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All children with normal mental capacities grow up learning to speak and comprehend whatever language their family speaks. Early in life the normal brain develops to a point at which speaking and understanding occur naturally. But reading and writing must be taught.
The ability to use language is a unique human capacity. Love and appreciation for the rhythms and tones of music may also be uniquely human, and they may be related to our capacity for language. Evidence for this, described earlier, is that functional imaging studies are now demonstrating that the processing and production of music appear to draw on portions of the “language network” with which neuroscientists are now so familiar.
But children do not almost automatically learn (as they do with language) to produce or perform music without special exposure and training. And we do not yet know how important “critical periods” are for learning to understand, enjoy, and perform music.
Given this uncertainty, there are many reasons why parents should hedge their bets and give their children early exposure to music. We have already learned that orchestra musicians have more gray matter in their brains than non-musicians.
Unlike watching TV, which is passive and sedentary listening to music can be done while children do other activities, such as playing with puzzles or constructing with Legos. This gives them early experience with multitasking and dual processing. They can also sing along with the music that they are hearing, or they can dance to it, thereby exercising multiple networks in their brains.
What should they listen to? A balanced mixture of classical and popular, child-oriented music may be best. Why classical? Because it contains complex musical forms and themes that children perceive intuitively long before they can understand them analytically.
What about formal music educations? I personally am a strong advocate for this, and for beginning it at a relatively young age. The Suzuki music program, which permits children to learn to play when they are as young as two or three, is outstanding.
For the youngest it emphasizes strings (usually violin), but piano can also be introduced fairly early. Learning to perform on an instrument teaches many things in addition to music: the discipline of practicing, the joy of accomplishing and progressing, the poise of performing in front others, and the experience of playing in a group.
As a child matures and is able to play in an orchestra (or a band, for some instruments), the child learns to work as part of a team. And the child’s brain also acquires those synapse-building skills of reading printed music and perceiving visual/spatial relationships.
"The Creating BRAIN", The Neuroscience of Genius, Nancy C. Andreasen, 2005, pages 177 - 178
Get Their Children Interested in Music
All children with normal mental capacities grow up learning to speak and comprehend whatever language their family speaks. Early in life the normal brain develops to a point at which speaking and understanding occur naturally. But reading and writing must be taught.
The ability to use language is a unique human capacity. Love and appreciation for the rhythms and tones of music may also be uniquely human, and they may be related to our capacity for language. Evidence for this, described earlier, is that functional imaging studies are now demonstrating that the processing and production of music appear to draw on portions of the “language network” with which neuroscientists are now so familiar.
But children do not almost automatically learn (as they do with language) to produce or perform music without special exposure and training. And we do not yet know how important “critical periods” are for learning to understand, enjoy, and perform music.
Given this uncertainty, there are many reasons why parents should hedge their bets and give their children early exposure to music. We have already learned that orchestra musicians have more gray matter in their brains than non-musicians.
Unlike watching TV, which is passive and sedentary listening to music can be done while children do other activities, such as playing with puzzles or constructing with Legos. This gives them early experience with multitasking and dual processing. They can also sing along with the music that they are hearing, or they can dance to it, thereby exercising multiple networks in their brains.
What should they listen to? A balanced mixture of classical and popular, child-oriented music may be best. Why classical? Because it contains complex musical forms and themes that children perceive intuitively long before they can understand them analytically.
What about formal music educations? I personally am a strong advocate for this, and for beginning it at a relatively young age. The Suzuki music program, which permits children to learn to play when they are as young as two or three, is outstanding.
For the youngest it emphasizes strings (usually violin), but piano can also be introduced fairly early. Learning to perform on an instrument teaches many things in addition to music: the discipline of practicing, the joy of accomplishing and progressing, the poise of performing in front others, and the experience of playing in a group.
As a child matures and is able to play in an orchestra (or a band, for some instruments), the child learns to work as part of a team. And the child’s brain also acquires those synapse-building skills of reading printed music and perceiving visual/spatial relationships.
"The Creating BRAIN", The Neuroscience of Genius, Nancy C. Andreasen, 2005, pages 177 - 178
