brain development Archives - Minds On Music

How Music Teaches Kids to Self-Regulate

Kindermusik | How to Calm an Upset Child with Music

He’s so whiny. She’s a hitter. He cries non-stop. She can’t stop talking…if this sounds like your child(ren), they’re not wild—they need help learning how to self-regulate.

When grownups are overstimulated or don’t get their way, we (usually) use tools like taking a deep breath or a walk to make sure we don’t lose it. When we self-regulate, we balance our nervous systems. That helps us access our prefrontal cortex, where logic lives.

When it comes to self-regulation in children, they’ve got two things working against them:

1) They aren’t born with the tools to regulate their nervous systems, and

2) Their prefrontal cortex isn’t fully formed, so they need extra help to reach and dissect that logic.

Enter music!

Continue reading “How Music Teaches Kids to Self-Regulate”

In Your Right Brain: The Mind’s Response to Music

The brain is a mysterious organ. It is responsible for all the functions of the body, processes pain, yet has no pain receptors of its own. It’s 73% water and produces enough energy to light a small LED bulb. An infant’s brain is constantly growing but is already about 80% of the size it will reach in adulthood. If you had a piece of your own brain the size of a grain of sand in your palm, it would contain over 100,000 neurons (the cell type that transmits information) and over 1 billion synapses (the junction between neurons). There is much we don’t know about the brain, but after decades of high-level research, we have learned a great deal.

Continue reading “In Your Right Brain: The Mind’s Response to Music”

Big Brains! Music Feeds Brain Development

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Science tells us what we, as music educators, already know: music is good for brain development. We constantly see study after study that verifies what we see on a daily basis in the young musicians with whom we interact. Recently, a study at the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute indicated that early exposure to musical instruction increases the development of the brain in children below the age of seven. The study reenforced the connection of music and stronger math, language, and reading skills. And we also know that when you make music with another person, you are more likely to empathize with them.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]This study began in 2012 and over the course of the past 5 years, the researchers followed the progress of 3 groups of students, all six to seven years of age at the study’s outset. Dr. Assal Habibi explains:

We started the study when one group of children were about to begin music training through the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles program. This free community-based music program was inspired by El Sistema, a music program that was started in Venezuela and proved to be “tranformative” in changing the lives of underprivileged children.

The second group of children were about to begin a sports training program with a community-based soccer program. They were not engaged in music training.

A third group of children were from public schools and community centers in the same areas of Los Angeles. All three groups of children were from equally underprivileged and ethnic minority communities of Los Angeles.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

So What Happened?

The researchers constantly checked in with all students in the study, measuring different points of brain development. The findings have been promising, and indicate that musical instruction during early childhood can have a positive impact on how quickly the young mind develops and acquires new skills. Sound processing, as you might imagine, is a big part of music, but also language acquisition. Dr. Habibi expands…

Children in the music group…had stronger brain response to differences in pitch compared to the children in the other groups. We also observed that musically trained children had faster development of the brain pathway responsible for encoding and processing sound.

This finding supports previous findings and highlights music’s important benefits particularly in the development of language and reading.

Check out this TEDxYouth Talk at Caltech on music and the brain by Dr. Beatriz Ilari. Dr. Ilari is a music education professor at USC.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLQbqXJF-2M”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Life Long Benefits

As it turns out – these benefits can last a lifetime. Musical experiences like Kindermusik, can increase brain capacity and the level of active connection between different areas of the brain. So much of brain development occurs in the first seven years of life; these are the years that music can have an incredibly positive impact on the process and well beyond.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]So get involved! Check out a class near you and see how our award-winning curriculum can enrich the life of your child…and you. Our classes involve music, movement, and lots of fun. We help your kids develop big brains![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][class_finder_form css=”.vc_custom_1479179928634{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

How Music Class Helps Parents Nurture a Child’s Development

Turns out that nature does need a little nurturing after all, especially when it comes to the development of the brain. The “Philadelphia study,” as it’s been called, was the first to establish a clear connection between childhood experience and how the brain develops.

Despite coming prewired with mind-boggling capacities, the brain depends heavily on environmental input to wire itself further. Scientists are now discovering precisely how that development is molded by the interplay between nature and nurture.

