Ultimately music is a language. Again, there are plenty of arguments about the benefits of learning (a) new language(s). That said, I don't think teachers can

Ultimately music is a language. Again, there are plenty of arguments about the benefits of learning (a) new language(s). That said, I don't think teachers can argue in good faith that learning a particular will make you smarter versus learning another. Are multilingual people more intelligent than monolingual? Are people fluent in Ruby smarter than those fluent in PHP? A better argument would be, learning music could potentially unlock the ability to learn new languages. Debatable, but I'd agree with that. There is a difference, though, between learning something as a hobby, which is what most people learning music do, and mastering an instrument, which is a lifelong pursuit. The pursuits different, and so are the rewards. Learning something as a hobby will provide benefits, but none that can be associated with gaining more intelligence.