Those violin lessons weren't a waste of time after all: Learning an instrument 'makes children grow up smarter' Sending children to music classes from age seven enhances motor skills development, research finds Brain scans revealed enhanced white matter in the corpus callosum, which connects the right brain and left brain But it won't necessarily turn your child into a virtuoso composer, the researchers add Stick with it! Research shows sending children to music lessons from age seven boosts development of the motor skills regions of their brains Learning to play an instrument at a young age may not turn your children into the next Mozart but it could make smarter in later life, a new study claims. Research shows that sending youngsters to music classes from age seven will speed the development of motor skills - the part of your brain that plans and carry outs movement. There is a special window of learning between the ages of six and eight when musical training interacts with motor development, producing long term changes to the brain, according to the study. 'Learning to play an instrument requires coordination between hands and with visual or auditory stimuli,' said lead researcher Virginia Penhune, professor of psychology at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Importantly, the younger a musician started, the greater the connectivity. Practising an instrument before age seven likely boosts the normal maturation of connections between motor and sensory regions of the brain, creating a framework upon which ongoing training can build. However, if you think piano and violin lessons will turn your offspring into a classical composer think again, as it has little impact on their development as musicians. Professor Penhune said: 'It's important to remember that what we are showing is that early starters have some specific skills and differences in the brain that go along with that. 'But these things don't necessarily make them better musicians. 'Musical performance is about skill, but it is also about communication, enthusiasm, style, and many other things that we don't measure. 'So, while starting early may help you express your genius, it probably won't make you a genius.' Sensitive age: There is a special window of learning between the ages of six and eight when musical training interacts with motor development, producing long term changes to the brain, according to the study University students with over-controlling parents are more likely to be depressed and less satisfied with their lives, a new study claims. The so-called 'helicopter parenting' negatively affects students' well-being by violating their need to feel both autonomous and competent, according to the research. Holly Schiffrin and colleagues from the University of Mary Washington, Virginia, conducted an online survey of 297 American undergraduate students aged 18-23. They were asked to describe their mothers' parenting behaviours, and rate their own perceptions of their autonomy, competence and how well they get along with other people. The researchers also assessed the students' overall life satisfaction, levels of anxiety, and whether or not they suffered symptoms of depression. The researchers found helicopter parenting left youngsters with higher levels of depression and decreased satisfaction with life, as well as lower levels of perceived autonomy, competence, and ability to relate to their peers. 'Parents should keep in mind how developmentally appropriate their involvement is and learn to adjust their parenting style when their children feel that they are hovering too closely,' the researchers said. In the study, the brains of 36 musicians, all of whom had played for around the same number of years, were monitored as they carried out non-musical tests of their motor skills. The participants were split into two groups, those who started playing music before the age of seven, and those who started at a later stage in life. The findings were then compared with test results from those who had received little or no formal musical training. Musicians who began before age seven showed more accurate timing, even after two days of practice, than both their rival musicians and the untrained test subjects, the researchers found. At the same time scans of their brains also revealed enhanced white matter in the corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibres that connects the left and right motor regions of the brain. But the brain scans showed no difference between the non-musicians and the musicians who began their training later in life, suggesting that the brain developments under consideration happen early or not at all. Because the study tested musicians on a non-musical motor skill task, it also suggests that the benefits of early music training extend beyond the ability to play an instrument, the researchers said.. Co-author Robert Zatorre, from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University, said: 'This study is significant in showing that training is more effective at early ages because certain aspects of brain anatomy are more sensitive to changes at those time points.' The findings were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.