Minds On Music – The Kindermusik Blog

Researchers continue to find more and more connections between music training and cognitive function. In a recent study, scientists determined that music training in the early years prevented the decline of speech listening comprehension, or speech recognition, in the later years of life.

What may seem like a hearing problem in older adults may actually be a decline in the brain’s ability to parse, sequence, and identify sounds. However, the Bidelman study found that older adults who had at least 10 years of musical training as children did not experience the same declines as older adults who had not had musical training.

“The latest findings add to mounting evidence that musical training not only gives young developing brains a cognitive boost, but those neural enhancements extend across the lifespan into old age when the brain needs it most to counteract cognitive decline.”

We couldn’t agree more. In Kindermusik, we start musical “training” with children as young as newborns and continue through age 7, after which Kindermusik graduates are more than ready and excited to take the next step into success with traditional music lessons. Our early childhood music training in Kindermusik takes the form of happy singing, creative movement, listening, instrument play and exploration, and fun activities that teach foundational music concepts and skills.

You wouldn’t dream of letting your child ride a bike unprotected and without a helmet. So don’t forget another kind of protection… the lifelong protection of your child’s cognitive functioning that can come from music training, especially in the early years.  We promise, they won’t fuss about putting on their music “helmet,” especially not with Kindermusik!

3 Favorite Musical Activities that Support Cognitive Development

Focused Listening

Whenever your child’s attention is focused in on one sound, he or she learns to compare the differences between sounds and how they are produced. And unlike the physical act of hearing, listening is an intellectual and emotional process that involves listening “between the lines” to understand what is NOT said as well as what IS said.  What better time to get started listening to music than at the very youngest ages, during those critical early years when the brain is developing the most rapidly!

Movement

Movement is the key to learning! A young child’s brain NEEDS movement in order to develop fully. Crawling, rolling, walking, skipping, swinging, jumping… When you observe and encourage your child to move in lots of different ways, you are helping to ensure your child’s healthy brain development. That’s because our brains fully develop through all kinds of movement activities – the more variety, the better the capacity for learning.

Instrument Exploration & Play

Exploring instruments may seem like just fun and games, but it is actually a very crucial part of early learning. For example, when children are given an egg shaker to explore, they will likely use several of the five senses because the senses are their basis of discovery. This kind of sensory learning develops long-lasting cognitive skills… AND if you add in an egg shaker play-along, also develops a wonderful sense of rhythm and steady beat!

Learn more about more of the wonderful benefits of early music training. 

Contributed by Theresa Case whose award-winning Kindermusik program is located at Piano Central Studios in beautiful upstate South Carolina.

Take a look at this video.  What do you see?

If you answered, “a room full of children and adults ‘driving’ around with hula hoops,” you would be right. But, if you said an early childhood music and movement activity teaching spatial awareness you would also be right! Children are using their whole bodies—and the whole room—to learn a vital math skill, the skill of spatial awareness. (Although they think they are just having fun driving around!)

So what is spatial awareness and why does it matter?

Spatial awareness is the knowledge of where you are in relationship to other people and objects in your environment.  To develop spatial awareness, children must be introduced to concepts such as direction, distance and location.

Studies have found a link between a well-developed sense of spatial awareness and artistic creativity, success in math, and the development of abstract thought.  But it’s that music-movement-math connection that many scientists and researchers are really starting to explore.

As highlighted in this study by Florian Krause at Radford University, there is a vital connection between the body and the brain.  This provides educators and parents with a powerful tool for helping children learn by giving them opportunities to make a connection from experiencing to understanding.

For over 30 years now, Kindermusik educators have been helping children jumpstart their growth and learning through the compelling combination of music and movement.  The research confirms… it simply adds up!

Learn more about using music and movement to support a young child’s early math development at http://www.kindermusik.com/about/benefits-of-music-for-children/.

Anyone around young children long enough soon realizes that a bulk of the time is spent getting them ready for something….ready for bed, ready for preschool, ready for a playdate/library/park, ready for bath, etc. But getting children ready for Kindergarten means more than just making sure they have everything on the school supply list. So what can early childhood educators and families do now to make sure kids are ready for one of the first major transitions in their lives?

You can find the solution in a music class!  Educators (and researchers!) agree that young children who start Kindergarten equipped with certain skills from day one tend to excel. When young children are actively engaged in music making with a group, they are also learning foundational school readiness skills. In fact, here at Kindermusik we call early childhood music and movement classes the ultimate playlist for school readiness.  Here are just a few of the reasons why we can make that claim.

Self-regulation – This vital skill has to do with the ability to control one’s own behavior, emotions, thoughts, and impulses.

Children who are given lots of practice with moving – and then stopping and re-starting their movement – are learning to control their bodies which in turn, leads to learning to control behavior and emotions.

Watch this delightful stop-and-go dance from the Kindermusik classroom at Kindermusik of Cleveland.

Listening – Not just hearing, but listening is a skill that must be learned and includes the ability to focus, discern, and distinguish sounds and meaning.

Children learn to listen, an intentional act, over time with lots of practice. In Kindermusik, we include Focused Listening (or active listening) in nearly every class.

Enjoy a little listening practice with this free Kindermusik Listening Game.

Social-Emotional Skills – These include the ability to share, take turns, be a helper, make friends, and wait patiently, just to name a few.

This list could describe much of what goes on in a group music class where we share instruments, wait for our turn to share an idea, help clean up our instruments, or make room on the Story Blanket for our classmate.

Watch what happens as this Kindermusik educator conducts an instrument demonstration of the slide whistle.

Early Literacy Skills – Early literacy depends greatly on phonological awareness, auditory discrimination, auditory sequencing, and vocabulary development.

A music class is a rich sound environment that develops the listening skills and vocabulary skills so critical to literacy success.

Listen for all of the descriptive vocabulary words that are used in this Kindermusik video from Kathy’s Music.

Early Math Skills – Success with math begins with developing an understanding of concepts like spatial awareness, counting by rote, and pattern recognition.

It might be surprising to discover all of the different ways that these concepts are explored and practiced in an early childhood music and movement class through hoop play, songs and finger plays, and all kinds of dances.

Watch how these children in Catherine Huang’s Kindermusik class are developing spatial awareness as they explore many different ways to play with the hoops.

Want to see for yourself how to use music to teach vital school readiness skills? Try these five musical learning activities with the children in your life. Or, learn more at www.kindermusik.com/schools and request a free demonstration at your school.