You might know the classic song from Mary Poppins with the line, “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”  Well, we’d like to propose that music can be wonderful medicine, especially when it comes to enhancing our mental health.  Let’s explore a few of the many reasons why music is so good for our minds and hearts.

Music Increases Dopamine Levels

Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that affects our emotions, behavior, attention, learning, feelings of pleasure and pain, and even our movements.  Research studies have demonstrated that listening to music can increase dopamine levels significantly, providing a documented link between the enjoyment of music and our overall well-being.

Music Provides an Outlet for Self-expression

The famous quote by Hans Christian Andersen says it best, “Where words fail, music speaks.” Music can help even young children understand how they feel and give them a way to express those feelings, even at a young age.

Music Can Help us Relax

In our fast-paced, busy lives, we all need to deliberately make time to just relax and do nothing.  This is especially true for young children and precisely why our Kindermusik classes include listening and quiet time activities with beautiful, gentle music.

Music Can Enhance our Ability to Focus

Sometimes tired or distracted minds just need a little boost, and the right kind of music can do just that.  Classical music and music with no lyrics playing softly in the background does wonders for increasing attention span and improving the brain’s processing efficiency.

Music Connects us with Others

Especially when you share a musical experience with others, like a Kindermusik class, music brings people together and creates opportunities for meaningful social interaction.  In Kindermusik, we purposely include Meet-and-Greet dances and Circle Songs to build a strong sense of friendship and belonging.

Music Motivates Us

When you’re feeling tired or unmotivated, or you have a child who has trouble getting going, turn on some lively, happy music so that you can help but feel energized! For young children, a routine of using music to get up and going or to make a car ride go faster can make all the difference.

The bottom line?  Music is great medicine! Music has the power to soothe, to inspire, to energize, and so much more, contributing significantly to the health of our mental and emotional well-being, both as children and as adults. The well-known classical composer Ludwig Beethoven put it beautifully, “Music is the mediator between the life of the senses and the life of the spirit.” Shared by Theresa Case whose award-winning Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios in Greenville, SC, has been a happy advocate for the benefits of music for over 20 years now.