92Y School of Music Director Yana Stotland talks about the extraordinary benefits children gain in learning to play an instrument
Fun, challenging, collaborative, empowering … reasons enough for your child to learn to play an instrument, right? But there are benefits to music lessons beyond the delight and experiential growth: a new study reinforces the finding that learning a musical instrument boosts brain power. We talked with Yana Stotland, Director of 92Y’s renowned School of Music about the many ways playing an instrument contributes to a child’s holistic development.
“Researchers have been examining the effect playing an instrument has on a child’s developing brain for generations and have established a clear connection between music training and a child’s cognitive function – even their academic performance,” says Yana. Studies have shown that actively engaging in music fires – and actually rewires – parts of the brain, with applications in the areas of language and reading skills, spatial reasoning and more.
The new January 2021 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience reports that the brains of those who play an instrument are “vastly more structurally and functionally connected than [those of] non-musicians … showing stronger connections to the areas involved in the control of higher cognitive functions like memory, working memory and executive functions.” Considering the latter alone is responsible for the ability of a child’s brain to organize, solve problems and make decisions, the implications are far-reaching.
Yana has been observing the benefits manifested in her students for more than 25 years as a music educator. “Just think about what’s involved in learning an instrument. It’s a multi-sensory experience – eyes, ears and muscles all need to be managed at the same time, even in the youngest student attempting the simplest phrase. When a child gains a basic level of proficiency, that’s all working at the same time at a very high level. The brain is doing astounding things – and it doesn’t forget how to do them when the lesson ends.”
The School of Music has long been one of the premier music schools in New York City, offering private and group lessons on instruments including piano, violin, cello, voice and more, for children as young as four years old and through their high school years. Classes are currently remote, but students and faculty have been delighted by how much progress they’ve been able to make together over Zoom lessons. Once Covid restrictions lift, classes will return the school’s beautifully renovated, state-of-the-art studios. Scholarships are available to help make it possible for every family wanting to provide music lessons for their child to be able to do so. “Some people still see music lessons as an ‘extra’” says Yana. “We see them as a foundation that rewards a child for a lifetime.”
Yana is passionate about what the lessons bring to her students beyond the musical training. “The cognitive benefits are supported by emotional ones. Children who actively engage in music have greater maturity in their social and emotional development. They gain confidence and empathy, they become better listeners and creative thinkers – you see it before your eyes. And they gain a tool for self-expression that allows them to create their own safe, happy place. Whether you’re the teacher or the parent, you’ve opened pathways that will benefit a child throughout their life.”
Yana is equally passionate about how her teachers approach the lessons. “Fueling joy is paramount,” she says. “Learning an instrument is a challenge, and children progress at different paces. We have some of the most stellar instructors anywhere in the country on our faculty. But as important to me as their teaching proper technique is their connecting with each child and finding whatever it is that sparks their personal joy in music-making. It thrills me to hear these children develop on their instrument over a period of time, but it thrills me just as much to know we are helping to build strong, attuned, imagination-rich humans.”
Explore all of the School of Music’s classes for children.