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Recognizing Pitch = Positive Effects on Early Language Development

Music Benefits Early Childhood Development

At Kindermusik, we know music has positive effects on early childhood development and language acquisition. And when there’s new research to prove it, we get more excited!

Language Development in Children

New research, reported this week in Science Daily suggests that babies who are able to recognize pitch could also detect language rules, even better than adults. Scientists found that “when it comes to extracting complex rules from spoken language, a three-month-old outperforms adult learners”.

By monitoring babies’ brain responses, scientists were able to determine that infants detected discrepancies with language rules just by hearing changes in syllables or pitch.

“These findings not only help understand how children manage to learn language so quickly during early development, but also point to a strong link between very basic auditory skills and sophisticated rule learning abilities.”

So, next time you’re at Kindermusik class with your little one, think about all the different changes in pitch and tone your child is exposed to – this is actively supporting your child’s language development skills.

Not yet enrolled in Kindermusik? Explore the joy of learning and
Try a FREE Preview Class.

A Little Bit of Music Goes a Long Way!

Music Benefits the Brain — Source: blogs.scientificamerican.com

We know music has many benefits, especially for the way kids learn and how a child’s brain develops. So we get excited about supportive research like this study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience:

Even A Few Years Of Music Training Benefits The Brain.

A team of researchers at Northwestern University, including the well-known Nina Kraus, share findings on the benefits of early childhood music education.

“…Childhood music instruction has strong linguistic benefits and improves performance on everyday listening tasks. Since we live in an inherently noisy world, the better we are at focusing on sound and perceiving different sounds, the better. This can be particularly important for children with learning disorders or those for whom English is a second language.”

Through this study and other research, here are some known benefits of music training:

Improves hearing

Bolsters brain function

Strengthens reading skills

Increases math abilities

Improves social development

Helps people become better team players

Supports self-esteem

Our mission at Kindermusik, to instill a lifelong love of music and a foundation for learning in children, completely aligns with this research. We are especially thrilled about the quote from Nina Kraus, supporting the concept that even little exposure to music as can go a long way…

“Based on what we already know about the ways that music helps shape the brain, the study suggests that short-term music lessons may enhance lifelong listening and learning,” said Kraus.

We encourage you to share your love for music & extend the benefits of music to others. Please invite your friends and family to Try a Free Kindermusik Class!

Kindermusik and Your Child: Social-Emotional Development

Making friends.
Sharing.
Learning how to express frustration appropriately.
Figuring out conflicts peacefully.
Helping someone who has been hurt.
Waiting patiently.
Following rules.
Enjoying the company of others.
Internal motivation to succeed.

All of these qualities (and more!) describe what we all wish to see as parents is the healthy social development of our children. Like any skill, young children develop these abilities in small steps over time, and they learn them from you, their first social connection and teacher. On the whole, young children who spend time singing, playing, and moving with other children are better prepared to be confident and self-aware, build positive relationships with peers, and get the best out of the learning environments and opportunities that life will bring them…just one of the many reasons that Kindermusik is so much more than music!

The Kindermusik classroom is the perfect place for your child to practice and develop social skills. Our activities help children learn to work with, understand, and enjoy others, while teaching parents to model activities that include social interaction and the joy of learning. At every level from Birth – 7, Kindermusik curricula are written to support the development of your child’s social & emotional skills with age-appropriate, challenging activities.

In fact, studies show that music and movement experiences in a group setting impact all seven areas of social-emotional development* identified by researchers. Those seven areas are:

Confidence
Curiosity
Intentionality
Self-control
Relatedness
Capacity to communicate
Cooperativeness

*Click to read more FABULOUS Research on the 7 Social Competencies and Kindermusik by Heidi Bennett.

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

FOL Fridays: The Joy of Music

Music is unique to humans, and as basic as language to human development and existence. It is through music that a child gains insight into herself, into others, and into life itself. Perhaps most importantly, music is part of what enables a child to better develop and sustain her creativity and imagination. Because a day does not pass without hearing or participating in some kind of music, it is to a child’s advantage to understand music as thoroughly as she can.

As a result, she will learn to appreciate, listen to, and partake in music all the rest of her life (adapted from Gordon, 1990).

Ideas for parents:

It can be very simple to surround your child with music – the greater the variety, the better!

Singing simple songs together can get the morning off to a great start.
Child-safe instruments and some recorded music can provide happy times of self-entertainment or together time.
Quiet, soothing music before naps and bedtime establishes a wonderfully reassuring sleep time routine.
A dance around the kitchen can soothe the supper-time “fussies.”
A cuddle and a lullaby at the end of the day adds the sweetest and happiest of memorable moments.

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

A Minds on Music Quote

"Where words fail, music speaks." ~Hans Christian Andersen

Playing for Change: Peace through Music

The below video is taken from the award-winning documentary: “Playing for Change: Peace through Music.” The documentary has turned into a movement and the movement has created a foundation to change the world and make a positive influence through music and arts education.

The documentary itself focuses on a film crew that traveled the world for 4 years, filming musicians from across the globe and creating song composites of their music. Here is the Playing for Change [PFC] band with their rendition of the Ben E. King classic, “Stand by Me” because, as the video acknowledges,

“This song says…No matter who you are, no matter where you go in your life, at some point you gonna need somebody to stand by you.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM&w=480&h=360[/youtube]

Find out more about the international music and locations featured in the Playing for Change videos by clicking on the map below:

Join the movement to help inspire people from around the world to come together through music. Find out more on their Web site and YouTube channel. You have the Kindermusik satisfaction guarantee that you will not regret subscribing to this channel!

