Today's world is very hectic for students in living in cities like Singapore. Much of the challenge in schools is intellectual, physical and academic.
Learning piano brings a new dimension to a person's learning - a certain balance, a certain sanity to life.
Even today, decades after I first laid hands on this instrument, playing and teaching piano continues to give me much enjoyment.
Here is why one may like to learn piano:
Playing piano not just uses your ears and hands, but also engages you mentally, creatively and emotionally. It is this multi-faceted music-making that I really enjoy.
Pianists are able to play both melody and the supporting harmonies (chords) at the same time making enjoyable and even complex musical sounds. Many other instruments like violins, flutes or trumpets often play just the melody and would need a piano accompaniment to play the harmonies to the music.
Early tunes on a piano may sound more in tune on a piano (and be more encouraging to the young learner) than on another instrument like the violin. Playing in tune depends on the tuner (who should tune the piano once a year at least) and the piano (whether it can hold it's tuning well), not on the pianist.
With the multi-task of playing the piano with both hands, reading of at least two different lines of music usually, deciphering the notes and rhythms on the page, listening to what you play, bringing out the emotional content of the music, plus pedaling sometimes, pianists are trained to have good mental skills and concentration.
In recent years, research has shown that those with lifelong music making experiences have better brain processing, hearing and memory even in older years!
After you learn to play piano, it's easy to learn another instrument. This is probably because music written for piano is often more complicated and requires more coordination than with other instruments.
Whether you study violin, cello or clarinet, many universities require piano as a second instrument; most conductors are also pianists.