Also, educationists believe that music opens up the mind to a variety of experiences, and can in itself aid learning.

Like many Hong Kong mothers, Tanni Ma works full-time. She is manager of the Cosmopolitan Business Centre in Causeway Bay. When she is not working, she spends most of her time looking after her 15-month-old son, singing and playing music and songs to him at every available opportunity.

'Whenever I sing songs or play music to him, he perks up. He is very attentive. I think music stimulates his mind, and so I want him to listen to more music,' she said. 'I'll send him for classes when he is a bit older.'

Ms Ma believes, along with many others, that music helps to lay a foundation for learning that leads to higher intelligence and aptitude.

According to a report in the journal Neurological Research, pre-schoolers who studied the piano were 34 per cent better at spatial and temporal reasoning than those who spent the same amount of time learning to use computers.

The best engineers and technical designers in the hi-tech industry are, nearly without exception, practising musicians, according to Grant Venerable of The Centre for the Arts in the Basic Curriculum, in New York.

For the unborn child, classical music, played at a rhythm of 60 beats per minute, equivalent to that of a relaxed heart beat, provides an environment conducive to creative and intellectual development, said Dr Thomas Veert, in his book The Secret Life of the Unborn Child.

Many Hong Kong parents are aware of these reports, so it is only natural that they are steering their children in this direction.

There are many schools that teach music in the territory. Tom Lee Music Foundation, founded in 1953, is one of Hong Kong's leading music schools, and a popular choice with parents.

Besides selling musical instruments, Tom Lee offers three main categories of music teaching courses:

The first: Yamaha children courses, for children between 3 and 10 years old, including Music Wonderland Course (for three year olds); Junior Music Course (4 to 6 year year olds); Junior Extension Course (6 to 8 year olds); Junior Advanced Course (8 to 10 year olds), and the Primary Music Course (6 to 8 year olds).

The second: Regular Piano Course and Yamaha Piano Course (using the Yamaha Piano Book) for children 4 years and above.

The third: Popular Music Courses for children, starting from 12 years old, includes classes in saxophone, guitar, drum, woodwind and brass instruments.

Tom Lee also offers classes in violin, harp, electone and theory.

Tom Lee Music Foundation manager Hilda Ho said the school had 8,416 students. Of this number, 55 per cent were taking the Yamaha children courses, 27 per cent were learning piano, and the remainder were following other courses.

Children are taking up music at a much earlier age than before.

'The majority of the children following music classes are in the four to eight age group,' she said. 'Some take up more than one instrument, usually piano plus another instrument.

Today's parents believe that participation in music and the arts is as important as obtaining good academic results.'

Generally, Hong Kong's music standards are quite high, judging by the large number of awards students win annually at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festivals.

Two students were selected to compete in the Asia Electone Festival in Indonesia last month. Young people with music ambitions can further their education at local universities or overseas, at schools such as the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the Bard College Conservatory of Music in New York.