Music Lessons for Brain Development in Young Children

Music is loved by people from all cultures and young children naturally love music. But it does not mean that all children who love music will grow up to be prodigies but as parents there is a lot we can do to stimulate different areas of the child's brain through music.

Research says

There is evidence that a child can respond to sound and music inside a mother's womb. Trillions of nerve cells are sprouting every day in an unborn child's brain. After birth, the child's brain is still not completely developed. The early years in a child's life are a period of incredible development.

It has been discovered that music training can significantly improve brain development in young children. Several studies and research have also established the fact that music lessons can also help young children improve memory.

Researchers have used brain-scanning technology and found that young children who took music training over a period of one year have shown different brain development as compared to children who did not get any music training. After a year children with music training performed better in memory tests that is correlated with math, intelligence and literacy.

These changes were observed in musically trained children in the age group of four to six years.

Memory, Intelligence and Music:

Music enhances two specific types of reasoning skills in young children.

• Language Analytical Reasoning - It is required while solving equations, and seeking quantitative results.
• Spatial Temporal Reasoning - It is used specifically in activities like playing chess. This type of reasoning is used while visualizing and transforming objects in time and space. Required while solving calculus and algebra.

Music for children with developmental issues

Researchers have also found that music can be used as an effective strategy in children with developmental issues like dyslexia and autism. There is enough evidence that children with autism can benefit immensely by musical therapy. Music can help these children cope better in stress, better self-regulation and also improved improve communication and interpersonal skills.

Parents Role

From birth to age six is a period of rapid development in children and music for them is a way of knowing. Introduce your child to the magical world of music through songs, rhymes and hand clapping activities.

Parents must provide a rich learning environment for children to nurture their musical abilities. Consider music lessons by Helene Goldnadel. If your child is not ready for music lessons you can still sing different songs and rhymes with him and dance. Put on some good music with energetic beats and dance with him and ask him to imitate your movements.

Casually introduce your child to musical instruments. Help him make his own musical instrument. Use rice, beans, rubber bands and old shoe boxes to make a guitar or drum.

Sing a song with your child when you’re stuck in a traffic jam or simply play songs while you are in the car.

Some Interesting Facts

• Musically trained children score higher in SATs.
• Piano lessons in preschoolers helped them score 34% higher in Spatial Temporal testing.
• Children who learn by rhythms are usually good at learning fractions.
• Students who are band members are good at maths and language.

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