Prince was a musical genius, but he didn’t come of age in a vacuum. A human geographer explains how Minneapolis’ unique musical culture nurtured and inspired the budding star.
Kids can stop music lessons at any time, due to boredom or disliking practice. It’s OK to let them stop if they genuinely don’t enjoy it, but it’s best to test a few things out first.
Researchers who looked at over 110,000 students found that learning an instrument in elementary school, and continuing music study into high school, significantly improves school achievement.
Nagging or bribing a child to practise their musical instrument only makes the activity feel like a chore. Here’s how to support your child and bring back harmony to the whole family.
Children with difficulty singing can be labelled as ‘nonmusical’ by parents, teachers and pop culture. This toxic idea of ‘talent’ can deprive people of music’s benefits for the rest of their lives.
Technological advances in music production have all but obliterated the need for popular music to be transcribed into musical notation. So why is musical literacy still important?
Not all children move through the same range of processes when they compose music – but those processes, in themselves, nurture important human qualities.
We rightly marvel at the skills of a talented musician, especially witnessing them perform live. But how does someone become so skilled? Obviously hours and hours of dedicated practice is a necessity…
NRF Accredited & Senior Researcher; Lead Coordinator of the South-South Educational Collaboration & Knowlede Interchange Initiative, Cape Peninsula University of Technology