Your toddler may not be a piano prodigy, but he can appreciate the rhythm of a drumbeat and gets excited when he hears “The Wheels on the Bus.” It’s never too early to start your child’s exposure to music. When children reach school age, giving them a music education will help them develop in other subjects and areas.
Making music part of your home life will give children an appreciation for music in general. As they grow up, providing age-appropriate music education for them without pushing them too hard or pressuring them to overachieve, has many benefits, experts say.
Starting Early to Expose Your Baby to the World of Music
Claims that exposing a baby to classical music will make him more intelligent, the Mozart effect, are unsubstantiated. But there’s no question that classical music is soothing to the soul and babies are no exception.
Exposing your baby to children’s songs and nursery rhymes put to music will give her a feel for rhythm, language and give her a taste of the beauty of music, so she might just want to participate in the world of music when she gets a little older.
Music can also help teach children numbers, letters and colors, since, when put to music, some things are better ingrained in memory.
Why Music for Children?
According to the Children’s Music Workshop, children who are in band or orchestra in secondary school have the lowest rate of substance use (alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs).
The workshop cites other benefits of musical experience in children:
- Developing musical skills seems to improve a child’s ability to reason, solve problems, and develop other types of intelligence, not to mention tolerance and more mature decision-making.
- Children with some musical training and appreciation score better on SAT tests, other standardized tests, and generally do better in school, particularly in math classes, and receive more academic awards.
- Many colleges view participation in the arts and music as a valuable experience that broadens students' understanding and appreciation of the world around them. One year of visual and performing arts is now recommended for college-bound high school students.
A Parent’s Investment in a Child’s Musical Experience
There is some investment of both time and money to getting music lessons for your child. Depending on what instrument you decide to let him play, you could spend up to several thousand dollars to buy or $100 or more per month to rent.
Lessons and instrument rentals through your child’s school are often a big bargain. Schools will charge a small fee to rent used instruments to students, and if band and orchestra are offered as a class, your child will receive free instruction during school.
In the United States, the campaign to keep the arts in public schools is working to provide music as part of the public school curriculum, since there are many families that can’t afford to provide music lessons for their children.
Play for Life, a music initiative of the Music Council of Australia suggests these guidelines:
- From 6 months to about 3 years – children are open to learning about rhythm, pitch, concepts such as high and low or fast and slow, and using their voices to internalize sounds.
- From 3- to 6-years-old – children have developed motor skills and thinking to consider playing instruments like the violin and piano.
- From 6 up – a child’s fine motor skills have developed to master a wider range of instruments such as flute, percussion or trumpet. The council suggests you choose an instrument for your child that they can master without too much difficulty and that they enjoy.
Whether your child takes formal lessons in a musical instrument or just listens to CDs with you, exposing children to music gives him a well-rounded childhood.
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