Children don't usually like things that are good for them - but music is an exception to the rule.

For as well as being enjoyable to listen to, learning music - be it through playing an instrument or singing - has a whole host of benefits, ranging from boosting intelligence and developing reading and listening skills, to helping build discipline, self-confidence and social development through playing or singing in groups and bands.

It's also a means of self-expression, which is particularly valuable to children who find it difficult to communicate with people through speech.

In addition, learning an instrument helps to enhance motor skills, and reading notes while playing helps foster improved hand-eye co-ordination.

This array of benefits is behind the Government's recent announcement that it plans to spend £332million over the next three years on school music.

As well as a financial boost for school choirs, orchestras and performances, the funding also includes £82million a year to pay for a year's free music tuition for every early years primary school child in the UK.

There's also £40million to buy new musical instruments, and another £40million will fund the Sing Up programme, to provide a national song bank and training to put singing back into the classroom.

The Sing Up campaign was launched by the singer Jamelia, who said: "Singing in a class is something I got a great deal from as a child - it really helped to build up my confidence and taught me how to better express myself.

"I want all children to have the same opportunities to sing in school."

The new funding comes on the back of the Wider Opportunities programme, which aims to give all Key Stage 2 pupils access to tuition in singing or a musical instrument.

And as the funding was announced, a new survey revealed that increasing numbers of pupils are involved in the programme.

It also found that the most common instruments learned were violin (19.2 per cent) and acoustic guitar (18.3 per cent).

The survey's author, Professor Susan Hallam of London University's Institute of Education, says: "Children get a lot of enjoyment out of learning music.

"But as well as that, it can stimulate them intellectually, it can help them with team work, playing an instrument can help with physical co-ordination, and they can use music to express their feelings."

Welcoming the investment in music in schools, Hallam points out that more staff are being trained to teach musical instruments in schools, adding: "The main barrier to children learning instruments in the past has been cost, because although there's been a huge demand from parents for their children to learn an instrument, they've had to pay for lessons."

She stresses that children should be encouraged to continue their musical education after their free lessons finish - and parents need only look to the work of Professor Glenn Schellenberg, of the Univeristy of Toronto, to grasp the value of music lessons.

Schellenberg's research has found that the IQ scores of six-year-olds who took keyboard or voice lessons were, on average, three points higher than normal.

He says: "If the child is interested in music, then take them for music lessons.

"I'm not a cheerleader for music lessons, but my advice to parents is if they're free or you can afford them, they're definitely a good thing."