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
Here are some technical articles you can read if you want to get really deep! "Jamming with your toddler: how music trumps reading for childhood development" "Babies' brains benefit from music lessons, even before they can walk and talk" https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120509123653.htm "Music exposure benefits babies' brains" 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 |