Must students learn to play at least one musical instrument?

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Can you imagine your life without music? As more and more people around us started to learn different musical instruments, we started to grow interest in music and in different musical instruments. But still, many people learn musical instruments simply because their family forced them to. Nevertheless, have you ever thought of why we are forced to learn musical instruments and what benefits do we get from them? I agree that all students must learn to play at least one musical instrument and I am going to show you why.

  First of all, playing musical instruments builds up our self-confidence and gives us a sense of achievement and satisfaction. After students learnt an instrument and knew how to play a beautiful song with it, students would feel proud of their skills as their classmates may not know how to play that instrument or that song. Also, after practising their instrument day by day, when they finally achieved their goal, like passing their ABRSM Music Examinations, they will have positive emotions which brings a sense of satisfaction. Furthermore, if students learn to play instruments, they can learn to overcome different difficulties with ease. With each new learning progress, they can remove sticks and stones away from their path. Gradually, they will get better and better at problem solving so it strengthens their self-confidence and makes them strong mentally, even in non-musical situations.

  Moreover, playing instruments can relieve stress and bring positive emotions. Every time we’re under pressure or stress, we listen to songs on YouTube, Spotify or Joox, and we’ll cheer up in a moment, but what’s the difference if we’re playing the music? According to the website of Shankar Mahadevan Academy, researchers studying the benefits of music have reported that playing a musical instrument on a regular basis can help bring down stress. Studies show that playing an instrument helps in lowering the heart rate and blood pressure, which in turn lowers the stress hormone cortisol, thus making us feel relaxed. While just listening to music also helps, learning to play an instrument brings with it a comforting routine of daily practice that helps in keeping the stress hormones away.

  Besides, playing instruments can make us smarter. According to research from the University of Zurich, regularly playing a musical instrument changes the shape and power of the brain. It found that musicians have structurally and functionally different brains when compared to non-musicians. In fact, it’s indicated that playing music can increase IQ by up to 7 points in both adults and children. So actually the brain functions tend to decline with age if we’re not playing music.

  Yet, some argue that students are usually forced to learn musical instruments by their parents and actually they have zero interest in them. However, it is not the case because through the learning process of it, students can develop interests in them and start loving them. They can treat the everyday practice as a habit. On the contrary, some oppose this idea as they argue that students won’t have time to learn so many extra-curricular activities. But then students can also learn to have good time management so that they can learn musical instruments or have other activities and they won’t get too busy which causes the lack of sleep or affects their mental health just because they don’t have enough time.

  To sum up, learning musical instruments can change student’s personalities in a good way, bringing them happiness and improves student’s brain functions. Therefore, I strongly agree that students must learn to play at least one musical instrument.