For a one of a kind birthday experience, check out our ROCK ‘N ROLL BIRTHDAY PARTY! Your little(or big!) Rockstar and his/her friends will have the time of their life (and we’ll handle the cleanup!) Each party is customized for the Birthday Boy or Girl. Bring your own cake, pizza and favors or let us provide everything necessary to rock the house while you sit back and enjoy!

Silver Record Party: $199

• 2 hours in our air-conditioned space
• Live Musical Entertainment appropriate for the age of the child, as well as games, activities, and a chance to play REAL instruments!
• You provide Food, Drink, Goody Bags, Paper Goods

Gold Record Party: $249

• Everything from the Silver Record Party, plus:
• Musical Invitations/Thank you cards, a Pinata, plates, cups, utensils, and tableware

Platinum Record Party: $329

• Everything from the Gold Record Party plus….
• Custom Music Cake, Delicious Fresh Pizza, Drinks, and Music-themed Goody Bags! (for up to 10 guests. Additional guests extra)
• Leave the planning and details to us!!

Non-refundable 50% deposit due at time of booking.

Choose from the following weeks or try them all!

Week #1: June 27 – New Rock from Arcade Fire, Bruno Mars, & more!

Week #2: July 5 – Beatles Week!!

Week #3: July 11 – GLEE Week! Calling all singers & musicians!

Week #4: July 18 – British Rock! The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, The Who !

Week #5: August 1 – Beatles Week!

Week #6: August 8 – Blues & Jazz Week! Jam on the classics and prepare for Jazz Band!

Week #7: August 15 – Beatles Week!

Week #8: August 22 – Advanced Rock Week for High School Musicians Only!

Camps run Monday-Friday 9-3pm. Call 860-395-3500 or email info@corner-music.com for more information or to register. All Instruments Welcome! Suggested Ages 8-14 (except week of August 22, which is best for ages 14-17). Tuition $199/week (except week of July 5, which is $159 for Tues-Friday). Just starting out? We offer private 45 min lessons all summer long! Just $39 each! Now’s a great time to try an instrument since the kids have a break from homework!!

Part of what has made the piano so popular is that it is much more easy to learn than most other instruments. It is a great first instrument for children to learn as it provides them with a way of learning music theory and learning to read music without giving them a challenge they can’t handle. When you’re 6 or 7 years old, you might not be quite big or strong enough yet to hold an instrument like a saxophone, clarinet, or trumpet and your hands likely won’t be big enough for you to be able to hold a guitar or be able to reach far enough with your fingers to be able to play chords very easily. Also, in a child’s earliest years, motor skills may not be developed enough to make the complex finger movements and key coordinations needed to play more advanced instruments possible. Even if a child wants to master these instruments, these challenges can very well stand in their way and lead to frustration and anger. If they aren’t having fun, most young children will get tired of an activity pretty quickly and this could cause them to develop a lifelong negative outlook toward music that could someday rob them of a chance to make the most of their natural talents.

This whole problem can usually be avoided though if a child starts out playing the piano. Piano keys are ¾ of an inch wide, so being able to hit the right one won’t be a challenge, even for the youngest of musicians.⁵ As mentioned earlier, playing the piano gives an opportunity for people to learn music theory and to learn how to read music at a very early age. However, this isn’t the only way in which learning to play the piano will help you to learn other instruments more easily. The most important thing to know when playing a guitar is how to play chords, as they provide the melody for any song. The same thing is true when it comes to playing the piano. Chords are a combination of notes that when played together, transform into one extra powerful kind of note. The piano is the only instrument on which the chords are actually visible, as you can plainly see them being produced when you press the combination of 2-3 keys needed to play them.⁵ Learning these chord patterns and sounds translates directly to what you’ll need to learn when starting to play the guitar. Honing your skills on the piano will help you to develop the motor skills and finger coordination needed to branch out into other instruments whether it be playing chords on a guitar or mastering fingering on band instruments like the flute, trumpet, bassoon, or any other instrument you set your sights on. Many famous musicians started out playing the piano and have credited it for helping them to learn more complex instruments such as the guitar and others. Just a few of the famous musicians who started out on piano include Prince, Elton John, Phil Collins, Randy Jackson, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney of the Beatles, and even punk rock stars such as Mike Ness of Social Distortion. Learning to play the piano is also helpful for anyone who wants to eventually try their hand at singing, as it teaches pitch and rhythm in a concrete, methodical, and understandable more than other instruments can.

