Making Music: Music Helps Your Child Do Everything Better 

By Kathy Bailey

Music is a basic human need. It is food for the soul, vitamins for the brain, water for the body. Yes, it is vital to our health. All children benefit from learning music through singing or playing an instrument. Now, recent research demonstrates that musical learning boosts a child’s abilities in many more ways than previously understood.

Why Should My Child Learn Music?
Through the ages, children have taken music lessons because parents valued the gift of music. The ability to read and play music is considered part of a balanced, well-rounded education. Simply put, it is an excellent accomplishment.

When families have a plethora of options for enriching their children’s lives, parents naturally assign value and priority to the choices. Which ones should a family ignore or drop? The answer is – not music!

Here’s why. According to current child development experts, music education helps enhance learning in other disciplines, and this learning can be traced from infancy through childhood. The interplay between nature and nurture in the context of music proves that early exposure is crucial. A newborn baby comes into the world with all the brain cells he or she will own for life. As the baby grows and develops, connections are made between brain cells, thus creating neural pathways. A variety of musical exposure from an early age literally strengthens these pathways for life, therefore maximizing the potential your child was born with (nature) and cultivating skills your child can achieve (nurture). 

What Difference Does It Make?
Children who are exposed to music through play and, later, formal lessons, benefit significantly over children who lack musical interactions. These children demonstrate widespread benefits:
• Greater capacity for reasoning, creating, and problem solving;
• Higher math and language performance;
• Enhanced memory;
• Better social and team skills;
• Increased ease of self-expression;
• Improved stress management;
• Lower delinquency.

Everyone Has Musical Ability
We were all born with musical ability and a natural appreciation for music. After all, music has been with us since before birth. The steady pulse of our mother’s heartbeat was our first exposure to the rhythmic quality of music. What’s more, researchers have found that babies are born with perfect pitch, equipping them to recognize their mother’s voice and acquire language. Without nurturing this gift, pitch can fail to develop. Early exposure to music through fun, engaging, and meaningful activities helps retain that fundamental skill. 

So When Should We Begin?
Though any time is a good time, the earlier the better. Because children develop at individual rates, the suggestions that follow are guidelines. A qualified music educator will be able to answer further questions more specifically for your child. The key is to ensure that your child’s musical experiences fit with his or her developmental stage.

From 3 Months To 3 Years
During these early years of childhood, musical experiences are vital in laying the groundwork for increased musical propensity. Involve your baby or toddler in group classes where children freely socialize and explore, without the pressure to perform. These classes should encourage children to develop rhythm and pitch; explore concepts of loud and quiet, high and low, or fast and slow; and strengthen their inhibitory control and coordination through fun activities such as musical stop and go games.

Little ones should also be encouraged to use their voices – their first and most important instrument. Classes such as these will help children internalize sounds, lending greater ease with learning an instrument later on. Most of all, classes help bring the parent or caregiver and child together for purposeful play. 

From 3 To 5 Years
Continue to choose process-based environments as opposed to performance-based instruction. Choose activities that allow children the freedom to express, experiment with different instruments, and make simple choices through musical play. Capitalize on your child’s flourishing creativity, and seek out activities that incorporate imaginative play. Continued exploration of the voice through simple and enjoyable song games will get your child ready for the next level of musical learning.

6 Years And Beyond
By this age, a child’s fine motor skills and ability to grasp abstract concepts have usually developed sufficiently to begin learning to play an instrument. The piano, guitar, and violin are good first choices. Later, children can learn a wider range of instruments such as a flute, percussion, or trumpet. There will always be exceptions to this rule of thumb, based on the individual child’s developmental pace.

Simple Ways To Add Music To Your Day
Sing to your child. It doesn’t matter how well you sing. Throw those inhibitions out the window and let the learning begin! Remember that through your voice, your baby begins learning language and your toddler’s vocabulary expands. 

Sing with your child! It’s easier for the brain to establish patterns, retain information longer, and improve memory recall when words are set to music. What’s more, even young babies can recognize melodies once they have heard them. Patterns and rhythms of songs are fun for children and help to wire the brain to find patterns in other areas of learning. Expose your child to a variety of musical styles – bluegrass, folk, pop, classical, and Caribbean, to name a few. Through these early exposures to music from many cultures, you’re helping your child build a large library of musical tastes and appreciation from which to choose for years to come.

As the old adage goes, the more you put in, the more you get out. The same is true for music. There are few things so naturally social and stimulating for people of all ages – especially our littlest ones – as enjoying and making music together. 

Kathy Bailey, owner and director of Kindermusik in Wake Forest, teaches music and movement classes for babies and children to age seven. For more information, visit <www.wakeforestmusik.com> or call 761-4290.