There is so much more to music than learning an instrument, looking at theory or music history. The benefits of music go far beyond performance or composing. And it is for these reasons which I am about to go into that both employers and Higher Education establishments will favour those with a music education. Which is a benefit in itself.
Confidence is a vital characteristic which is always necessary for life and career. Music education helps to develop confidence in individuals. Performance is not for the faint hearted or those who doubt their abilities. Performance is for those who are confident. Confident both in themselves, their abilities and who are not afraid to showcase them.
A musical education through encouraging performance in it's learners develops confidence which is necessary for any individual to succeed in life. It has been proven that confident individuals are the people who will succeed and get the best out of their life. In Scotland there is a review to change the curriculum to a Curriculum for Excellence which has four main points, one of which is to create confident individuals. The Scottish government sees the importance of helping to develop confidence from a young age because it is so vital both for personal growth and development and also success in life.
It has also been proven that people who are musical do better across the board in their education in general which is another benefit. This is for many reasons. Music is mainly considered as a creative subject on the whole. I would argue a little against that but do have to agree creativity, improvisation and composing are a vital part of music. These elements themselves are of great benefit. To be creative helps across the board in Art, English and design. Being creative is essential for a lot of different careers: Design in general; writing (poetry, novels, journals) Even in a management position being creative can help managing a business and in promoting a business. Employers are always looking for people who will be creative and not afraid to try something different. People who are intuitive and can think on their feet are also sought after. All of these factors a music education instils through teaching people how to creatively interpret a piece of music or through creating music themselves and also by improvising.
It also through this creative aspect of music that people can learn to be expressive. You need to be able to express yourself to get anywhere in life. The ability to express opinions and get across different ideas is key for working in a team. If you can not express yourself you become frustrated and angry because no one fully understands what you are trying to get across.
The flip side of the creative part is the very methodical and logical part. And the amazing benefit of music is that it stimulates all parts of the brain. Tests have been performed as people perform different musical tasks and brain scans show that, for instance, playing a scale will motivate the logical part of the brain on the right side. While playing piece of music will stimulate both parts because in a performance there is a very trained and methodical way which has been practiced however the creative part in the expression and the performance of it will stimulate the left side. And needless to say writing new music, say improvising will stimulate the left side mainly.
This methodical and logical side to music aids subjects such as maths and sciences because these are subjects which require a great deal of logic and methodical approach. Being logical in certain situations in life helps a great deal as irrationality can bring a lot of harm in some cases. Also it helps to methodical particularly when it comes to things like writing an essay or dissertation.
There is a great sense of discipline in music. Being able to sit down and learn a piece of music requires a lot of self discipline and determination. Both of which are characteristics which drive us to do better and succeed more. My music teacher in school, and I have adopted this, would always say "if you make a mistake while playing just continue and do not let it throw you off." Not letting a mistake get you down but to be able to overcome it and finish the piece is a lesson we all need to learn. Too often do people nowadays give up at the first hurdle. By being disciplined and having determination a mistake here and there will not have any detrimental effect in your development and growth.
Having a musical education is clearly beneficial for an abundance of reasons. We live in a society where more and more people have less confidence, you only have to look at the profit that is being made by the self help industry to see that. If most people had a good musical education I would argue that it would be of great benefit to individuals and society as we would have confident individuals who will succeed and prosper in what they do because of what a music education instils. And that is where I will conclude.