Recent research proves it! Please read the following portion of an article from the January 2000 issue of Popular Science Magazine:

(emphasis added by us)
"We've always known that music is great for kids," she says (Elizabeth Stilwell, Director of Cornell University's Early Childhood Center.), "but now research shows that music should be an essential part of early childhood. It's fun, creative, and it's a proven way to develop areas of the brain for later academic tasks such as reading and math."

The research Stilwell refers to is a study published in March 1999 that found that second graders in Los Angeles scored 27 percent higher than other children on proportional math and fractions tests after they were given four months of keyboard training on the piano.

We too have found that children seem smarter after being enrolled in our nationwide Mary Ann Hall's Music for Children program. We feel that all of the instruments we carry have strong educational value, teaching kids the basics of melody, harmony and time.