Parents Attend Son's Third Grade Concert. It Doesn't Go as Planned

Learning to play an instrument can be challenging, and it can take a long time to be able to play music skillfully. And while parents are always proud of their kids, no matter what they've achieved, it can still be difficult to keep a straight face during the learning stage—as two moms found out.

In a video they shared on TikTok, Jay and Neo can be seen trying to stifle laughter as they watch their son play the cello in a school concert. The band can be heard playing music in the background, albeit slightly out of tune. The more the parents try to keep it together, the more they laugh and set each other off. The caption reads, "Never a dull moment."

Commenters also enjoyed the clip. One wrote, "Bro I thought the beginning of this video was the warm-up not the performance, good lord." Another said, "What were they playing, the music from hereditary?"

One commenter asked if the kids were "making the instruments on stage."

Another added, "As a former middle school band director — those babies are crushing it." The parents replied, "And we will be there for every single one of them!"

The moms confirmed later that the children weren't warming up but playing the composition.

Though it can take years to master an instrument, research shows it's worthwhile for children. A 2020 study led by Dr. Leonie Kausel, a violinist and neuroscientist, found that learning to play an instrument aids brain development and can lead children to have greater creativity and a better quality of life.

The research found that musically trained children performed better at attention and memory-recall exercises. They also had greater activation in brain regions related to attention control and auditory encoding.

A separate study, conducted by the University of Vermont's College of Medicine, found that even small amounts of music education could lead to major benefits to a child's development. It found that learning an instrument helped to refine fine motor skills and boost a child's emotional and behavioral development.

The study found that children who had undergone musical training had an increase in cortical thickness in the areas of the brain that contribute to functions such as memory, organizational skills and attention span. So while the learning process may be challenging at times, it's definitely something to be encouraged.

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