Music Stimulates Early Brain Development

"In the early 1980's, Howard Gardner of Harvard wrote Frames of Mind...He cites research showing that infants as young as two months are able to match the pitch, loudness, and melodic contour of their mother's songs, and at four months they can match rhythmic structure as well. Science has found that infants are predisposed to these aspects of music - far more than they are to the core properties of speech - and that they engage in sound play that clearly exhibits creative properties." (pp. 178-179).

"Why does the Mozart Effect work? Tracing neurological development through childhood provides clues to this quest...until a major leap takes place in brain growth in the elementary school years, learning occurs through movement and quick emotional associations; by age two, the brain has begun to fuse with the body via marching, dancing, and developing a sense of physical rhythm...A great spurt of neural integration occurs between ages seven and nine. The more music children are exposed to before they enter school, the more deeply this stage of neural coding will assist them throughout their lives." (pp. 191-192).
- Campbell, Don. The Mozart Effect:Tapping the Power of Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind and Unlock the Creative Spirit. Avon Books, 1997.

"Eight to nine month old infants learned to respond to melody changes in music. Their pattern of response was the same as adults, indicating that brain specialization's for the processing of musical contour are present at a very early age."
- Balaban, M.T., Anderson, L.M., & Wisniewski, A.B. "Lateral Asymmetries in Infant Melody Perception." Developmental Psychology. 1998, vol. 34, no. 1, 39-48.

"Infants receive music lessons' beginning immediately after birth, from parents and others. These lessons are in the form of not only music but also of language. Although music and language are normally viewed as quite separate, they actually have fundamental commonalties, particularly as practiced to infants...Overall, it now seems clear that there is little distinction between infant-directed speech and song, that infants react to the prosodic and musical qualities of the two forms of vocal communication, and that the earliest of language lessons are in no sense merely linguistic. These conclusions support the view that the human comes equipped' with both language and music competencies."
-"The Earliest Music Lessons." Musica Research Notes, vol. 2,issue 1, Spring 1995. www.musica.uci.edu.

"In a Brigham Young University study, babies in a newborn intensive care unit (NICU) showed significant improvements when they were exposed to four days of a simple music medicine regimen. As they listened to the music, the lullaby babies' had lower heart rates, increased oxygen saturation and reduced stress behaviors. They also showed long-term progress and were healthy enough to leave the hospital an average of nearly three days earlier than babies in the control group....Rosalie Pratt, a BYU music professor, believes that as early as possible,' parents should implement home-based music programs."
- Brigham Young University news release, August 17, 1998. www.byu.edu.

"Sandra Trehub and her colleagues at the University of Toronto have studied the perception of melodies as part of a systematic program of research on the musical capabilities of infants. They have found that indeed infants 8-11 months of age do perceive and remember melodic contour...Infants have surprising adult-like capabilities in the way that they perceive and attend to musical stimuli."
- "The Musical Infant." www.pionet.net.

How can you involve your child in musical activities?

Beginning now at Tallyn's Reach/S.E. Aurora-Lisa Fultz announces the launch of its new spring/summer semester of Kindermusik Adventures-Camps. Kindermusik isthe world's leading music and movement program for children from birth to seven years of age.

Kindermusik fosters the total development of young children through a combination of music and movement. Parents with newborns, toddlers, and 4 through 7-year-old children can participate in Kindermusik activities -- jingling bells, pounding drums, floating scarves, "hooting" owl sounds and little feet moving in time to music -- for a valuable learning experience for both the child and the parent or caregiver.

Kindermusik offers a complete development program where both children and parents learn through music and movement. Lisa Fultz strongly believes that Kindermusik provides a powerful experience for a child."The many songs and activities in Kindermusik class enhance a child's total development by strengthening physical, emotional, social, and cognitive skills at a very early age," explains Fultz. "Teaching children through Kindermusik has allowed me to experience the joy of watching children learn and grow through music. Kindermusik creates a warm, creative learning environment for both parents and children."

The spring/summer semester begins April 5th. Classes being offered this session are Peekaboo I Love You, Zoo Train, Creatures at the Ocean, On the Road, andAround the World on Wednesday mornings at the Tallyn's Reach Library 23911 E. Arapahoe Rd Aurora, CO 80016. All classes are 5-week sessions.

Created by early childhood music educators and informed by the latest research in child development, Kindermusik programs provide early childhood learning opportunities through innovative music and movement curricula and involve families in the joy of their child's development. Research supports that music helps prepare the mind for specific disciplines of learning; skills learned through music carry over into study skills, communications skills, cognitive skills and abstract reasoning skills useful to all parts of life, according to a 1997 article in Neurological Research.

For more information on classes, call 303-522-0190 or visit www.pathwaysperformingarts.com.

Kindermusik International is the world's leading music and movement program for children from birth through seven years of age, and their parents. In 37 countries around the world, more than 5,000 licensed educators use Kindermusik's rigorously researched, developmentally appropriate curricula, CDs, books, instruments, games, posters and activities to bring the joy of music to children's lives.

For more than 25 years, Kindermusik International has enriched the lives of children and parents with innovative music and movement programs that nurture cognitive, emotional, language, social, physical and musical development and involve families in the joy of their children's musical learning.

Kindermusik provides unique child-centered educational classes and all families receive specially created music and materials to extend the fun of learning at home. Kindermusik's philosophy is founded upon rigorous research and the fundamental beliefs that: every child is musical; every parent is the child's most important teacher; the home is the most important learning environment; music nurtures a child's cognitive, emotional, social, language and physical development; and every child should experience the fun and learning that music brings to life.

Kindermusik products have received several prominent national awards including the Parents' Choice Fall 2001 Approved Winner commendation, the Parents' Choice Spring 2001 Recommended Award and the 2001 Directors' Choice Award from Early Childhood NEWS.

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