Four Reasons Why Performing Arts Ensembles Are Developmentally Vital For Children
There are many reasons your child may benefit from joining a music, dance, or theater ensemble. Ensembles build character, show students how to work together as a team, and provide kids with skills they can take with them for a lifetime in the real world and in the arts world! Here are 4 skills we think performing arts skills will teach your young artist:
Listening Skills: Listening skills are essential in ensemble! A student needs to listen and pay attention to the other performers or musicians, so they know when it is their turn to say their lines, enter or exit, stay synchronized in a dance piece or stay in time with fellow musicians. Equally important though is learning to listen to each other during rehearsals! Students learn how to collaborate and listen to each other’s artistic ideas and ways of preparing.
Responsibility: Students who take part in ensembles learn very early on what it means to have others rely on them. They learn the importance of ownership and preparedness, and that their decisions affect the entire group!
Collaboration: Children in performing arts ensembles learn that everyone has a part to play in creating something beautiful, and no part is too small! They learn to trust each other to continue a scene if someone forgets their line in musical theater, to stay together during a tempo change in orchestra, to play off of each other’s energy in rock band. They learn to collaborate, and this skill continues to benefit them for the rest of their lives – not just in school or work, but in being a human who is part of a community!
Connection: The community that is formed in artistic ensembles is unlike any other. Students come together based on one common interest, but are coming from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures. Through shared experiences, students learn the different ways of thinking and working together while inspiring and supporting each other along the way.
