Strings by Cori -Private Lessons

“Music lessons can support a child's brain development by strengthening multiple skills at the same time. Learning an instrument engages attention, memory, listening, and motor coordination all at once, offering a different kind of cognitive challenge than traditional homework alone.
Research suggests that even about a year of music training can be associated with small but measurable improvements in general thinking skills, including focus, working memory, and problem-solving.
Repeated practice and pattern recognition help reinforce these abilities over time.

Music training also sharpens sound processing, timing, and hand-eye coordination, while encouraging discipline, patience, and confidence through gradual progress. While it doesn't replace academic learning, music can be a valuable complement that supports both cognitive and personal development.”- Anxiety Tips Library

Please consider giving the gift of music to a child who can’t afford it.

It’s always a good morning when you receive texts like this from a former student who has moved away from the area…I am so blessed to have taught her and been apart of her violin journey! 🎻 🖤🎶

Itsa fact Jack! 🖤🎶

Music lessons “grow” a child’s brain by physically altering its structure and accelerating the maturation of neural pathways, particularly those responsible for sound processing, motor control and communication between the brain’s hemispheres. These changes are a result of neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to reorganize itself in response to intensive multisensory and motor demands.

To elaborate, researchers using MRI scans has shown that even as little as 15 months of musical training can lead to visible structural changes in a young child’s brain:

🧠Corpus Callosum: The bridge of nerve fibers connecting the left and right hemispheres of the brain becomes larger and more robust. This enhances communication between different brain regions, improving overall coordination and problem-solving.

🧠Motor Cortex: Areas of the brain that control finger movements (the precentral gyrus) show greater relative size expansion, especially in children playing instruments like the piano or violin that require high manual dexterity.

🧠Auditory Cortex: Music training accelerates the development of the auditory pathway, helping the brain process sounds, pitches, and rhythms more accurately and efficiently.

The structural “growth” translates into several enhanced cognitive abilities, often referred to as “far transfer” skills. Because music and language share similar neural pathways, music lessons can speed up language acquisition, reading skills, and the ability to detect subtle differences in speech.

Learning to play an instrument is a “full body workout” for the brain that strengthens working memory (holding and manipulating information) and increases the attention span. The pattern recognition, counting, and understanding of fractions (rhythm/meter) involved in music are directly transferable to mathematical problem-solving. Music training also improves the brain’s ability to plan, organize and complete tasks.

These neural enhances are most profound when training begins during “sensitive periods” (typically before age 7), but they can provide lifelong benefits.

PMID: 19279238

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“Don’t play the notes. Play the meaning of the notes.” — Pablo Casals

For every musician, technique is just the starting line. What truly matters is how you let harmony, rhythm, and colour shape each phrase, so the music stops sounding like exercises on the page and starts speaking with a real, human voice.

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Happy International Women’s Day. ❤️🎶

I agree! I love my 1950’s spinet and want to find a vintage baby grand one day 🎹 🖤🎵

The older the piano, the better I think 🎹🥲 #piano #nycpianist #pianist #classicalpiano #liszt