Why - Dorset Music Hub

Why do we do this?

We do this because we believe that music can play an important part in children and young people’s lives.

It helps them with wellbeing, self-esteem, resilience, creative expression and nurturing skills for learning and for life.

For a young person to thrive, they need their unique interests, needs and potential to be recognised and valued.

For many young people, music is the key. It’s the thing that they most enjoy, that gives life purpose, and motivates them.

It has a positive impact on their life. For some, it becomes a future career path, for others a life-long passion.

These impacts and benefits are particularly true of those who face barriers or struggle to engage in learning. Find out more about children and young people who face barriers to music.

So we use our to identify gaps, remove barriers, and to act as a catalyst for joint working for improved outcomes for children and young people.

Watch these two videos from Anita Collins about the cognitive benefits of learning music.

Music education has also been shown to:

increase confidence and self-esteem
which has a knock-on effect in all areas of their life and learning
improve health and wellbeing
reducing stress, increasing a sense of wellbeing and happiness
provide important life and social skills
such as listening, concentration, working as a team
develop creativity and self-expression
helping young people to think differently and develop their power of imagination
improve cognition, literacy and numeracy
neuroscience research has shown that children who learn an instrument have higher levels of cognitive capacity, particularly in language acquisition and numerical problem solving skills
unlock potential
particularly for young people who are strongly creative, or who struggle to engage with other areas of learning

There is a wealth of academic research as well as action research from the music education sector to back this up.