Most importantly, if you are an appreciator of music and arts education and understand the importance of it to children across the globe, please take the time to find out more about the Playing for Change Foundation and its work. Click on the image below to visit the Web site to learn more and donate:

Playing for Change Music Education Foundation

A Minds on Music Quote

“The fact that children make beautiful music is less significant than the fact that music makes children beautiful.”–Cheryl Lavendar

Kindermusik and Your Child: Making Music Together

When creating music together with others in an ensemble setting, children and adults alike have a better opportunity to experience music with “greater harmonic color, musical depth, variety of sound, and rhythmic complexities” than if they only played alone. Ensemble opportunities like the ones found in Kindermusik class also “stimulate and challenge” self-confidence, imagination, creativity, self-expression, and musical understanding. (Leung 2006)

Before you know it, your child will likely want to participate in a team sport, play in a band or orchestra, or sing in a choir. In class we help introduce you and your child to the opportunity to develop and practice the skills that are required to perform in an ensemble, such as:

strong self-control – stopping on cue

distinguishing between sounds

listening for an appropriate entrance on cue

timing the participation on cue

matching the steady-beat play with an outside sound source, and

playing with others on cue

These skills of timing, coordination, and group participation are also essential characteristics for success in sports. Kindermusik is truly so much MORE than just music!

Making Music Together

Making music together is what music is all about! When children learn to contribute their part to a beautiful whole, they have benefited from one of the most important advantages of group instruction. Music becomes even more exciting when children begin to develop a growing awareness of themselves within the context of the group.

For example, in Kindermusik classes, when an Our Time age child moves up to Imagine That, he/she will be both the leader and the follower in ensemble and will have the opportunity to learn all of the basic skills necessary for ensemble participation in Young Child when they enter Kindergarten. This is a truly amazing musical journey, made possible in the early years by the quality time, and fun, productive, musical play in which you engage your child in and out of class.

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

Kindermusik Director of Education Featured in USA Today’s “Guide to Kids’ Health”

Carol Penney, Kindermusik International‘s Director of Education and Kindermusik educator for 30 years is featured this week in the USA Today "Guide to Kids’ Health" Summer 2012 issue in the article, "Music & Learning in Perfect Harmony" by Mara Gorman.

Download the full article here.

The article talks about why we should teach our children to love music and why playing music now means a higher GPA later. This is something we at Kindermusik have been known for 30+ years, prior to 2003 and Rauscher’s research on the effects of piano, rhythm, and singing instruction on the spatial reasoning of at-risk children or the first evidence supporting the benefits of music on overall cognitive development in young children, released only six years ago in 2006. This issue is near and dear to our hearts, being that our mission is to bring learning through music to children across the world, and is especially important as schools continue to cut back on arts & music program, leaving a hole in education that parents must fill. We wanted to share a recap of the article, along with some of our favorite quotes and features to bring attention to why music is one of the best learning methods for child development.

The article begins with a question:

"What if someone told you that from the moment your child was born, you could do something to improve her self-esteem, confidence, social skills, eye-hand coordination, and eventually her grade point average? Of course, you would sign up, maybe even if it meant extensive training or expense."

As a parent, we all want to do what’s best for our children. As we at Kindermusik have known and the theme echoed throughout the piece: early and meaningful exposure to music in a family’s life is one of the best gifts we can give our children! As we discuss on this music education blog, early music exposure for children has infinite benefits. Kindermusik classes primarily focus on early childhood development – for children age newborn to seven. As research has shown, the earlier we begin to share music with children, the better:

"Children are never too young to start experiencing music. In fact, the most fertile time for music learning is between birth and 5 years old."

This guide also points out that being musically inclined is not a requirement to be able to incorporate music into your child’s life. As parents, we can bang on pots & pans to a steady beat, play our favorite lullabies at bedtime or radio station for a dance party, have a good ol’ fashioned family jam session with homemade instruments, or try a Kindermusik class together! All of these things will set your child on the right path to early learning. The article suggests finding music classes in your area through programs like Kindermusik, citing the benefits of music. In class, we use instrument play, repetition, special songs for every day chores, soothing rituals, audiation, sign language, books, and more foundations of learning through music to give children the tools they need to develop cognitive, physical, and social skills.

"Music makes a great teaching tool. “Everyone knows their ABC’s because of the melody,” says Carol Penney, director of education for Kindermusik, a music education program. ”Traditional children’s songs are perfect learning devices for turning sounds into words and words into creative thoughts.”’

Here are some additional fun "Did you know?" moments from the article:

Children who engage in musical activities from infancy end up with stronger literacy, language, and math skills. They also typically have higher SAT scores and are more likely to graduate from college.
Studies show that early and consistent exposure to music improves children’s academic performance. The explanation lies in music’s ability to affect brain
development.
“Music education actually rewires the brain in the same area where you develop math, language, and spatial reasoning skills.” ~ Jill Todd, president, Music Intelligence Project
Kindermusik classes use percussion instruments like the Japanese den-den drum, seen here, to encourage rhythm and movement.
The top instruments for young children are: 1) Voice. 2) Percussion and 3) Keyboard. Many kids start lessons at 7 or 8, so look into a music education program if you think your child is ready for daily practice.

*All quotes in this post from Mara Gorman’s article in the USA Today Guide to Kid’s Health, Summer 2012 issue.

Order the USA Today Guide to Kid’s Health here!