One of the ways in which starting with piano helps people to branch out into other instruments later on is due to the piano’s overall approachability. It is an instrument that almost everyone knows about and can begin to play even if they do not have any prior musical experience or fully developed motor skills. With most other instruments, something as basic as just making a sound can be difficult to learn. With woodwind and brass instruments, you need to learn how to position your lips just right and with string instruments such as the violin, your wrist actions need to be extremely precise or you’ll be in for some unpleasant sounds. When it comes to playing the piano, you just have to press down a key and that’s it. It’s pure and simple and not overwhelming in the least. Because of the ease of beginning at playing the piano, most students will have early success and this is key in building confidence and a general enjoyment of the instrument. When children make progress, they feel good about themselves and when they feel good about themselves, they’ll want to keep going and make even more progress.

One thing that is important to consider however is the right age at which to start piano lessons. You’ll want to wait until your child is at least 6 to 7 years old, as an ability to read words is very beneficial when beginning to read music.² Also, younger children may not have the ability to concentrate and sit still for long enough periods to make learning the piano anything more than an exercise in futility and frustration. However, once your child is old enough, learning to play the piano will help them not just in their musical futures, but has also been proven to help children perform better academically in math, as playing the piano teaches valuable pattern recognition, counting, and timing skills.¹ It will also help children to develop self discipline and self esteem when they set a practicing schedule, stick to it, and get results. Playing the piano has also been shown to work wonders in developing and fine tuning the senses, especially sight, sound, and touch, as well as eye-hand coordination. This has been proven to be especially true for children.⁴

The piano is also a great instrument to start out on because sheet music is so widely available. You can get the sheet music to almost any of your favorite songs and learn how to play it on the piano. Because of this, piano playing doesn’t have to be all Mozart and Beethoven. Kids can have fun playing all of their favorite modern music as well. While the piano is not an instrument that is always integrated into bands or played in school concerts, duets and ensemble performances can be arranged by most instructors if desired, and this can help to not only build musical skills, but social skills as well.

The world of music is a wonderful and exciting one and it is a world where almost anybody can discover hidden talents they never knew they had. Playing an instrument can be fun and can build confidence, discipline, motor skills, and even help with academics. Getting a head start early in life can be the first step in finding something that can be a lifelong friend and asset, and there’s no better way to get your feet wet than by taking some piano lessons and unleashing the star you’ve always wanted to be.

References:

1. Crowder, C. O. “Why the Piano is the Perfect First Instrument”. Associated Content, August 9, 2007. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/337761/why_the_piano_is_the_perfect_first.html?cat=33
2. Tara, Mary. “First and Foremost Piano – Start ‘Em Young”. July 15, 2002. http://www.epinions.com/content_2754977924
3. Erlich, Cyril. “The Piano: A History”. Oxford University Press, 1990. Hargis, Kathyrn
4. “What Instrument Should Johnny Play?”. Homeschooling Today. http://www.homeschooltoday.com/news/65/30/What-Instrument-Should-Johnny-Play.htm
5. Aschenbrenner, John. Why The Piano is the Best Children’s Musical Instrument. Walden Pond Press. http://www.pianoiseasy2.com/childlike.html

In a Bulgarian study performed by Dr George Lozanov, listening to 60 bpm (beat per minute) compositions by Mozart proved conducive to improved learning and academic performance results. During this study, it was revealed that listening to the 60bpm compositions by Mozart allowed the students to learn and retain half of a term’s words/phrases in a foreign language class within one day, with a retention rate of 92%. (4) In continuing this study, Lozanov found that when the presence of the music was consistent during instructional periods, students were able to learn an entire foreign language with a minimum of 85% efficiency within a period of just 30 days.(4)

These particular works of Mozart have also proven to be beneficial to the brain in functions outside of the classroom. It has been proven that music, especially music with a consistent and prominent beat, is capable of affecting heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, brain wave frequency, and pupil dilation. In one study, an autistic child was attempting to tie his shoes for the first time and was originally attempting to do so without the aid of music and could not complete the task. However, when he tried to tie his shoes while listening to the 60bpm Mozart pieces, he was successful by his second attempt.

