I attended a lecture that did extensive studies on string instruments lessons. They used a control group in LA area and found that one year of string or piano increase IQ by 8-7 points. You could replicate this by a second year but that was teh extent of what was studied. It had to be string or piano, not voice, not drums, not brass. I had copied the lecture notes here several years ago.
Also, they have done extensive studies about what happens in the teen years and development and it could explain why some known entrepeneurs don't show any thing extraordinary and then suddenly become great risk and problem solvers. Teen years have a great deal of development in the frontal lobe or working memory. Something the piano or string lessons seem to develop. You can have good develop in the intellectual area early but working memory has to be developed and that is the ability to deal with a lot of facts and deal with an "emergency" situation. So you can have a real smart kid but if the working memory isn't developed, then they cannot problem solve well, on the spot kind of thing.
All this is cumulative.
I tried to do all the early stuff, I figured it better to have an advantage and not, really not knowing how much it all helped. And in the end, we are who we are as parents. I am finding DD more like me as each day passes. I am hoping to improve on the inital prototype.
Ren
