WHY MUSIC CLASSES?
The following in an excerpt from a recent article presented in Early Childhood Connections, a journal for early childhood education.
- Music is language and children instinctively recognize & try to imitate spoken language & communication.
- Music evokes movement, and children delight in and require movement for their growth and development.
- Music engages the brain while stimulating neural pathways associated with higher processes such as abstract reasoning, mathematics, and empathy.
- Music’s melodic and rhythmic patterns provide exercises for the brain and help develop memory.
- Music is an aural art and young children & babies are aural learners. Since hearing is fully mature well before birth, infants begin responding to the sounds of their environment in the womb & continue to do so throughout their early development.
- Music is perfectly designed for training listening skills. Good listening skills and school achievement go hand in hand.
- Developmentally appropriate music activities involve the whole child – the learning of language, the desire to move, the brain’s attention to patterns, the ear’s role in communication & response to sounds, as well as the eye-hand coordination associated with playing musical instruments specially designed for little hands.
- Making music is a creative experience which involves expression of feelings. Children often do not have the words to express themselves and need positive ways to release their emotions.
- Music transmits culture and is an avenue by which beloved songs, rhymes, and dances can be passed down from one generation to the next.
- Music is a social activity which involves family and community participation. Children love to sing & dance at home, school, in the car, and at church.
...Best of all, unlike cribs, strollers, clothes & shoes, children never outgrow music and its many benefits!
Musical play has something special for every child – no matter his or her age.