Making Music
The amazing benefits of musical experiences in the early years.
BY BONNIE LAXTON-BLINKHORN, KINDICARE
If you’ve ever stopped to watch a tot groove to Justin Bieber’s latest hit or sing along with the team from Playschool, you’ll have a sense of how instinctively children respond to music.
With none of the self-consciousness that restricts adults to singing in the shower, children will yodel, make musical instruments out of anything and drop a dance move whenever the feeling is right.
Grownups, both at home and in childcare, have an important role in encouraging this instinctive passion and musical confidence in children and we spoke to the founder of Musical Child, Carol Biddiss to learn more.
Carol says the early years are the perfect time to harness children’s openness and enthusiasm for music and the benefits of fun and age-appropriate experiences have a lasting impact.
Music supports a sense of identity and social organisation among children.
Carol says that musical experiences support children to develop a sense of their cultural identity and better understand social organisation.
“Music, movement and story have been used to facilitate social bonding across all the peoples of the world and anthropologists tell us this has been going on for all of human time1.”
Joint music-making develops a child’s sense of belonging to their group.
According to Carol musical education can also increase positive and helpful behaviour2, and she says respect for others can grow through a kind of ‘musical awareness’.
“When you offer a diverse selection of authentic music to children for repeated listening and singing, they gain respect for those cultures, sub-cultures and traditions.”
Music-making is one of the oldest and most effective ways of caring for, entertaining and educating children.
Carol says parents have been soothing, teaching and having fun with their children through music for tens of thousands of years3 and that this tool is still as relevant today as it ever was.
“Shared musical experiences in the home, and by extension in the childcare setting, create warm and joyful relationships because adults and children both enjoy themselves.4 Then later, children use music to regulate their own emotions often by making up songs.”
Enjoyable musical experiences encourage confidence, creativity, enthusiasm and imagination — the qualities of an involved learner.
Carol says songs carry information through their lyrics and are a springboard for exploring new ideas. By exposing children to a wide variety of tunes and melodies we can expand their horizons and support learning, not just in music but in a wide variety of subject areas.
Learning music makes it easier for children to learn language.
Music and language are both made of sound and Carol says that even though babies and young children may not understand the lyrics in a song they will still enjoy it and learn what speech sounds are important in their culture simply by hearing it played or sung to them.
“Music and language are, in effect, two sides of the same coin, except in the case of babies, where singing and talking are one and the same!”
Carol says providing children with plenty of opportunities to experience and experiment with music from a very young age is one of the best ways to support language development.
“This is because music provides rich input to the brain which naturally processes it to discriminate sounds, helped in a large part by rhythm. That skill is key to sounding out words and an essential tool for beginner readers.”
What musical experiences are best for young children?
The good news is you don’t have to be Mozart or Emma Memma to give your child a great musical experience, in fact you don’t need any musical qualifications at all!
The most important ingredients for music education at home are confidence and a willingness to help your child explore.
Carol says there are lots of easy ways to harness your child’s innate curiosity for music, these include:
- listening to lots of different sounds and music from many different countries and cultures.
- moving and dancing in time with music and mimicking each other.
- singing and making sounds with the voice and the body.
- playing with sound-makers including safe, fascinating, real and electronic musical instruments.
- improvising and playing with sound, with and without background music playing.
- helping babies and children express their musical preferences, by playing them more of what they like and letting them operate music players.
- providing quiet time for inner hearing and recognising feelings aroused by music
- using music to calm and soothe.
- supporting children to use music in their play.
- helping children with high interest in music and dance to put on ‘shows’ and performances for family and friends without adult pressure.
Carol says that currently, the main reason researchers study music is to discover what the benefits are on children’s development of speech and language. But, if Carol had her way, there would be way more focus on the ways music can help children form social bonds, moderate behaviour and bring about a sense of calm.
“When children take part in music-making, dancing or listening, they experience a sense of belonging inside a safe, secure and engaging group activity. They enjoy themselves and wondrously share feelings and emotions just as adults do at music festivals.”
And, remember, science and facts aside, one of the main reasons to spend time making music with your little person is that it will make you feel happy, and you know what they say, “if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands!”
1. Trehub SE, Becker J, Morley I. 2015 Philosophical Transactions. Royal Society. B 370: 20140096. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0096
2. Kirschner S, & Tomasello, M. (2010). Evolution and Human Behaviour, v.31, 354-364 (2010). 31. 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.04.004.
3. Mithen S.J. 2005 The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body. Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London.
4. Montgomery, Amanda P & Smith, Kathryn M. (2014).
