The Importance and Benefits of Music and Performing Arts Education for Children

At Brabyns, we hold the belief that all children deserve to study Performing Arts rigorously across their school life. It unites and challenges, expresses the intangible, encourages curiosity and promotes creativity of thought, process and delivery.  

Music in particular helps children’s concentration,  aids in processing, assists in recall and improves test scores in other subjects. It also develops confidence and builds resilience. Across the educational spectrum, students who learn Music achieve more. A five year study from the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute found that brain development is significantly accelerated in children who learned to play instruments and those who do not.

Nursery

In the early years, regular use of songs, chants and rhymes leads to increased vocabulary, comprehension and understanding of speech cadences. Brabyns’ specialist Nursery Performing Arts lessons visibly increase the children’s confidence and enhance freedom of expression from a young age.

The youngest members of the Brabyns Family learn to move while vocalising, listening to sounds and music, and playing with sound makers/instruments. By exploring songs, sounds, rhythm & movement children are inspiring and engaging creativity from the very start of their school journey.

Nursery children also focus on preparing for various productions performed in front of an audience throughout the school year.

Reception – Year 6

Children throughout the main school enjoy regular Performing Arts lessons and are offered a wide range of peripatetic music and drama opportunities. Research has shown that those who learn instruments and play in ensembles can recognise and analyse patterns more effectively in other curriculum areas and build positive habits relating to teamwork, delayed gratification and incremental achievement.

Higher up the school the children progress their musical education exploring notation, composition and improvisation.  Chords and structures are displayed in their work and large scale productions take place involving various ensembles across the school year, fostering confidence in performing and a love of the stage.

Performing Arts is an invaluable subject in its own right as well as a medium to greater achievement in other areas. 

This week Brabyns’ junior classes take the stage in their annual school production. We unveiled Beauty & the Beast as our chosen show in the autumn term and since then the children have been working incredibly hard perfecting their lines and songs. As rehearsals have progressed they have developed new stage techniques, embraced their characters and costume aesthetics, grown in confidence and learned how teamwork truly makes a show happen.

Without a performing arts curriculum performances like this simply wouldn’t happen, and the children would miss out on all of the rewards that music and drama classes offer for the next generation.