Why is Music important for young Children?
Children require engagement in a variety of activities to develop the way they should. Parents may feel overwhelmed by how many things they’re told to do with their children, but like the superfoods of the dietary world, some activities are especially valuable and worth parents’ focus. One of these is music.
While music benefits people of any age, it especially helps children from birth to age three because of how it supports this critical, foundational time of growth. When they actively listen to and play music, young children make strides in intellectual, emotional, physical, and social development.
Intellectual Development
According to a 2016 study at the University of Southern California’s Brain and Creativity Institute, “musical experiences in childhood can actually accelerate brain development, particularly in the areas of language acquisition and reading skills.”
For example, when young children sing and listen to songs with lyrics, they “have an opportunity to internalize, or automatize, the rhythms and cadences of their language before they are taught phonetic analysis and reading.” Children who sing also get to experiment with pitch, learn about language structure, and increase their vocabulary.
In addition, “the act of making music facilitates high levels of cognitive function, including complex problem solving, logical reasoning, as well as conceptual tasks. Research has shown that musicians have highly developed memory systems.”
Emotional Development
Children in the first few years of their lives feel a wide range of emotions and need a lot of help understanding them. Music is a positive outlet for emotional exploration.
“These early years are also when children learn how to express and manage their feelings, as well as figure out how to read other people’s expressions and feelings, grasping how other minds work. … Researchers observing music and movement classes have documented that participation in arts activities correlates with positive emotion for preschoolers and facilitates their ability to regulate their emotions.”
In addition to boosting emotional intelligence, music simply makes us happy. Parents understand that truth if they have ever giggled with their child at a silly song, driven with the radio blasting and the windows down, or remembered a departed loved one by singing their favorite tune.
Physical Development
One of the most important tasks of a baby or toddler is to learn how to use their body. Parents need to provide opportunities for their young children to practice their gross/large motor skills (e.g. crawling, walking) and fine motor skills (e.g. pointing, grasping). Music is a fun way for children to hone both types of movement.
“Making music—especially if it includes tapping, clapping, bouncing, and dancing—can develop fine and large motor control. Even simple games, songs, and back-and-forth play build brain and body coordination.” Toddlers can also improve their object manipulation by playing with simple instruments like maracas or xylophones.
Finally, as childhood-music educators Lorna Heyge and Linda Swears have written, “Moving to music energizes and helps integrate sensory and motor experiences.” In other words, children who engage in musical activities are likely to be better at the process of receiving data through their senses, interpreting that data, and then organizing it in their brains. Musical children are better able to mentally conceptualize their physical world.
Social Development
People who make music together build intimacy. “Young children build some of the most important relationships in their lives as infants and toddlers. If they are lucky enough to have caring and responsive caregivers, they develop a sense of security, the feeling that they will be followed, cared for, and protected … Music can support these intimate exchanges. For example, when caregivers sing lullabies, they use pitch, rhythm, and lyrics to soothe, teach language, communicate hope and affection, and provide security[.]”
Children who participate in music, particularly together, improve at interacting and communicating with their peers. “Music, with its tempo and rhythm, verses and choruses, provides clear structures that help children learn the rules and routines for being together. A kindergartener has to watch and listen as she plays a percussion piece with her class; at home, music can be a way to practice cooperation or to connect across generations. Music can also model the structure of social interaction for children with histories of trauma or conditions like autism.”
Whether in one-on-one moments with a parent or in a class with other kids, a young child can be led by music to a higher level of social prowess.
Conclusion
More wisdom from Heyge and Swears says, “Children need opportunities rich in diversity and stable in content to enrich their expanding consciousness as they face our rapidly changing world.” Music is an ideal way to do this.
The greatest teacher is an engaged parent, and children love to imitate the behavior they see. By creating a musical home, parents do more than lay a foundation for future musicality; they can also foster the child’s development intellectually, emotionally, physically, and socially.
There are many easy ways to incorporate music into a family routine. The key, so to speak, is to begin.
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