Three Benefits of Performing Arts Education You May Not Have Heard
It’s well known that performing arts education can improve self-esteem, lead to higher academic performance, and improve reading skills (NAMM Foundation), but did you know that it can also lead to:
More stable communities and reduction in crime
Better coping skills and ability to respond to stress
More awareness of your own emotions, as well as others emotions
But how?
Because performing arts classes help develop executive function skills. Executive function skills are the “mental processes that enable us to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully.” Children aren’t born with these skills, but they are instead learned throughout childhood. These skills are crucial in helping create members of society with strong critical thinking skills, flexibility, and adaptability!
So how do performing arts classes develop executive function?
Performing Arts develop selective attention, self-monitoring, and working memory, all components of executive function! Singing in different parts also requires the “coordination of working memory, monitoring, and selective attention” (Executive Function Activities, Pg. 11).
You don’t have to wait until your child is old enough to begin lessons to start developing executive function skills – you can begin as early as infancy with different music, rhythm, and movement activities! Check out this list of simple activities to try with your child at home: Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence
Or sign up for a Free trial class, where we develop executive functioning skills together!
Sources:
Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence
Executive Function and Self-Regulation
Executive Function: Skills for Life and Learning
