Accepting students for music lessons
Local music teacher Shelley Martin is accepting new students on piano, flute, clarinet, saxophone. Martin is a professional musician with a master’s degree in music from the University of Arkansas. She has performed and taught music in the Hot Springs area for more than three decades.
“Her students range in age from 5 to 77 years old, and she is uniquely experienced in teaching all levels, from beginners to advanced. Students enrolled in local band programs invariably move to the top of their sections, with the majority achieving regional and statewide honors and recognition. Dozens of Martin’s former students have been awarded substantial college music scholarships for participating in the university band, even as nonmusic majors,” states the press release.
Are you an adult who always wished you had learned to play piano or a musical instrument? Numerous scientific discoveries indicate specific benefits to the brain when learning a musical instrument, particularly the piano — at any age. “No other activity in our daily lives stimulates the corpus callosum, a bridge between the two hemispheres of the brain, in the same way that learning to play the piano does.
“Perhaps you are interested in new ways to stave off the onset of dementia? While it has been well documented that learning the piano or any other musical instrument early in life has been associated with faster neural responses to speech in elderly individuals, recent studies have concluded that age-related mild cognitive changes can occur even after short periods of musical training.
“In one study, adults taking only six months of piano lessons showed improved performance on specific cognitive tasks that represent executive function, such as speed of processing information, verbal fluency and enhanced mood!”
Call Martin for more information about lessons at 501-282-8145.