Music Lessons and Kids’ Confidence: What the Research Shows
Parents ask us this all the time: “Will music lessons help my shy child come out of their shell?” It is a fair question. Confidence is hard to measure, and it is easy to find blog posts that promise music will fix it. We went looking for real studies instead. Here is what we found, and what it does not prove. See our full Music Education Research hub for every study behind our program.
A Three-Year Study That Tracked Self-Esteem Directly
The strongest study on this topic comes from Montreal, Canada. Researchers worked with 117 nine-year-olds from lower-income families. None had played an instrument before. None had a piano at home.
Half the children were randomly picked to get free weekly piano lessons and a free piano at home, for three years. The other half did not. This matters. Random assignment is one of the best tools researchers have for testing cause and effect, not just a link.
The children who took piano lessons showed a real gain in self-esteem by the end of the study. Their math and language test scores did not change. Their school music marks went up. The lesson here is specific: piano instruction lifted how these children felt about themselves, even though it did not move their report card grades in other subjects.
The study at a glance: 117 children, ages 9 to 10, Montreal public schools, 3 years, randomly assigned to piano lessons or a control group. Self-esteem rose in the piano group. Math and language scores did not.
Who Gains the Most Confidence from Music?
A 2025 review pulled together 22 studies on music education and self-esteem, spanning more than 50 years of research. The reviewers found a clear pattern: music learning links to better self-esteem in children and teens overall.
One group stood out. Children already at risk, including kids from low-income families and kids who had been displaced from their homes, showed the strongest gains. For these children, music lessons did not just add a nice-to-have boost. In some studies, they stopped a decline in self-esteem that researchers expected to see without any intervention at all.
This fits a pattern we cover in our article on music and parent-child bonding: kids facing more stress at home or school often show the biggest gains from consistent, positive adult attention, which weekly lessons provide.
Confidence on Stage: What Happens When Kids Perform
Playing in a lesson is one thing. Standing up to perform in front of people is another. A 2024 study from China followed 340 high school music students and measured two things: how nervous they felt before performing, and how confident they felt in their own ability to do well.
Students who rated their own ability higher reported lower performance anxiety and more positive expectations about a future music career. Confidence in one’s own skill acted as a buffer against performance nerves. This does not mean lessons erase stage fright for every child. It means that as a child’s belief in their own ability grows, their performance anxiety tends to shrink alongside it.
Our article on music and teen stress relief covers more on how music training relates to anxiety and mood in older kids.
What the Research Does Not Show
None of these studies prove that any single lesson, or any single child, will feel more confident. Self-esteem is shaped by many things: family, friends, school, and personality. Music lessons are one input among many. The honest summary is that structured music training links to real self-esteem gains, gains that show up most clearly in the children who need them most, and that a growing sense of skill appears to calm performance nerves in teens. That is meaningful. It is not a guarantee.
Frequently Asked Questions
“Can music lessons really make a shy child more confident?”
Research cannot promise this for any one child. A three-year Canadian study did find that children who took weekly piano lessons showed a real rise in self-esteem, compared to children who did not. The effect was strongest for children who were already struggling.
“Do quieter kids benefit more from lessons than outgoing kids?”
A 2025 review of 22 studies found that at-risk and disadvantaged children showed the biggest self-esteem gains from music education. That does not mean outgoing kids gain nothing. It means the confidence boost tends to be largest for children who start out with lower self-esteem.
“Will my child still get nervous performing, even after lessons?”
Probably, at least sometimes. A 2024 study of high school music students found that stronger self-belief in one’s own skill was linked to calmer, steadier performances. It reduced nervousness. It did not remove it completely.
“How long does it take to see a confidence change?”
The clearest study on this tracked children over three years of weekly lessons. We could not find strong research on faster timelines, so we cannot promise results in weeks or months.
Music Lessons at ABC Academy of Music
We see this in our own studios: kids who stick with lessons tend to walk a little taller, especially once they can play something all the way through. If you want your child to build real skill, and maybe a little more self-belief along the way, browse our class schedule for piano, guitar, voice, drums, and our Music Together® program. Visit our rates and payment page for current pricing, or contact us with questions about getting started at one of our Toronto-area locations.
SOURCES:
- Costa-Giomi, E., “Effects of Three Years of Piano Instruction on Children’s Academic Achievement, School Performance and Self-Esteem,” Psychology of Music, vol. 32, no. 2, 2004, pp. 139-152, https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735604041491
- Jiang, X., and Tong, Y., “Student Self-Esteem in Music Education Contexts: A Systematic Literature Review,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 16, 2025, article 1515305, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1515305
- Wang, Q.R., and Yang, R., “The Influence of Music Performance Anxiety on Career Expectations of Early Musical Career Students: Self-Efficacy as a Moderator,” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 15, 2024, article 1411944, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1411944