity to learn music, regardless of age, adults have the advantage of better practice habits! Adults are far more likely to buy themselves a higher quality instrument than they are for their kids, and not because they don’t love their kids. It’s just that children are more like to quit before the investment pays off. But when an adult spends that kind of money, it’s an investment we have to take seriously! That, coupled with the simple fact that if an adult is taking music lessons, it’s because they want to be there, means you’ll already be on the right track to improve quickly.

7. Learning Music Keeps Your Sharp

Your brain is a muscle, and just like any other, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Playing an instrument activates areas all over your brain all at once, effectively acting like a high-intensity cardio workout for your mind. Music lessons help keep your memory sharp as you gain new skills. And it’s not just your brain that stays sharp: music lessons can help your body too. Learning to play an instrument exercises your joints, keeping them flexible and reducing the risk of injury or arthritis.

8. It’s a Great Creative Outlet

Many people seem to thrive on creativity, other seem to grasp for it, never finding the time. With the demands of our everyday lives, it can be difficult to find the time to not only process the way we feel about the things going on around us, but to express those feelings in a meaningful way. Music lessons can be an amazing outlet! Practice time becomes a little therapy session. Feeling blue? Practice something a little melancholic. Jazzed up? Play something with a beat you can dance to! And once you progress far enough in your lessons, you can even write your own music to express those emotions!

9. You Get to Bond With Your Family

If you take lessons with your family, be it a sibling, a significant other, or a parent or child, you get to go through the process of bonding over a shared love of music. You can open a whole new aspect to any relationship, going to concerts together, cheer each other on when one has to learn a particularly difficult piece, or masters an expert technique, or even motivate each other to practice. In a world where it’s getting harder and harder to find time to spend together, music lessons make it easy.

10. You’ll Be Happier!

Everything else aside, you should love music lessons because it’s something you want to do! Just think about the music you could be playing, or even writing! Creating music is a fun and exciting experience that everyone should have the opportunity to seize. And with the advances in today’s technology, the learning possibilities are endless!