While listening to classical music has shown itself to be markedly beneficial in the above cases, the intellectual benefits are increased significantly when the listener takes an active role and plays the music as well. In many studies it has been proven that playing a musical instrument improves the learning and understanding of both one’s native language as well as foreign languages. Musicians have been shown to have more activity in the auditory cortex area of the brain (the section of the brain which manages the processing of sound) than non musicians in response to hearing musical notes. A greater level of neural response to changes of pitch in speech has been displayed in those who play musical instruments which is helpful in being able to judge emotions and for children to be able to understand the difference between questions and statements. (1) Additionally, musical instruction has been revealed to help children as well as adults learn to build vocabulary skills and to tune out background noise and to be able to focus in noisy environments, which can be an extremely valuable gain for those with learning disabilities.

In a recent study conducted in Hong Kong, 90 students between the ages of 6 to 15 years of age were divided into two groups – one of which would receive musical training and one of which would not. After their training in the school orchestra, the group that received the musical instruction performed much better on vocabulary and verbal memory tests than the group who did not receive musical instruction. As the years progressed, some of the students who hadn’t previously received musical lessons were added to the school orchestra and their scores on the tests improved and the students who remained in the orchestra from the previous years continued to improve as well. Some of the students had ceased their musical instruction and while their tests scores did not decline, they did not see the continuation in improvement that the students who remained in the school orchestra enjoyed. (2) Similar results have been seen in many other nations, as students who receive musical lessons and participate in school bands/orchestras consistently receive higher academic marks.

Many medical professionals even suggest music lessons as a way of helping those with brain injuries regain their lost abilities, especially in communication between the two hemispheres of the brain.

The journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience attests to the fact that playing music helps to increase adaptive abilities such as language acquisition, speech, memory, attention span, and vocal emotion. (3) Improvements have been seen in neural activation in those children who have had musical instruction which has aided them in communication between the brain hemispheres which is needed to freely move between various details and to see the larger picture as a whole in many academic and non-academic challenges and functions. This is most notably seen in those students who practice for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. (3)

Though many of the studies regarding the effects of studying, playing, and listening to music on the brain are relatively new, the benefits of music have been observed at several points in history. Thomas Jefferson often claimed that when he would have concentration or writer’s block issues while writing the Declaration of Independence, playing his violin would help him concentrate and get the words flowing from his brain to his pen more smoothly and efficiently. Additionally, Albert Einstein had at various points credited his violin playing to his intelligence, stating that improvising on the violin was tremendously helpful in assisting him in working out many problems and mathematical equations.(4)

In summation, it can clearly be seen that a passion for listening to classical music can be very helfpul  to the brain, but adding playing to the mix takes the benefits up to a higher plane. While especially helpful to children, the benefits of musical instruction may be reaped by people of any age. In short, the positive effects of musical training cannot be overlooked and it is something that throughout the ages will continue to be an enriching experience for many people on many levels.

Works Cited:

1. Rettner, Rachel. “Music Tones of the Brain, Improves Learning”.  www.livescience.com. July 20, 2010

2. “Music Makes the Brain Better”. http://news.bbc.co.uk. July 27, 2010

3. Harris, Misty. “Why Music Lessons Are a Smart Choice for Priming Your Child’s Brain”. Edmonton Journal. July 23, 2010

4. O’Donnel, Laurence. “Music andthe Brain”. http://users.characterlink.net/odonnell/report.html

One such characteristic of autism is the fact that most autistic children have little to no impairment in musical ability. This is largely due to the fact that most people who have autism are more severely affected in the left hemisphere of their brains. The left hemisphere is the more verbally inclined part of the brain, while the right hemisphere is responsible for functions employed in such areas as art, music, and abstract mathematics.

Children with autism often have a great deal of difficulty recognizing the emotional tone in verbal speech, yet almost all of them can easily tell the difference between “happy” and “sad” music. (1) They often have a high degree of enjoyment for music because it is easier for them to relate to and decode music than it is for them to take part in verbal dialogues. They often display a great aptitude for remembering song lyrics and are more likely to initiate a conversation through singing than through speech. Additionally, greater motivation and attention, as well as a higher level of emotional engagement when taking part in musical activities is often seen in children with autism.

Recent studies have revealed that there is an area within the right hemisphere of the brain that mirrors the part of the left brain responsible for interpreting letters and words. This part is responsible for understanding musical notes and passages of notes. (1) Some ability of transfer has been seen by which the right hemisphere can assist in verbal functions when the left is incapacitated. This is evidenced by the fact that some people with severe stutters resulting from brain damage or otherwise are able to sing unimpeded, such as the famous country music star Mel Tillis. Medical professionals say that these cases indicate that musical training can be highly beneficial in enabling the right hemisphere of the brain to acquire left hemisphere abilities.  Such activities as playing/singing music to a young child or having them do the singing themselves (as well as dancing or taking part in other rhythmic activities ) could very well aid in developing the neurological structures needed for the learning of language.

