Music can teach us plenty of things, to listen for starters. Many of us are pretty visual beings, preferring to use our eyes rather than our ears. Blind people live through their ears and touch, while the rest of us prefer using eyes to ears, other than professional musicians.
But, listening to music and practicing a musical instrument can lead to some other skills being developed, which go hand in hand with music. There are plenty of skills which are developed and are related to music and musicianship. Here are those skills, in no particular order.
Micro Muscle Management – Playing Instruments
Whether you choose a string instrument such as a guitar or violin, or something a bit larger like a piano or keyboard, you will learn some new skills, namely to control your hands and fingers much more precisely. Wind instruments also use fingers to an extent, but also the lungs, mouth and the entire breathing apparatus.
For string instruments, practicing them teaches us how to use our fingers together with the opposite arm, to create music. If the music is more difficult, then the movements are also more difficult.
Rhythm and Balance
Dancers, who listen to music on a daily basis, are quite familiar with rhythm. As opposed to musicians who practice instruments and learn to micro manage their muscles to a great extent, dancers manage their muscles on a macro level. Well, some even go as far as managing them on a micro level, such as boogie dancers.
All dancers, at least the relatively good ones, have a great sense of rhythm and if they wanted to learn an instrument, they would already have a lead compared to non dancers and that is a great understanding of rhythm.
Learning to Use Our Ears
Music trains the ears, as well as the arms and legs, and even eyes at start. Some instruments are really heavy on the muscles, and require lots of effort to be played at a high level. But, the ears are the main contributors to music, and they are trained every single day we listen to a song, especially when searching for the right notes. The more we listen to music actively, the more we learn and improve our ability to recognize notes.
Communication Skills
Playing with other musicians, or dancing with a partner, also requires us to communicate. If our communication skills are otherwise lacking, music will teach us to communicate differently. People who can barely hold a conversation can say much more through a dance. Famous musicians who meet for the first time and can barely say a word to one another in a language they understand can communicate perfectly through music.
Music can teach us many things, from listening to each other, to listening to notes. We can also learn to balance better, to control our muscles almost perfectly. Communication can also be improved while listening to music and practicing either dancing or playing an instrument. We can learn so much from music.
