According to the results of a small UK study, run by a Dr. Alexandra Lamont, children recognize and prefer music they were exposed to in the womb for at least a year after they are born. It is known that the foetus in the womb is able to hear fully only 20 weeks after conception.
Music has a powerful effect on our emotions as well. Parents know that a quiet, gentle lullaby can soothe a fussy baby; while a majestic chorus can make us swell with excitement. Music also affects how we think.
Babies are born with billions of brain cells. During the first years of life, those brain cells form connections with other brain cells. Over time, the connections we use regularly become stronger. Children who grow up listening to music develop strong music-related connections.
Some of these music pathways actually affect the thought process. Listening to classical music can improve our spatial reasoning, at least for a short time. And learning to play an instrument may have an even longer effect on certain thinking skills.
Why Classical Music?
The music most people call "classical"--works by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart--is different from music such as rock and country. Classical music has a more complex musical structure. Babies as young as 3 months can pick out that structure and even recognize classical music selections they have heard before.
Researchers think the complexity of classical music is what primes the brain to solve spatial problems more quickly. So listening to classical music may have different effects on the brain than listening to other types of music.
This doesn't mean that other types of music are not good. Listening to any kind of music helps build music-related pathways in the brain. And music can have positive effects on our moods that may make learning easier.
But if you want your child to have the true benefits of music, you’ll have to go beyond listening to a Raffi sing-a-long. To get the full benefits of music you need to encourage your child to sing and play an instrument of their own.
Children who are musically trained are better at observing pitch changes in speech and have a better vocabulary and reading ability than children who did not receive music training.
What Can You Do?
Parents and child-care providers can help nurture children's love of music beginning in infancy. Here are some ideas:
Play music for your baby. Expose your baby to many different musical selections of various styles. If you play an instrument, practice when your baby is nearby. But keep the volume moderate. Loud music can damage a baby's hearing.
- Sing to your baby. It doesn't matter how well you sing! Hearing your voice helps your baby begin to learn language. Babies love the patterns and rhythms of songs. And even young babies can recognize specific melodies once they've heard them.
- Sing with your child. As children grow, they enjoy singing with you. And setting words to music actually helps the brain learn them more quickly and retain them longer. That's why we remember the lyrics of songs we sang as children, even if we haven't heard them in years.
- Start music lessons early. If you want your child to learn an instrument, you don't need to wait until elementary school to begin lessons. Young children's developing brains are equipped to learn music. Most four- and five-year-olds enjoy making music and can learn the basics of some instruments. And starting lessons early helps children build a lifelong love of music.
- Encourage your child's school to teach music. Singing helps stimulate the brain, at least briefly. Over time, music education as a part of school can help build skills such as coordination and creativity. And learning music helps your child become a well-rounded person.
There are music programs popping up all over the place. Gymboree has a musical program for your child, and there are other independent private organization that also willing help build musical awareness.
http://www.makingmusictogether.com/
This program is an internationally recognized early childhood music program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, kidergarteners and the adults who love them. Music Together classes are based on the recognition that all children are musical. All children can learn to sing in tune, keep a beat, and participate with confidence in the music of our culture, provided that their early environment supports such learning. By emphasizing actual musical experiences rather than concepts about music, Music Together introduces children to the making of music instead of passively receiving it from CDs or TV.
http://www.childrensmusicroom.ca/index.html
Learn lap rhymes, songs, finger and toe play, movement games. Through movement, singing, listening, and instrument activities, experience the elements of music.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Fagen, J., Prigot, J., Carroll, M., Pioli, L., Stein, A., & Franco, A. (1997). Auditory context and memory retrieval in young infants. Child Development, 68, 1057-1066.
Rauscher, F. H., Shaw, G. L., Levine, L. J., Wright, E. L., Dennis, W. R., & Newcomb, R. L. (1997). Music training causes long-term enhancement of preschool children's spatial-temporal reasoning. Neurological Research, 19, 2-8.
Viadero, D. (1998). Music on the Mind. Education Week, April 8, 1998.
Wallace, W. T. (1994). Memory for music: Effect of melody on recall of text. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 20, 1471-1485.