Piano lessons have proven very helpful for both high functioning autistic children as well as people who are not mentally impaired in improving verbal and communication abilities. Many areas of cognitive function are improved such as auditory processing, memory, bilateral coordination, and fine motor skills. (1)

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of the United Kingdom completed an analysis of autistic children’s musical abilities which helped them to discover that the majority of children with autism have an excellent level of proficiency in tone recognition. Dr Pamela Heaton of the ESRC was quoted as saying, “A lot of work has been done on musical autistic savants with exceptional musical memory and rarely found absolute perfect pitch ability. However, our research shows that even non savant autistic children without these special talents and no musical training can have highly developed musical ‘splinter skills’. If we could develop effective non verbal musical training methods, we might be able to understand more about the way these children learn and process other information.” (2)

During the same investigation, a group of juveniles with autism and a group of non autistic juveniles were tested with a series of musically related tasks. One such test consisted of the subjects using a touch screen laptop to identify notes by moving an image of a child up and down a flight of stairs. The autistic children were especially interested in this and they were able to complete the test with 89% accuracy as compared to the 30% accuracy achieved by the control group. (2)

This further points out the advanced attention to detail and analytical listening abilities possessed by many autistic children which can be honed further through immersion in music and musical training.

While children with autism have time and again been proven to  benefit from involvement with music, the positive change that music can bring into lives is not only limited to those with autism. A 2009 article in the Chicago Tribune details the strides made by two young women through musical training. One of these young women has Down Syndrome and the other is afffected by attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The first person the article introduces to the reader is 21-year-old Lizzi Gottleib. Lizzi has Down Syndrome and she has been playing the flute ever since she was ten years old. According to her parents, learning to play the flute has brought out talents in their daughter which had previously been hidden and has greatly bolstered her self esteem. She is now capable of playing literally hundreds of songs, some with the aid of sheet music and some from memory. Bob Liebman, Lizzi’s flute teacher, asserts that teaching her to play the flute has helped her to not only gain joy and emotional release, but also has helped her immensely in her communication skills and in her ability to process information in new ways. (3) He goes on to mention the fact that music is non threatening and it surrounds us everywhere, allowing everyone to participate, regardless of whatever disability they may or may not have.

Also mentioned in the article is Rebekah Cope, a violin teacher. She has been providing private lessons for many years and has come to the realization that many of her most talented and enthusiastic students are those with ADHD. One of these is a 17 year old girl named Karlita.  Karlita has mastered the violin, as well as six other musical instruments and is currently taking on learning to play the viola as her next project. While she often takes longer to learn the lessons than Cope’s other students, Karlita is always head and shoulders above the rest after a few weeks of practicing in her own unique way, which Cope has helped her to develop. Though Karlita prefers one-on-one lessons due to her tendency to become distracted by other students, her musical training has helped her learn to concentrate more efficiently and has developed a higher degree of self-control.

In addition, the article points out the fact that more and more students with disabilities are being signed up for music lessons, both for instruments and voice than ever before. This is partially due to the  ability of music to engage and challenge the auditory, motor, and visual function of the brain through listening, reading, notes, and manually playing musical instruments. Listening to music has also been proven to stimulate the areas of the brain in responsible for paying attention, making predictions, and updating memory, according to Vinod Menon, associate professor of psychiatry, behavioral science, and neurosciences at Stanford University. He continues to state that making music is a good way to “engage multiple networks in the brain”.(3)

With all of the benefits of musical training being discovered by medical professionals and by private citizens for those with disabilities, it is no wonder that enrollment for people with special needs is increasing exponentially. Much work and research remains to be done, but it seems that right now we are only beginning to scratch the surface of the wonders that music and music lessons can work for people with special needs.

1. Bennet, Sue “Gifted and Disabled” Autism Coach www.autismcoach.com/gifted_with_learning_disabilitie.htm
2. Economic and Social Research Council. “Autistic Children Show Outstanding Musical Skills”. May 27, 2004
3. Music Therapy: Teachers Strike and Emotional Chord With Disabled Students. Chicago Tribune. December 21,2009