The Importance of Early Childhood Music
The study of music at a young age increases the quality of the child's early life experiences. Music can soothe, stimulate or entertain children. It provides pleasure, joy and an outlet for creative expression; it helps develop listening and auditory discrimination skills; it contributes to motor skill development (both large muscle and small muscle); and it increases the range and flexibility of the voice. Music can soothe emotions, invite enthusiasm and bring immense pleasure to the listener.
Eight Cool Things Music Does for Kids
1. Confidence and Poise: Music making offers children a chance to perform with and for others, and to develop confidence in their ability to make presentations for groups.
2. Perseverance and Commitment: As children become more skilled in singing, moving and playing instruments, they can see and hear the results of their efforts.
3. Coordination: The many movement activities associated with music experiences develop both small muscles and large muscles. The awareness of internal steady pulse, coordinated with external movements, helps children regulate their behavior.
4. Self-respect and Satisfaction: As musical skills develop, children feel a strong sense of satisfaction in their progress and develop a feeling of self-respect that transfers to other situations in life.
5. Creativity and Self-expression: Music experiences often invite individual creative responses and encourage children's imagination in other creative endeavors.
6. Pride in Achievement: Sharing music with peers and family reinforces the value of each child in the classroom, and children develop a sense of pride in their musical achievements.
7. Concentration and Problem-solving: Learning about music requires concentration and focus. When children are asked to analyze, compare and contrast sounds, they are actively engaged in problem-solving experiences.
8. Fun and Relaxation: Singing, moving, playing instruments and listening to music are all enjoyable experiences. Music making can provide hours of personal entertainment and relaxation throughout one's entire life.
Science proves the importance of music
Several recent studies show improved spatial-temporal task scores and pattern-recognition scores for children in different age groups who had received piano instruction as compared to the same-age control groups without piano instruction. These studies report that piano instruction is far superior to computer instruction in enhancing a child's abstract reasoning skills necessary for learning science and math.
Studies also suggest that playing and listening to music at a young age improves learning, memory, reasoning ability, and general creativity. Research supports the theory that young children who are exposed to music develop enhanced cognitive skills. Music teachers are aware that influences of music go far beyond the intellectual and physical development of the child. Studying music contributes to the growth of a well-balanced child in sensitivity, expressiveness, and the spirit essential for functioning in a complicated world.
Call out: Children who received music instruction (including keyboard lessons) scored higher in spatial task ability than those who had not. –Frances Rauscher, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh and associates, February 1997, Neurological Research
Call out: Elementary school children who took piano lessons showed improved math scores. –Gordon Shaw, University of California, Irvine, March 1999 Neurological Research
Call out text: Early music education encourages abstract thinking, improves intellect, and helps develop the reasoning skills needed to learn math and science. –“The Effect of Early Music Training on Child Cognitive Development,” Sam Houston State University
Call out text: Exposure to music activities enhances cognitive processes involved in language and reasoning. –“Music Lessons Enhance IQ,” E. Glenn Schellenberg, University of Toronto at Mississauga
Call out text: Students with coursework and experience with musical performance scored an average of 51 points higher on the verbal portion of the SAT test and an average of 39 points higher on the math portion. –“Predicting Music Theory Grades: The Relative Efficiency of Academic Ability, Music Experience, and Musical Aptitude”, Carole S. Harrison, Journal of Research in Music Education
An historical perspective
Educators and psychologists from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present have attested to the value of music study on the development of the child. According to Jean Piaget (1896-1980), the noted Swiss psychologist, a child's early years are the optimum period for intellectual development. He believed that children and adults think in different ways. During the "pre-operational" learning stage (ages 2-7), children begin to think and react through symbols (language, drama, drawings and dreams). This stage is perfect for starting the process of learning music.
Jerome Bruner (b. 1915), an important American cognitive psychologist, believes that the foundations of any subject can be taught to anybody at any age. In his theories, he places great emphasis on teaching the structure of the subject. He developed a spiral curriculum where general principles are presented and applied to various learning situations in ever-increasing complexity. Learning should be structured to serve the future.
The study of music at a young age is supported by the humanist theories of Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) and leads to a fully realized, complete human, person (self-actualized). Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner (b. 1943) sets forth a theory that some children seem to "think musically" at a very young age. These children represent a small percentage of our society, but Gardner suggests that the numbers might increase if music were taught at a young age. Young children have the ability to understand music intuitively through performance and/or composition. In addition, they seem to have a genetic predisposition to hear, remember and produce musical patterns regardless of whether of not they are products of musical environments.