How your Child’s Mind Benefits from Learning Violin

A study at the Institute for Music and the Mind at McMaster University in the US concluded that playing violin tends to improve children’s concentration. Essentially, when a youngster plays an instrument, changes tend to occur in your child’s mind and brain:

• Improved attention span and focus
  • Your child must focus on learning both the violin itself and how to read music
• Sharpened memory
  • She will need to memorize both physical movements to make music, as well as how to read music
• Improved self-discipline
  • To have the violin sound right, your child will need to practice certain skills over and over

The largest amount of changes brought about by musical training, that study also found, is between the ages of 10 and 13. However, children younger than 10 and older than 13 certainly reap similar benefits as well!

Learning music in general helps children with their general communication skills as well, another study concluded. Young musicians who have taken three or more years of musical training tend to show improvements in “verbal ability and visual pattern completion”.

And in yet another study, published in the Psychology of Music, the authors tracked two groups of children in second grade over the course of three years. One group was given regular violin lessons over the course of the three years, the other group was given no music lessons at all as a control for the study. At the end of the three years, a standard test was given to both groups to asses their “significantly better vocabulary and verbal sequencing scores than did the non-music-learning control group” knowledge. These scores showed an improvement in skills that are fundamental to children acquiring and improving their reading skills.

Our violin teachers at the schools are:-

Majura Primary School

Andrew de Teliga

Andrew is the main composer for Sirocco. His background is in rhythm and blues guitar. As well as performing in a wide variety of rock bands, Andrew learned the classical violin. From a classical repertoire Andrew turned to the Irish fiddle and to the music of the different ethnic groups in Australia. His inspired compositions have been used around the world.

guitar styles :   blues electric , acoustic , folk finger style, slide
violin styles   :   light classical . irish / american folk fiddle, middle eastern
lutes ethnic   :   oud, saz

Turner Primary School

Dave O’Neill

Macquarie Primary School

Sharon Casey