Why Song Writing Lessons Are Truly Important

Sometimes the parents of my students do a strange thing. If a teenager happens to get in trouble, for some reason or another as teenagers tend to do, one of the first discipline tactics that comes to mind for a parent, is to take away privileges. So it's not unusual that I get a call from a student (or parent) where I'm told the student won't be in lessons for a while. They are being punished and their lessons are being taken away.

Here's the baffling part: I currently make $50 an hour teaching guitar, bass, song writing, etc. And how did I learn this craft? By doing exactly what my students are doing. I found a competent instructor, and learned, and practiced. And I took that knowledge and started writing music and playing in bands. And here's my point: my students, if they apply themselves can do exactly what I do in a few years. What I teach, will allow them if they apply themselves, to also earn $50 an hour teaching private music lessons.

So their punishment is diminishing their ability to earn a living in the future? That doesn't make sense to me! What I teach can enable them to provide for their families, even if they don't become rockstar famous. Would the parents take away their child's ability to learn skills from an official school curriculum? How much are these students going to earn from their History skills once they graduate? Their Geometry skills? Well, their music skills can be worth $50 per hour. Does it make sense that parents would take away their child's ability to learn these skills? Not to me.

But today I learned that the money is not the most important benefit of learning music. A huge component of music, is creativity. And a new study, documented in this recent Newsweek article, has sounded the alarm that the last few years have seen the first decline ever in the creativity of our youth, in the decades since they began monitoring creative abilities. Although the jury is still out on exactly why (some blame the increased time spent with tv and video games), the trend is undeniable.

But the important aspect of this research is the implication on the success of our youth in their future careers. Studies show that creative abilities are more important than IQ (3 times more important) in career success. A recent poll of 300 of our nation's CEOs indicated the same thing. This study revealed that creativity was the most important skill needed by future CEOs.

In addition to the social factors over the last few years that have lead to the decline, exacerbating this issue is the fact that most public school systems are cutting programs that foster creativity (e.g. art, music, theater, etc.) The implication: private music lessons, especially those that foster creativity like song writing, are more important now than ever. My personal experience and recent research suggest, that investing in your child's interest in creating music, can have a dramatic impact on their future. This attention to their creativity can not only provide a future means for them to earn a living (like the $50 an hour I make teaching). According to this new research, it can also dramatically increase their chance for success in any other field they choose because it helps them develop their creative abilities.

An investment in the creative development of your child, is an investment in their future success.