In the early years, much of the “environmental input” that’s so critical for brain development is directly facilitated by a child’s parents and the kind of interactions and experiences they provide for a child. That’s why Kindermusik has always asserted that parents are a child’s first, and best, teacher. One of the best kinds of early experiences a parent can provide is in a music class, especially one that offers a rich, multi-sensory and developmentally appropriate experience, supported by Home Materials that take the joy, learning, and bonding into the home and throughout the week in between classes.

Five ways a music class like Kindermusik helps parents nurture a child’s development

A music class gives parents the time and inspiration for the kind of one-on-one attention and nurturing that can result in higher IQs.
A music class helps parents give their child an opportunity for social development in a warm and welcoming environment.
A music class strengthens emotional bonds through lots of cuddling, dancing, loving touch, and playful connection.
A music class encourages language development through singing, rhyming, vocal play, and conversation.
A music class supplies parents with ideas and resources for play and together time at home.

The more scientists find out about how children acquire the capacity for language, numbers, and emotional understanding during this period, the more they realize that the baby brain is an incredible learning machine. Its future—to a great extent—is in our hands.

Find a local Kindermusik class and experience firsthand how music classes can support your parenting and your child’s development.

*Quotes taken from this National Geographic article.

5 Reasons Why Music Classes are Good for Babies' Brains

Every activity that your baby participates in contributes to his or her brain development, but the quality, variety, and nature of the activity shape the way neural circuits are designed. Every experience stimulates certain neural circuits and leaves others idle. Those that are consistently activated over time will be strengthened, while those that frequently left idle may be discarded. (adapted from zerotothree.org)

That’s why… The combination of a weekly Kindermusik class and utilizing the music and resources in your Kindermusik @Home Materials are so powerful. Repetition strengthens the brain!

“…[O]ver time, the brain reacts to routine stimulus by lowering levels of stimulation. Anything new causes the body to release adrenaline, and adrenaline acts a memory fixative. According to Arnold Scheibel, Director of the Brain Research Institute as UCLA, ‘Unfamiliar activities are the brain’s best friend.’” (from Smart Start!: Building Brain Power in the Early Years, by Pam Schiller)

That’s why… Kindermusik classes regularly include a mix of new and repeated activities.

Holding your little one in a variety of positions and moving him or her in different ways allows him/her to experience a variety of perspectives, which stimulates brain development.

That’s why… Your Kindermusik educator will give you lots of ideas for safe and enjoyable ways to move your baby, and your Kindermusik @Home Materials will give you a variety of music to move to at home.

Environments enriched with music and movement allow brain cells and neuropathways to be strengthened and expanded. With more interconnections, the brain learns and remembers more effectively.

That’s why… Kindermusik, with the way it so effectively combines music and movement, is such a powerful way to stimulate learning and brain development.

Your baby must be emotionally involved in an activity to learn. Incoming sensory stimulation is processed first through the brain’s non-rational, non-conscious limbic system, the seat of emotion, and only then goes to the neocortex, or rational brain.

That’s why… Your Kindermusik classes will give you lots of opportunities to connect and bond with your baby at deep and lasting emotional levels.

– Compiled and written by Theresa Case, who has an award-winning Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios in Greenville, SC

FOL Fridays: How Repetition Strengthens the Brain

“Repetition continues to be important in the development of language and movement, as it is repeated experiences that reinforce the pathways of the brain. By two years of age, a toddler’s cerebral cortex contains well over a hundred trillion synapses, which is actually some fifty percent more synapses than she will keep as an adult. While new synapses form rapidly during this time frame, a ‘pruning’ process is also taking place. This process strengthens frequently used pathways, while deleting those that are not used. As pruning continues, it will allow your child to process thoughts and actions more quickly and efficiently” (zerotothree.org. 1998-2001)

Tips for parents:

You can incorporate more repetition in your child’s life in some fairly simple ways. One way is to set aside time each day for reading his or her favorite books together. You’ll probably read his favorites repeatedly! Another way to foster more repetition is to make full use of your Kindermusik home materials, enjoying the music and activities together regularly.

Try a few Kindermusik@Home activities for free today!

– Contributed by Theresa Case, whose Greenville, SC program, Kindermusik at Piano Central Studios, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.

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.