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What parent doesn’t want to raise their child’s IQ and give them every opportunity to learn from an early age? Well, music lessons are one proven way to do this! We at Kindermusik know that our music and movement programs provide many learning benefits to young children, especially in the areas of cognitive, language, physical, & social development. A new study from The University of Toronto helps us continue to prove the benefits of music to young children. The recently published research report provides solid evidence that music lessons can improve a young child’s IQ and intellectual development. The study was conducted on a group of 6 year old children who were assigned to participate in music lessons, drama lessons, or no lessons. Since the researchers found solid evidence supporting that music lessons enhance a child’s IQ, the report was chosen to be published in the August issue of Psychological Science.

As the report shares:

The participating children were given IQ tests before and after the lessons. The results of this study revealed that increases in IQ from pre- to post-test were larger in the music groups than in the two others. Generally these increases occurred across IQ subtests, index scores, and academic achievement.

The study also mentions that drama lessons provided improvement to the area of adaptive social behavior, which was not seen with the music lessons. But, this study looked only at standard keyboard and vocal lessons. The classroom-like setting for a Kindermusik music class provides social benefits and helps prepare young children for school and other social situations. So, it looks like a Kindermusik class has got it all! Led by our skilled educators, Kindermusik’s research-based and research-proven programs will enhance a young child’s development and instill a lifelong love of music.

View a PDF of the full research report.

One of the best things music brings to a child is a good beginning. At Kindermusik, we believe this so strongly that we chose as our tagline “a good beginning never ends”. Nothing is more important to us than early childhood education and the benefits of music to early childhood development.

At Kindermusik, we’re always looking for ways to make children’s lives better and do what we can to get children off to a great start. This led to our Good Beginnings Grant Program. If you haven’t heard us talking about it yet, the Good Beginnings grant program allows anyone (individuals, small organizations, schools, foundations, Kindermusik educators, etc.) to apply for a $1,000 grant for any project that will help children. We awarded five total Good Beginnings grants and opened the projects to the public for voting. The response was overwhelming. We had over half a million votes cast in the space of just over one month! It was nice to see how many others believe in a good beginning too!

We are happy to share a video from one of the Kindermusik community’s Good Beginnings grant winners, Camille Empey. This Kindermusik grant was able to make a difference by helping the Sojourner Elementary School improve their early childhood education Spanish program. With this grant, the school was able to purchase Latin instruments and the first level of an early Spanish curriculum that uses music and movement for young children to learn!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qfnc4DBuDo&w=480&h=360[/youtube]

This post originally appeared on the blog for Studio 3 Music in Seattle, WA.

Did you know that your child will learn best when his brain is happy? Each person has a unique brain that functions most effectively under specific circumstances. In my last blog, I talked about how Julie Anderson’s book explains that the brain has learning preferences.

Some brains prefer to take in information through the eyes (visual learners), some through the ears (auditory learners), others through the senses (kinesthetic learners). Extroversion and Introversion, according to Julie Anderson, is not about whether a child is outgoing or not. These terms describe how much stimulation a child’s brain needs for optimal brain function.

Does the child’s brain needs a lot (extroversion) or a little (introversion) stimulation in order to be happiest? An extroverted child is described as having a “sleepy brain.” This child requires outside stimulation to keep synapses firing. He or she will seek out such stimulation, often by gravitating toward social situations. People cause a lot of stimulating sounds, sights and action! An extroverted child need not be the life of the party. But the extroverted child chooses to be at the party and gains energy from it. Also, extroverts may gravitate towards higher risk sports than introverts because of the stimulation of competition and/or team play. Extroverted babies often take shorter naps. They want to be held, played with and entertained.

An introverted child has a brain that is naturally self-stimulating. Their brains are active so introverts can be overwhelmed with too much external stimuli. They may have less tolerance for, or even avoid, places with a lot of noise, people or activity. Introverts often prefer to work or play in quiet places. They may choose more low stimulation competitive activities like chess, versus football. Introverted babies don’t like to be held a lot. They prefer quieter home life. When exposed to noisy places for too long, they become more agitated.

Julie explains that on a scale with extreme extroversion on one end and extreme introversion on the other, the extreme extrovert would like to be stimulated 12-14 hours of his or her awake time. The extreme introvert, on the other hand, would naturally be happy to be alone 12-14 hours of the same day. The child who is equally extroverted and introverted, called an ambivert, is one whose brain is happiest with equal amounts of alone time and stimulation time.

Julie’s book helped me understand the brain science of extroversion and introversion. My brain happens to be a sleepy one. Now I know why my favorite study spot was not the library, but the cafeteria! And in this phase of life, the busy coffee shop is my favorite, productive work space.

My husband, on the other hand, has a self-stimulating brain. His favorite study spot in college was the quietest place he could find. Now I understand why he loves to spend hours outside in the quiet of nature. The peaceful environment allows his fertile brain, whose synapses are constantly firing with his own thinking, to be the most productive and happy. Many artists, writers and other creative people, including my husband, are introverts.

Special thanks to Studio 3 Music for allowing us to share this great post from the Studio 3 Music blog. Studio 3 Music in Seattle, Washington, the world’s largest Kindermusik program.