Music is good for kids

Research from a variety of sources has proved that musical activities have a positive impact on pre-school children. Key findings include the following:

Communication skills and understanding

• Musical activities can increase the amount and quality of vocalisation developed. Children of this age group seem to find it easier to remember long strings of words, phrases and sentences when they are 'attached' to a tune. They develop the ability to do this through song before they are able to do it in speech.

Increased vocabulary

• Children learn new words through learning the words to songs.
• They learn action vocabulary through singing songs that have actions.
• They learn positional vocabulary similarly, eg 'over', 'under', etc.
• They develop descriptive vocabulary to help them to describe the sounds of the instruments and the music.

Development of understanding of rhyming through singing

• Singing rhyming phrases in songs helps children to develop an understanding of words that rhyme. They can then be encouraged to swap rhyming words in familiar songs for fun.
• Children can be actively encouraged to delight in the rhyming of words and to anticipate what will come next.

Increased ability to listen and respond to spoken instructions in connection with a musical activity

• Children quickly get used to the expectation and the need to follow instructions.

Learning how conversation works through 'call and response' activities

• Listening and responding and taking turns to 'speak' in musical terms (sing, play or clap) a phrase or rhythm, helps to develop an understanding of how conversation works.
• The turn taking within the musical activities encourages the children to become aware of others' musical responses and to join in musical conversations. Very young children (up to two-years-old) will actually listen to what others are playing or singing and will be prepared to wait for their turn or to join in with the others.

Development of greater control of their voices through learning to pitch notes - high and low - and pitch match (sing in tune)

• The exercising of the mouth, tongue, teeth and lips through the breathing, blowing and voice used in percussion work are all activities designed to support the children's control of their voices. These activities have been seen to develop children's vocal abilities in relation to their speech development.

Increased ability to tell their own stories and engage their imagination through creating their own songs

• Many children naturally engage in this activity but this can quickly disappear if the activity is not valued. Musical activity serves to support the children in this, allowing children to respond positively by continuing to sing to themselves and show these 'story songs' aiding language and speech development.

(Extracted from 'Turning their ears on…keeping their ears open. Exploring the impact of musical activities on the development of pre-school age children', Youth Music research report, 2006)

• Another study by the Literacy Trust2 found several key indicators concerning children aged 0-5 and music instruction:
• Increasing amount and quality of vocalisation developed through singing activities Increased vocabular
• Development of understanding of rhyming through singing
• Increased ability to listen and respond to spoken instructions in connection with a musical activity
• Learning how conversation works through 'call and response' activities
• Development of greater control of their voices through learning to pitch notes - high and low - and pitch match (sing in tune)
• Increased ability to tell their own stories and engage their imagination through creating their own songs

A 2005 study by the Stanford university in the US3 found that ‘musical training improves how the brain processes the spoken word….show[ing] that musical experience can help the brain improve its ability to distinguish between rapidly changing sounds that are key to understanding and using language….especially in children ... who aren't good at rapid auditory processing and are high-risk for becoming poor readers, [so] they may especially benefit from musical training.’

2.National Literacy Trust
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/talktoyourbaby/youthmusicresearch.html for full story

3.17 Nov 2005, San Francisco Chronicle, see
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/17/MNGQ9FPODP1.DTL