My precocious children are living examples of this effect.
Scientists have found an unexpected benefit of music lessons - they can boost word power.Posted by Alan at July 28, 2003 12:23 AMChildren with music training had significantly better verbal memory than others, according to today's study. Plus, the longer the training, the better the verbal memory. These findings underscore how, when experience changes a specific brain region, other skills in the same region may also benefit.
It seems that the more that music training stimulates the brain, the better it can handle other tasks. The team likened it to the way that runners find that stronger legs help them play tennis better
via The Telegraph (UK)