Music to His Ears: Your Young Child and Sound

Not only is listening to music an effective tool to enhance your baby’s brain power, but music instruction has also been proven to develop children's motor skills, help build their confidence, and increase oral and memory skills.

Research by psychologists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong proved that hours spent practicing piano scales helps develop the left side of the brain, where both musical ability and memory connected with words are centered. They found that children who had been taught to play classical music for up to five years scored significantly higher scores in verbal memory tests than children with no musical training. A follow-up study a year later revealed that the boys who gave up music could no longer match the verbal memory of those who continued, but neither had they had lost the verbal memory advantage gained before they dropped out.

It is not imperative that your child have formal music instruction and play an instrument to receive the full benefit of music; informal dancing and singing are good for kids too, serving as a natural outlet for their boundless energy. Because most children inherently love music and rhythm, as soon as they are able, children move to the beat of music they hear.

Singing with your child is another way to help him or her learn the patterns of music and language in general, but perhaps even more importantly, singing is fun. Toddlers often make up songs, even with nonsense words, and children love learning the actions to songs—both made up or well-known nursery rhymes. Songs with finger plays, for example, help children associate words with actions.

Exposing children to music regularly from a young age enriches their lives and can trigger numerous positive changes in their development. Adding music to your child's life has an added bonus, it brings you the benefits as well!