Good Parenting

Music is a wonderful skill for any child, but research shows how learning music can help your child in so many more ways:
• Improved reasoning capacity and problem solving skills
• Improved math and language performance
• Better memory
• Greater social & team skills
The following studies and ongoing research provides overwhelming evidence that music make a difference.

Everyone has musical ability.
It’s true. Every child is born with musical ability, but if it’s not tapped into early enough then it can fail to develop(1). Being ‘unmusical’ is more likely to be an outcome of poor training or lack of opportunity than it is from lack of ability, and everyone has the capacity to improve their musical skills.
Research published in early 2001 indicates that all babies are born with perfect pitch – itÂ’s how they are able to recognise their motherÂ’s voice and to learn language. But if they donÂ’t learn to use their perfect pitch, they then lose it. Early music lessons help a child to retain that fundamental musical skill, which is also so critical in learning a mother tongue as well as foreign languages(2).

Playing music increases memory and reasoning capacity, time management skills and eloquence.
A series of research experiments in Hungary in the 1950s explored why children studying at special music kindergarten and primary schools had higher academic scores than those at the mainstream schools. The studies concluded that learning and playing music improved not just academic performance, but also memory, reasoning, working as part of a group, time management and the ability to think in the abstract(3).

Playing music improves concentration, memory and self expression.
A massive two-year study in Switzerland run with 1200 children in more than 50 classes scientifically showed how playing music improved childrenÂ’s reading and verbal skills through improving concentration, memory and self expression(4). Younger children who had three more music classes per week and three fewer main curriculum classes made rapid developments in speech and learned to read with greater ease.
Other effects revealed by the study showed that children learned to like each other more, enjoyed school more (as did their teachers) and were less stressed during the various tests, indicating they were better able to handle performance pressure.

Playing music improves the ability to think.
Ongoing research at the University of California-Irvine and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh(5) demonstrate that learning and playing music builds or modifies neural pathways related to spatial reasoning tasks, which are crucial for higher brain functions like complex maths, chess and science(5). The first studies showed that listening to a Mozart sonata temporarily improved a childÂ’s spatial abilities. Further studies compared children who had computer lessons, children who had singing lessons, children who learned music using a keyboard and children who did nothing additional. The children who had the music classes scored significantly higher – up to 35% higher – than the children who had computer classes or did nothing additional(6).

Music training improves verbal memory.
A preliminary study at The Chinese University of Hong Kong has shown that adults who had music training before the age of 12 years had an improved ability to recall spoken words – ie. verbal memory. The study tested 60 adults of which 30 had six years or more of training with a Western musical instrument, and the balance had some training through to none(7).

Learning music helps underperforming students to improve.
Researchers at Brown University in the US discovered that children aged 5-7 years who had been lagging behind in their school performance had caught up with their peers in reading and were ahead of them in maths after seven months of music lessons. The childrenÂ’s classroom attitudes and behaviour ratings had also significantly improved, and after a year of music classes were rated as better than the children who had no additional classes(8).

Music students more likely to be good citizens.
High school students who participate in the performing arts, including the school band program, are far less likely to be involved with drugs, crime or have behavioral problems, according to a longitudinal study being pursued in the U.S. Called Champions of Change, the study is being undertaken by a number of researchers including those at Harvard, Stanford and Columbia. This finding is supported by the Texas Commission on Drug and Alcohol Abuse which reported in 1998 that ‘secondary students who participated in band or orchestra reported the lowest lifetime and current use of all substances’ (alcohol, drugs, tobacco).

Why should my child learn music?
For many years, we have believed that children should learn music ‘for music’s sake’, as an excellent accomplishment and part of a well rounded, balanced education. And so it is.
But these days children are expected to learn so much more and parents have to decide which subjects their child could drop. The answer is: not music! Research shows that playing music can make significant differences to childrenÂ’s abilities related to learning, memory and social interactions. Learning music can make the difference for your child.

When should a child start to learn music?
Any time is a good time, but the earlier the better. The important thing is to match your childÂ’s musical experiences with their developmental stage and to establish playing music as an ongoing part of their life. Because children develop at different paces, a music teacher will be able to advise more specifically for your child, but this is a broad framework:

From six months to around three years: Musical experiences are important at this age. Group classes where children develop rhythm, pitch, concepts such as high and low or fast and slow, and use their voices help a young child to internalise the precepts of music and prepares them for learning to play an instrument.

From around three years to six years: ChildrenÂ’s brains and motor skills have now usually developed sufficiently to begin to consider learning to play instruments such as the violin, keyboard or piano. The childÂ’s ear is more fully developed, and they are learning to master language and abstract concepts.

From six years onwards: By now your childÂ’s fine motor skills have begun to develop and they can handle a wider range of instruments, such as brass and wind instrument , guitar or percussion. Now an important consideration is to find an instrument that suits your child. Music teachers can advise and recommend.

How can I find a music class for my child?
There are many easy ways to find a music teacher for your child. Try these:
• Ask at your child’s school to see if they have a music program or can recommend a local music teacher or private music school or studio.
• Contact your local musical instrument retailer who will know who the local music teachers, studios and schools are.
• Each State has a music teachers association, which can provide lists of teachers near you.
• Look in the newspapers and Yellow Pages for music studios and schools offering private and group classes for children of all ages.

(1) Donald A Hodges (editor), Handbook of Musical Psychology, IMR Press. San Antonio .P258.
(2) Professor Jenny Saffran, Infant Learning Centre, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Developmental Psychology journal, Jan. 2001
(3) F Sandor (ed). Music Education in Hungary. 1969
(4) E W Weber, M Spychiger and J-L Patry, Musik macht Schule. Biografie und Ergebnisse eines Schulversuchs mit erweitertemMusikuntericcht. Padagogik in der Blauen Eule, Bd17. 1993.
(5) Various studies by Dr. Gordon Shaw (University of California-Irvine) and Dr. Fran Rauscher (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh), with others. Including those published in Nature 365:611 and Neuroscience Letters 185:44-47
(6) E L Wright, W R Dennis & R L Newcomb. Neurological Res.19:2-8. 1997
(7) Agnes S Chan, Yim-Chi Ho, & Mei-Chun Cheung, Dept of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Music training improves verbal memory. Nature 396:128
(8) M F Gardiner, A Fox, F Knowles & D Jeffrey. Learning improved by arts training. Nature 381:284. 1996.

The above article was originally published as a brochure produced by the Australian Music Association and is reproduced here by permission.

For over 30 years Kindermusik has been and still is the world’s most respected name in musical learning for young children. Every aspect of the Kindermusik program is grounded in these core beliefs: every child is musical, every parent is the child’s most important teacher, the home is the most important place for learning to take root and grow, and that based on research, music nurtures a child’s cognitive, emotional, social, language and physical development.

From birth through seven years of age, with the caring guidance of a trained and licensed Kindermusik educator, your child can grow with Kindermusik without pressure to perform, only encouragement to explore, express and discover. You’ll see a developmental evolution in language skills, literacy, listening, problem solving, social skills, self-esteem and musicality!

You’ll be involved in every stage of your child’s Kindermusik experience with the at Home materials. These include music, literature and activities, which extend the fun and discovery of our classes into the home to foster special times of connecting between parent and child.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 11:08 pm and is filed under Good Parenting.