Is music class worth the $$ for an INFANT?

The answer is a resounding YES! Babies develop and learn at a rapid pace, and research has shown that the introduction of music during the early developmental window is highly beneficial to a baby's brain. Music promotes cognitive development as well as abstract thought. Music enhances the brain's hard-wiring for spatial-temporal reasoning (a prerequisite to math at higher levels). Music education facilitates the ability to read. In Germany, researchers discovered that exposure to music actually rewires neural circuts (Begley, 1996).

Research has also shown that shared experiences between a child and a loving caregiver contribute positively to the young child's cognitive development and early learning. The emotional quality of these experiences help motivate a child to learn and inspire self confidence. Interactions that are common during a Sound Beginnings class, such as rocking or tapping the baby while singing a song, smiling at the baby as you move a scarf to the music, or dancing with the baby support emotional security and bond the caregiver to the child.

Infants are particularly perceptive to and prone to mimic those around them. Parents, older siblings, and classmates will provide the 'model' for the infant to mimic. Infants will soon imitate the actions of the class thus increasing attention span, gross motor skills, language development, and social behaviors along with developing musically.

Even very young infants (less than 4 months) who do not show outward signs of learning or internalizing are actually gaining from the experience in class and at home. A baby's brain is highly sensitized to stimulus and takes in everything around him. The brain will develop synapses based on the type of input received. Social engagement, pleasant interaction, movement, sounds, and patterns occurring in music will all stimulate the infant brain and enhance development.

Babies are born with fully developed hearing. The portion of the brain dedicated to sound is ripe for input, so a child will have clearer auditory images stored away and can access those images more easily than an adult can. This means that a child has a library of sounds available to him. Sound Beginnings exposes the young child to sounds, pitches, and timbres to build that library and develop music listening skills.

Babies are not born with fully developed sight. However, by about 12 months of age, color and depth perception are well developed. In SB, visual aids are large, bold and colorful to attract a young child's attention and be easily recognized. As the eyes and ears gather information, the brain then establishes communication with muscles, developing the makings of a musician.

If you don't have time to read all this fabulous information or watch all the videos, here's one video that you shouldn't overlook! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ld91U-hpk

Here's a summary of a great article I found at https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/70105/10-amazing-facts-about-infant-brain

Ten Amazing Facts About the Infant Brain 

1. ALL BABIES ARE BORN "EARLY."
   • Because of the size of babies when they are born, they are born with underdeveloped brains that are hypersensitive to stimulus.
   • Babies like to be wrapped tightly and respond well to loud white noise, which mimic life in utero.
   • Because humans are social animals, being born earlier allows an infant's brain to soak up impressions of being raised within a group of people.
2. BABIES ARE BORN WITH ALL THE NEURONS THEY WILL EVER HAVE.
   • Healthy babies have 100 billion neurons at birth, nearly twice as many as adults, in a brain that is half the size.
   • These neurons are necessary for all the learning a baby has to do in its first year of life.
   • By age 3, the brain gets rid of weaker synaptic connections in favor of stronger ones.
3. BIRTH TO AGE 3 SEES THE FASTEST RATE OF BRAIN DEVELOPMENT IN THE ENTIRE HUMAN LIFE SPAN.
   • In the first 3 years, the brain grows faster than any other body part.
   • At birth a baby's brain is 1/3 the size of an adult brain.
   • In 3 months, the brain more than doubles its volume, to 55% of its final size.
   • The cerebellum, which controls movement, grows fastest of all brain structures, being 110% bigger than it was at birth by 3 months.
4. MOST OF THE ENERGY A BABY EXPENDS IS CONCENTRATED IN THE BRAIN.
   • 60% of a baby's metabolic energy is spent on growing the brain.
   • The brain of an adult only sues about 25% of the body's metabolic energy.
5. BABIES' BRAINS PREPARE FOR SPEECH LONG BEFORE THEY UTTER A WORD. 
   • The areas of the brain associated with speech are activated by 7 months, before babies actually begin to speak.
   • The brain sets up the transitional groundwork to be able to predict the motor movements required to make the sounds of speech and prepares to do so.
6. BILINGUAL BABIES' BRAINS HAVE STRONGER EXECUTIVE FUNCTION.
   • Babies are capable at birth to learn any language.
   • Babies spoken to regularly in 2 or more languages have better executive function later in life.
   • Bilingual children have better attention or focus, which bodes well for school and work performance
7. PHYSICAL TOUCH STRENGTHENS BABIES' SYNAPSES.
   • Babies who receive regular touch have stronger neuronal connections, and greater overall well-being.
   • Babies who are deprived of touch suffer a number of negative health effects such as low weight and emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression.
   • A well-nurtured child has a thicker hippocampus than those who were not as well-nurtured.
   • A stronger hippocampus is associated with improved memory, better focus, ability to retain learning, and more.
8. BABY BRAINS ARE HARDWIRED TO PREFER THEIR MOTHER'S SCENT.
   • Oxytocin (the bonding hormone) induces a feeling of euphoria and love in humans.
   • Babies are attracted to the scent of their own amniotic fluid which helps them find their mother for their first meal.
   • Babies prefer the scent of their mother's breast at 2 weeks old, even if they are formula-fed.
9. A BABY'S UNWILLINGNESS TO LEAVE A PARENT SIGNALS THE DEVELOPMENT OF LONG-TERM MEMORY.
   • Separation anxiety shows that a baby is developing long-term memory.
   • Around 9 months, an infant's unwillingness to leave a parent shows they have clear memory of the parent "being there" and forms an emotional association to that event.
10. HYPOTHERMIA CAN PROTECT NEWBORN BRAINS.
    • A study of newborns with a condition that occurs when the brain doesn't get enough oxygen (HIE) found that inducing hypothermia can help protect the brain.
    • Without treatment, palsy or other severe complications can occur.
    • Hypothermia reduces energy metabolism and other excitatory neurotransmitters.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/309467

And here are some wonderful videos about early learning and why it is so important!

"What if every child had access to music education from birth?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueqgenARzlE

"How Music Can Make Your Baby Smarter"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ld91U-hpk

"How every child can thrive by five"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aISXCw0Pi94

"Music and the Baby Brain"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIQzleOmwEc

"The Benefits of Introducing Music to Your Baby"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJsSacJ9weI

"The Importance of Singing to Infants"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH7DQDggtWk

"Backwards Bicycle" (This demonstrates very well that the younger you are, the easier it is to learn something!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybo4Lk3CI98

"Still Face Experiment - Dr Edward Tronick"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTTSXc6sARg

"Tronick's Still Face Paradigm"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG89Qxw30BM

"The Linguistic Genius of Babies"

https://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies?language=en#t-448340

"TWCL The Developing Brain AU"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkn6RIXntJ

"The most important years of life: Our beginning" (this one is really long!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW-S4cyEFCc