Parents often encourage their kids to take up an instrument in the hopes that the after-school activity will amplify in-school performance. Several studies have looked at the link between music training and cognitive skills in kids, but the results haven’t been super definitive in the past.The latest research may change some minds, though (and increase enrollment in band camps), as it shows music training really can boost a child’s brain power.

A recently published five-year study conducted by neuroscientists at the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California examined the impact of music instruction on kids’ social, emotional and cognitive development.The results, along with initial results published last year, suggest as little as two years of music training can boost a child’s brain power in areas responsible for decision-making, giving them the ability to focus attention and inhibit impulses (a combo that comes in handy in the classroom).

According to USC neuroscientists, music instruction changes both the white matter (which carries signals) and the grey matter (which processes information) in a child’s brain. (So why not start early?)“There has been a long suspicion that music practice has a beneficial effect on human behavior. But this study proves convincingly that the effect is real,” says Antonio Damasio,University Professor and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute.