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Kindermusik and Kinderlanguage

The Importance of Music to Children's Development

By Cynthia K. Zettlemoyer

Plato once said, “Music is a more potent instrument than any other for education.”

Not too long ago, families spent time “making music together” as a pastime. I recall visiting a college friend from New York one summer and remember our gathering around the piano to sing Broadway hits. All the children in the family were encouraged to be performing musicians. It was memorable, to say the least. Today, when my grown children return home on a holiday, we enjoy some time music-making. It’s such a special time together, and we all love it.

Today, families have little time for this kind of informal, yet very important music-making together. Research has proven that what happens musically from birth to six or seven years is quite important in the cognitive, social, and physical development of a child. Music is learned much like language, and the critical period for internalizing and developing musical language is before a child enters first grade.The latest research suggests that musical experiences in early childhood enhance a child’s development in other areas. The following information is from a cover story of Newsweek (February 19, 1996 issue).

Music scientists believe, trains the brain for higher forms of thinking. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, studied the power of music by observing two groups of preschoolers. One group took piano lessons and sang daily in the chorus. The other did not. After eight months, the musical three-year-olds were expert puzzle-masters, scoring 80% higher than their playmates did in spatial intelligence--the ability to visualize the world accurately. This skill later translates into complex math and engineering skills. “Early music training can enhance a child’s ability to reason,” says Irvine physicist Gordon Shaw. It excites the inherent brain patterns and enhances their use in complex reasoning tasks.”

The preschool years are the optimal learning and growing years. According to Sally J. Rogers, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, giving your children the chance to experience a variety of musical activities--singing, dancing and movement, playing a musical instrument--can aid and assist them in learning language skills,independence, and control of their “small world”.

Near the age of two and three, says Dr. Rogers, a child’s main interpersonal needs focus on acquiring independence and control. At this age, the child is intensely aware of his or her small size and limited capabilities and will benefit greatly from learning new skills. Anything a child does, or is exposed to, that leads to gaining control over something, enhances the child’s sense of size and his integration into the world. Successful teaching of the two and three-year-old works best within the child’s own framework, emphasizing independent mastery while down-playing requirements for cooperation with the adult.

Four and five-year-olds have a strong desire to be like, and to please, their parents, says Professor Rogers. Joining the parent and teacher in musical activities is much more appealing to a child of this age, and levels of cooperation are reached that were previously unattainable.

She adds that although children of four or five seem quite competent linguistically, with good memory and motor skills and a clear desire to please, it’s important to remember how emotionally immature they still are and how much parental support and involvement they continue to need.

Nurturing your children and helping them to grow into healthy, happy adults is a delightful parental experience. Music gives a parent another opportunity to make a real difference in children’s lives. Additionally, music helps to develop the personality.

Cynthia K. Zettlemoyer, B.M.Ed., M.D. Ed., Boston Conservatory of Music; Early Childhood Music Specialist and Licensed Kindermusik Instructor. She is currently the Director of Kids U Musikschule in Emmaus, PA.