Coordination:
The piano is great for developing physical coordination, after all most of the time you are playing with both hands at the same time, and usually both hands are doing something different. It is very rare that you would be playing something that required you to play both hands with exactly the same fingers at the same time with the same rhythm and the same pressure. Often you will have a melody in the right hand and a chordal or broken chord accompaniment in the left hand. Already this requires both hands to be doing something different at the same time, when initially the natural tendency is for both hands to want to do the same thing. Added to this is the fact that you need to play the melody in the right hand louder than the accompaniment in the left hand, otherwise it gets drowned out. This is quite a feat in coordination. You may need to reverse that at some point - it's not unheard of for the melody to be in the left hand and the accompaniment to be in the right hand. Yet more coordination skills are developed when you add pedalling to the mix - you have to learn to move your pedalling foot at different times from your hands. More challenges in coordination are presented by articulation e.g. legato in one hand and staccato in the other.
It is not just melody in one hand with accompaniment in the other hand that develops coordination skills. Different textures of piano music are greatly beneficial in this area too. One example is the more contrapuntal texture of Baroque music - this is where both hands are playing different melodies at the same time, or the same melody but staggered, as in a musical canon (like a round, such as you would get in "Row Row Row Your Boat").
Concentration and discipline:
The actual process of learning these coordination skills helps to develop concentration skills. A large number of my adult and child pupils have said to me how hard they have to concentrate to get it right when they're first learning hands together/ loud right hand with soft left hand/staccato with legato/pedalling etc. With enough practice these skills become automatic - and this helps to develop determination, discipline and patience when people start to see the results of all their hard work. Learning new skills can be frustrating at first, but with perseverance people often learn a valuable lesson about how to deal with frustration and they start to recognise the learning process in themselves and are better able to judge when to keep going, or when it would be more productive to take a break, do something different and come back to it later in a fresher state of mind. Of course these are skills that are useful in other areas of life too.
Relaxation:
Sometimes the focus required for learning new skills can be calming instead of frustrating, as your mind is temporarily taken away from your everyday worries while you concentrate on whatever skill or piece of music you are learning. Once you have learned the piece and it starts to become easy to play, it can be very relaxing to play the piano and enjoy listening to the sound you are making. When the music you are learning becomes easy to play it can be tempting to play unconsciously and let your mind wander. However, really focusing on the sound you're making instead of letting your mind jump about thinking of all the errands you need to run later can be very calming too, then perhaps you can return to your errands with a clearer mind and be more productive. This is another way in which focus, discipline and concentration can be improved - attempting to stay focused even when you don't feel the need to concentrate anymore because the piece is no longer so hard. Focus is like a muscle - it gets stronger with practice.
Enjoyment:
Pupils often express how much they enjoy learning the piano and how it feels like such a big achievement to find themselves playing a piece of music that sounds good - to feel like they're actually making the music, not just passively listening to it. There can be a big sense of accomplishment in progressing and breaking through difficulties which arise periodically - such as: learning to play a whole piece from memory for the first time when you've always relied on having the music in front of you; finally being able to read music when it seemed like an indecipherable code for so long; passing an exam; having the confidence to perform to friends and family etc.
Memory:
The most obvious way in which memory is developed is when you regularly work on memorising music. You will often find that it gradually gets easier to memorise music and that your memory improves in other areas of life too. Even if you don't work on your memorisation skills, learning to play a musical instrument improves your memory in other ways too. There are lots of things that need to be remembered when learning to play an instrument: technique and technical exercises, patterns in music, keys and key signatures, rhythms and time signatures, how to read music and other rules of theory, the sound of a piece etc.
As I mentioned above regarding focus, memory is also like a muscle - it gets stronger and increases in capacity the more you exercise it.
This is not a definitive list, there are many more benefits of learning to play a musical instrument.
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Video of me playing Schumann Romance No. 2.
The piano is great for developing physical coordination, after all most of the time you are playing with both hands at the same time, and usually both hands are doing something different. It is very rare that you would be playing something that required you to play both hands with exactly the same fingers at the same time with the same rhythm and the same pressure. Often you will have a melody in the right hand and a chordal or broken chord accompaniment in the left hand. Already this requires both hands to be doing something different at the same time, when initially the natural tendency is for both hands to want to do the same thing. Added to this is the fact that you need to play the melody in the right hand louder than the accompaniment in the left hand, otherwise it gets drowned out. This is quite a feat in coordination. You may need to reverse that at some point - it's not unheard of for the melody to be in the left hand and the accompaniment to be in the right hand. Yet more coordination skills are developed when you add pedalling to the mix - you have to learn to move your pedalling foot at different times from your hands. More challenges in coordination are presented by articulation e.g. legato in one hand and staccato in the other.
It is not just melody in one hand with accompaniment in the other hand that develops coordination skills. Different textures of piano music are greatly beneficial in this area too. One example is the more contrapuntal texture of Baroque music - this is where both hands are playing different melodies at the same time, or the same melody but staggered, as in a musical canon (like a round, such as you would get in "Row Row Row Your Boat").
Concentration and discipline:
The actual process of learning these coordination skills helps to develop concentration skills. A large number of my adult and child pupils have said to me how hard they have to concentrate to get it right when they're first learning hands together/ loud right hand with soft left hand/staccato with legato/pedalling etc. With enough practice these skills become automatic - and this helps to develop determination, discipline and patience when people start to see the results of all their hard work. Learning new skills can be frustrating at first, but with perseverance people often learn a valuable lesson about how to deal with frustration and they start to recognise the learning process in themselves and are better able to judge when to keep going, or when it would be more productive to take a break, do something different and come back to it later in a fresher state of mind. Of course these are skills that are useful in other areas of life too.
Relaxation:
Sometimes the focus required for learning new skills can be calming instead of frustrating, as your mind is temporarily taken away from your everyday worries while you concentrate on whatever skill or piece of music you are learning. Once you have learned the piece and it starts to become easy to play, it can be very relaxing to play the piano and enjoy listening to the sound you are making. When the music you are learning becomes easy to play it can be tempting to play unconsciously and let your mind wander. However, really focusing on the sound you're making instead of letting your mind jump about thinking of all the errands you need to run later can be very calming too, then perhaps you can return to your errands with a clearer mind and be more productive. This is another way in which focus, discipline and concentration can be improved - attempting to stay focused even when you don't feel the need to concentrate anymore because the piece is no longer so hard. Focus is like a muscle - it gets stronger with practice.
Enjoyment:
Pupils often express how much they enjoy learning the piano and how it feels like such a big achievement to find themselves playing a piece of music that sounds good - to feel like they're actually making the music, not just passively listening to it. There can be a big sense of accomplishment in progressing and breaking through difficulties which arise periodically - such as: learning to play a whole piece from memory for the first time when you've always relied on having the music in front of you; finally being able to read music when it seemed like an indecipherable code for so long; passing an exam; having the confidence to perform to friends and family etc.
Memory:
The most obvious way in which memory is developed is when you regularly work on memorising music. You will often find that it gradually gets easier to memorise music and that your memory improves in other areas of life too. Even if you don't work on your memorisation skills, learning to play a musical instrument improves your memory in other ways too. There are lots of things that need to be remembered when learning to play an instrument: technique and technical exercises, patterns in music, keys and key signatures, rhythms and time signatures, how to read music and other rules of theory, the sound of a piece etc.
As I mentioned above regarding focus, memory is also like a muscle - it gets stronger and increases in capacity the more you exercise it.
This is not a definitive list, there are many more benefits of learning to play a musical instrument.
Articles main menu
Video of me playing Schumann Romance No. 2.