What smart parents do to make their kids smarter There is a widespread view that learning to play a musical instrument in childhood stimulates cognitive development and leads to enhanced skills in a wide variety of areas, including mathematics and general IQ. Now, in a recent scientific study done by Harvard Medical School, Boston College, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the experts found that Children who study a musical instrument for at least three years outperform children with no instrumental training on non-musical tests of vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning . Both the above skills are essential for a child’s developing intelligence. This new finding adds to a list of music's magic. Tests showed the kids who practiced instruments scored much higher than their non-musical counterparts on auditory discrimination and finger dexterity, both skills closely tied with musical training. The longer the child was musically trained, the higher the scores. Psycholog...