• 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 eye-hand coordination associated with playing 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 and dance at home, school, in the car, at church, or at community events. 

•  ...and, unlike cribs, toys or shoes, children will never outgrow music and its many benefits!  

Excerpt from a recent presention & article for Early Childhood Connections, a journal of Early Childhood Education.