Advantages of Learning Music
May 20, 2006 Music Articles
Q: Why learning music is one of the best thing you could do in your life? Apply the priceless elements you learnt in music in your daily life, your studies, your career, your family, and your every thing! It helps in shaping you into a better person.
1) Visualization / Interpretation
In order to play good music, a student will have to learn to read notes, musical symbols, be able to write and understand musical notations. He must learn to interpret a song with feelings, approach the song with the correct mood, and deliver it like what it is felt in his heart. This skill will sharpen a person’s ability in executing procedures such as interpreting languages and logicalities.
2) Discipline / Determination
Playing music requires great deal of discipline. A successful musician must go through long, some times tiring, but ENJOYABLE journey in order to be where he wants to be. Routine practice, research, performing, analyzing, listening, these are the paths that a musician has to go through. It takes perception and discipline, and that shapes up a well-organized person indirectly.
3) Self Confidence
A music performer being able to coordinate his / her limps in playing wonderful music instill tremendous amount of confidence. It’s like wow, I can’t believe I can really do it at the first place. The first time you hold the drum sticks, you think they are cool, after years of practice, your drum sticks will think you are cool. How can I say? It’s a BIG, and I mean HUGE accomplishment. All successful musicians believe their songs could blow your mind away.
4) Team Work
One of the best thing you gain in playing music is the way you work with people around you, how you dissolve yourself into the society, how you survive in this dog-eat-dog world. Ha, am I going to far? Playing solo in a band does not make you a super-hero, you have to click well with all your members, understand them, like you can see through their feelings with superman’s infra-vision. It’s like a few members delivering a piece of music with one heart. Even if you are a solo acoustic guitarist, you have to coordinate well with your stage master, the sound man, the event organizer. Everything is about getting on with people. And off course, if you are a student in a music institution, group performances and recitals are such unique and priceless experience for you in team-building.
5) Patience
Musicians were not made overnight. You have to really walk down the path steadily with a clear mind and slowly, topping it up with consistency of countless hours of practice. Learn to be more patient, taking everything step by step. Give and take also plays a part here, when you play in a band, be considerate and always be patient with your members who are working up the ladder where you are standing higher than them. It will pay off at the end of the day.
6) Memory
Playing music definitely helps to build your short-term (if not long term) memory, both visual, and aural. We perform our pieces without looking at the scores, and for sure we will deliver our best in our bands on stage without staring at the score too. If you can memorise thousands of notes and lyrics in so many of your songs, then put it into good use in your academic or career too.
7) Ability to Solve
One of the most important skills you can gain from learning music is the ability to solve. Huh? So I thought learning music is about solving problems? No. What I mean is by learning music, one will indirectly develop problem-solving skill. How? In order to make your songs sound nicer, with more vivid colours and directions, not to mention to shape it up with your own style or taste, you have to learn harmony, the theory of music and apply them in your songs. In fact, it’s better than mathematics, because you get to modify your answers the way you want it to be.
Art Appreciation
This is one of the most abstract yet valuable skills you can get from taking music lessons. For example, before you enter your drum class, all you know is to hit and crash all those drum skins. After some time, you know how to enjoy various beats, how to express your mood, how to groove your body and soul to the drum beat, how to play the drum in accordance with your heart beat and feeling… ha, these are all which could NOT be taught in a text book. I have piano students who did not like jazz but only commercial radio-friendly pop numbers, as they learn, they started to appreciate and understand more. To tell you the truth, now he has his own jazz compositions.
I can go on for endless advantages in learning music, but to sum it up, learning music is better than sitting at mamak stall whole night smoking; leaning music is better than grabbing a stolen bike and racing on the road and get yourself killed; learning music is better than staring at your computer screen playing endless hours of DOTA or O2jam; learning music is better than poking with your snooker stick holding a beer can in the other hand; learning music is better than…..
References:
TEN-YEAR STUDY SHOWS MUSIC IMPROVES TEST SCORES:
UCLA professor, Dr. James Catterall, led an analysis of a U.S. Department of Education database. Called NELLs88, the database was used to track more than 25,000 students over a period of ten years. The study showed that students involved in music generally tested higher than those who had no music involvement. The test scores studied were not only standardized tests, such as the SAT, but also in reading proficiency exams. The study also noted that the musicians scored higher, no matter what socio-economic group was being studied.
Dr. James Catterall, UCLA, 1997.
Guitar / Piano Performance
I would like to thank all of my 28 students who performed in the recent 12th & 28th May Piano and Guitar Recitals. Great job you did!
Special credits must go to these students for their courage, passion, hard work and presentation:
-Muhd Taufik -Lim Ming Le -Loh Boon Siang
-Chuah Sheh Hwa -Foo Ching Chze -Jeff Khoo
-Soon Jan Jan -Hoo Khai Chiat -Kooy Eng Yeow
-Tan Chin Sing -Davina Chin -Goe Rui Ting
-Tham Ren Haw -Meara Chin -Afina
-Koey Eng Yeow -Theresa Chin -Ong Chong Leng
-Ung Chuin Ling -Edwin Lim -Zuriyati
-Woon Zu Yi -Chan Yoke Peng -Loo Hung Khim
Hall of Fame: Apr 2006
May 11, 2006 Hall of Fame
In order to encourage all students to strive for success while also enjoying their music lessons, Hall of Fame has been set up.. Every student will be evaluated on every lesson they attend, based on the revision done, homework completed from previous lessons, and also initiative on self-improvement.. No marks will be awarded to students who cancelled or stopped for a particular lesson.
Enjoy your lessons and Good Luck.
All students’ marks will be calculated by the total scores divided by the total number of lessons attended. Absents are counted as 0. Top students will be awarded in Annual Award Presentation and Concert Day
Click here for calculation format
Position Name
1 Mohd Harith
2 Nur Fitrin
3 Theresa Chin
3 Meara Chin
5 Muhd Taufik
6 Davina Chin
*Same number position denotes students scored same marks
APRIL 2006 (guitar)
Position Name
1 Tan Chin Sing
2 Tham Ren Haw
3 Lim Ming Le
4 Ung Chuin Ling
5 Chan Qi Sheng
Featured Students May 2006: Tan Chin Sing
May 9, 2006 Featured Students
No, he is not Stevie Wonder Junior.
Chin Sing is one weird guy, if you duno him much, you might get freaked out with his conversation.
One thing for sure is he is a die-hard Uglymen fan (NO! i dint force him to buy Ugly stuffs)
He has Ugly shirts in all diffrent colours, his family (including ex- student Sin Hui) bought a total of 3 Ugly CDs…
And he only wears Ugly shirt to class.
Come see him play on 12th May 2006 and Muzik Sistem!
Updated Oct 2009: Chin Sing is member of the national award winning band Wind Rising. He will be representing Malaysia in the Yamaha Asian Beat grand Final in Yokohama, Japan this November.
Video Link: 1