Lessons for a Lifetime

Authored by Kindermusik educator Aimee Carter as originally posted on her blog, More Than A Children’s Music Class.  Aimee is the director of Delightful Sounds, a Kindermusik program in Brandon, Florida.

It’s spring time, and in most households that will  include some “spring cleaning”. At my house, my children have been sorting through their toys and removing the items that they have outgrown or no longer enjoy. I’m guessing that you’ve been there at some point too. I have often said that Kindermusik classes are a gift that will last a lifetime for your children. My children loved their years in my Kindermusik classroom, and I can still see its effects today.
 
Recently, I read an article discussing the life-long effects of music study. In this study, 70 healthy adults age 60 to 83 were divided into groups based on their levels of musical experience. They found that the musicians had better performance scores on several cognitive tests than the adults who had never studied an instrument or learned how to read music. “Based on previous research and our study results, we believe that both the years of musical participation and the age of acquisition are critical,” Hanna-Pladdy says. “There are crucial periods in brain plasticity that enhance learning, which may make it easier to learn a musical instrument before a certain age and thus may have a larger impact on brain development.”

So as you are considering what activities to do this summer, I hope you’ll choose the gift of music. It’s benefits last a lifetime! 

Editor’s note: If you are looking for Summer Kindermusik classes in your area, click here to access the Kindermusik Class Locator.

A lifetime of benefits

The musical experiences your child enjoys in the early years can provide a lifetime of benefits.  At Kindermusik, we see this every day. And our numerous research studies have proven the results as well. We’ve found that a child who stays enrolled in Kindermusik classes is highly likely to exhibit growth in some or even all of the following areas:

perseverance
confidence
responsibility
identity and self-esteem
discipline
love of music and art
culture
identification of talents
using time wisely
teamwork
following directions
intellectual and social development
precision and motor control
overcoming fears in public speaking and shyness
commitment to excellence
creativity and self-expression

Want to find a Kindermusik program near you? Visit our  Class Finder, or come try a free preview class.  You’ll be glad you did!

Music . . . as Good as Laughing!

Cardiovascular Benefits Of Music Similar To Those Found In Laughter

Link to article in Medical News Today

Listening to your favorite music may be good for your cardiovascular system. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have shown for the first time that the emotions aroused by joyful music have a healthy effect on blood vessel function.

Music, selected by study participants because it made them feel good and brought them a sense of joy, caused tissue in the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate (or expand) in order to increase blood flow.

This healthy response matches what the same researchers found in a 2005 study of laughter. On the other hand, when study volunteers listened to music they perceived as stressful, their blood vessels narrowed, producing a potentially unhealthy response that reduces blood flow. The results of the study, conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center, were presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, on November 11, 2008, in New Orleans.

“We had previously demonstrated that positive emotions, such as laughter, were good for vascular health. So, a logical question was whether other emotions, such as those evoked by music, have a similar effect,” says principal investigator Michael Miller, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “We knew that individual people would react differently to different types of music, so in this study, we enabled participants to select music based upon their likes and dislikes.”

Click here to read the rest of the article

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Dr. Miller’s funding sources include the American Heart Association, Veterans Administration and the National Institutes of Health. “Positive Emotions and the Endothelium: Does Joyful Music Improve Vascular Health?” Miller M, Beach V, Mangano C, Vogel RA. Oral Presentation. American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, 11/11/2008.

Source: Bill Seiler University of Maryland Medical Center

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