Learning an instrument can make kids smarter

A study has found learning to play an instrument at a young age can make a child grow up smarter in life. Research shows sending youngsters to music classes from age seven will speed the development of motor skills - the part of your brain that plans and carries out movement, Daily Mail reported. It was found that there is a special window of learning between the ages of six and eight when musical training interacts with motor development, producing long term changes to the brain. "Learning to play an instrument requires coordination between hands and with visual or auditory stimuli," said lead researcher Virginia Penhune, of the Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. "Importantly, the younger a musician started, the greater the connectivity." "Practising an instrument before age seven likely boosts the normal maturation of connections between motor and sensory regions of the brain, creating a framework upon which ongoing training can build." From: News Track India.