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This year we celebrate a significant milestone:  30 years of Music in Our Schools month. Thirty years ago music in schools meant recorders and “Hot Cross Buns.” Now, it still means recorders and “Hot Cross Buns,” but it also means English Language Arts, Math Class, Social Studies, and more. Here’s why we should be celebrating Music in Our Schools today… and 300 years from now!

10 Ways Music Plays at School

Music & Math Class. Music teaches young children foundational math skills, including geometry, pattern recognition, and numbers. Watch these children read and repeat various music patterns.

Music & Social Studies. Music teaches children about other cultures through songs and dances. Long before people could read or write, the culture of a nation or people was passed down through song. That tradition continues in the drum circles of the Native Americans, the Shakuhachi flutes of Japan, or an Irish jig. …

Music & Creativity & STEM. Music provides children a creative way to express their thoughts, ideas, and emotions. That creativity spills over into STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) classes as well, where young children are also encouraged to explore, question, and create solutions.

Why STEM should be changed to STEAM

Music & English Language Arts. Music supports phonological awareness needed in English Language Arts. In fact, our brains process language and music in similar ways. For example, understanding the spoken language requires a child to hear (and identify!) the individual phonemes combined with the intonation communicated through pitch. With music, a child must hear the individual notes along with their rhythmic value.

Music & Group Work. Singing together lowers stress and relieves anxiety. Plus, children gain practice working together to create something beautiful. Play along with this song…and try NOT to smile.

Music & Transitions. Musical cues teach children how to easily transition from one activity to another. Young children can struggle with transitioning from one activity to another as they also experience rapid—and turbulent—emotional development. Singing a song to signal the end of one activity and the start of another helps children navigate those feelings and learn how to move on to something else.

Music & Recess. A classroom dance party gets young children up and moving around on those days when it is too cold or wet to play outside for recess. Getting out those wiggles can help children be ready for whatever is next in the lesson. A quick song of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” or the “Hokey Pokey” can bring lots of giggles to the classroom, too!

Music & Language Development. Songs and rhymes teach children the rhythm of language, its construction, and its acquisition.  Singing songs and saying rhymes give children practice with words and sounds that not only help children learn to speak clearly, but also effectively, by teaching the vital skills of communication and conversation.

Music & Memory. Children who learn through movement show a marked improvement in memory.  That’s because movement wakes up the brain and gets it primed for learning.  But music can also aid memorization of facts… like learning U.S. states and capitols later on in elementary school.

Music & English Language Learners. When English Language Leaners clap their hands to the beat of English nursery rhymes or songs, they practice active listening and pattern recognition. Research shows that students who are better at recognizing patterns in language learn another language more quickly than those who do not.  Here’s an example of how clapping, tapping, and playing along with a music video from our Kindermusik @Home Materials gives fun practice with recognizing patterns.

“Music in our Schools Month” is the perfect platform for the message to resonate – music matters!  And here at Kindermusik, we believe that music can change our world, one child and one family at a time.

Do you want to bring more music into your school? Learn how. http://www.kindermusik.com/schools/

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.