Can piano lessons help kids make and keep friends? Research says that the answer is yes.
People who are good at making and keeping friends are good at interpreting others’ emotions. Researcher William F. Thompson and his colleagues discovered that people with musical training are better at decoding the emotion in speech.
Thompson’s intriguing research shows that piano lessons give kids a remarkable edge when it comes to building friendships. Because the greatest predictor of lifelong happiness is having quality relationships, parents do their kids a huge favor by enrolling them in piano lessons.
Can excellent interpretation of emotional cues help your child be successful in other areas? Would your child perform better in job interviews, become a better parent and be more successful in his or her career?
Correctly understanding and responding to the feelings of others makes us better in every single social interaction. Hooray for piano lessons!
To learn more about the benefits of piano lessons, see The Effect of Music on the Brain.
Read the research publications:
Strait, Dana L et al (2009)
Musical experience and neural efficiency – effects of training on subcortical processing of vocal expressions of emotion. European Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 29, pp. 661–668, 2009.
http://www.soc.northwestern.edu/brainvolts/documents/strait_ejn.pdf
Thompson, W.F., Schellenberg, E.G. & Husain, G. (2004)
Decoding speech prosody: do music lessons help? Emotion, 4, 46–64.
Decoding Speech Prosody: Do Music Lessons Help?
To learn more about how quality friendships are the greatest predictor of happiness, see:
Isaacowitz, DM et al (2003)
Strengths and satisfaction across the adult lifespan
Int’l J. Aging & Hum Dev 57(2): 181 – 201
Diener, E., & Seligman, M.E.P. (2002).
Very happy people
Psychological Science 13(1): 81-84.