“We tend to think that the realm of music is the privileged area of some happy few. Experience has taught us, however, that if offered the right kind of approach, passion, and self motivation, anyone is capable of entering the realm of music. Not everyone has the talent to practice music at an artistic level, or create work, but everyone can reach a stage where they can enjoy it.”
-Maria Montessori, ’The Montessori Approach to Music’
Multiple studies have demonstrated that musicians have enhanced auditory processing abilities compared to non-musicians. That's why many parents sign their children up at an early age for piano or music lessons with the intention of enhancing these abilities in their child.
Many of the most famous musical stars of the last century are self-taught musicians. Oftentimes, self-taught musicians exhibit a higher degree of “implicit understanding.” That is, they are able to play and perform music on their instruments often without fully understanding the music theory behind it.
This is not to discount the skills of classically trained musicians. There are many skillfull artists out there.
Seeing a few of our learners pick up learning an instrument on their own and achieve proficiency within a few months is such an astounding thing to witness.
There are so many benefits to being self-taught.
1. Your self-drive is critical to your learning, and will often result in much better results than someone relying on a teacher with no self-drive.
2. You also get to discover a lot of new things that may not be included in a formal learning environment and find the best way to learn and understand in your own unique way.
3. By exploring ideas on your own, you also find little helpful tidbits that might have been excluded from a formal program. Digging around for a piece of knowledge on your own helps you critically understand something beyond the way an instructor thinks you should comprehend that topic
As with all types of learning, it involves actively thinking and a motivation to learn. We often assign genius not to people who have an extraordinary ability to learn but to those who are incredibly tenacious in their desire to learn.
And we see children as geniuses. They can learn anything at any time they choose to do so. If we get out of their way, step back from constraining them, the sky’s the limit.
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