Music touches every aspect of our lives, whether we pay attention to it or not. We use music to motivate us during exercise. We use it to relax with or to set the tone at a party or gathering. We sing songs to our babies to calm them and help them to fall to sleep. Music is in the background at grocery stores and malls. And we all know how music sets the tone during movies and television shows. But, is music so important that parents should be pushing for required music classes at all grade levels?

Plato, the Greek philosopher, called music a "moral law" in part in an oft repeated quote. William Congreve gave us the quote about music and savage beasts. Most people will agree that music, especially learning to play an instrument has serious value. A study by Stanford University found that music could substantially improve how the brain processes words, improving language skills. Music was also found to help the brain to better distinguish between rapidly changing sounds.

Two other studies, one from Canada and another from the United States both back the Stanford findings. In the Canadian study, children ages four to six who were enrolled in music lessons were all tracked for a set period of time. The study found that those children all had higher literacy rates and also scored better on math than the children who did not take music lessons at all. In the US, the study looked at five to seven year old children who were falling behind in a number of study subjects, including reading and math. After several months of music lessons, these children had caught up with their peers and in the case of math, had surpassed them.

Music has a number of mind and body benefits for adults as well. In addition to helping calm patients during potentially painful procedures, listening to Mozart was shown to enhance memory skills in even older adults. People who listened to music while doing mundane tasks were able to stick with them for longer and made fewer mistakes. Physically, music has been study proven to lower blood pressure, slow the heart rate and to aid in digestion. Restaurants know this and play upbeat music so that you eat faster and hopefully more food. Dieters can employe slower paced music during a meal to eat less food - a well known psychological factor that is often overlooked as too simplistic.