Kindersley & District Music Festival

The Music Festival started Monday with almost 440 students participating. It is a big event with lots of disciplines including piano, strings, instruments, voice, spoken word and musical drama. Performances can be seen at the NRCC and St Paul's United Church; check scheduling for times and places. The Festival of Stars, featuring the best performers in their groups, is Friday March 20th at 7:00 at St Paul's.

Now if you are wondering about the benefits of music education on your child or grandchild consider the passage below. I received it in an email I received this morning as part of a subscription I have with Harvard Business Review called the "Daily Stat."

Learning a musical instrument during childhood and adolescence increases cognitive skills by one-fourth of a standard deviation and school grades by one-sixth of a standard deviation, effects that are twice as large as those from sports, according to a study in Germany by Adrian Hille and Jürgen Schupp of DIW Berlin. Moreover, adolescents with music training are more conscientious, open, and ambitious. The reasons for the cognitive improvements are unclear, but studying music may boost brain functioning and, because it encourages persistence, may increase conscientiousness, the researchers say.