BENEFITS OF EARLY
CHILDHOOD MUSIC EDUCATION
.png)
Language and Speech:
-
Repetition of songs and lyrics help children become familiar with sounds and words.
-
Children are learning by repetition at this age, and it is especially helpful hearing words and songs from their caregivers.
-
Being surrounded by music helps children practice their listening and processing skills
-
There are two areas of the brain that are engaged when singing- “Broca’s area”, which is connected to the production of speech, and “Wernick’s area”, associated with the processing of speech.
Trollinger, V. L. 2010. The brain in singing and language. General Music Today, 23(2), 20-23
Neural Activity Growth:
-
During infancy and toddlerhood, children have more neurons than any other phase of their life. However, unused neurons are weakened and eventually lost. It is shown that young children who are in some form of music education have their neural networks developed and strengthened. Introducing children to music early is crucial for strengthening these music development neural pathways before they are diminished.
Fox, S. E., Levitt, P. & Nelson, C. A. (2010). How the timing and quality of early experiences influence the development of brain architecture. Child Development, 81(1), 28-40; National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2010). Early Experiences Can Alter Gene Expression and Affect Long-term Development: Working Paper No. 10. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu.
Fine and Gross Motor Skills:
-
Exploring our instruments, such as our egg shakers and music sticks, help young children practice their fine motor skills and pinscer grapes.
-
Our hand and body movement and dances during songs improves childrens’ gross motor skills,
Cognition:
-
Songs in our programs introduce children to counting and early math skills
-
This study (https://theconversation.com/jamming-with-your-toddler-how-music-trumps-reading-for-childhood-development-49660) showed informal music music making (exploring instruments and singing with a caregiver) made more improvement in social behaviour, attention and numeracy when compared to reading together
-
There is a correlation between how well children understand and produce rhythm, and their reading abilities