MUSIC DID YOU KNOW?
Music hits the right note by improving vocabulary, enhancing cognitive functions, developing reading and writing ability, encouraging self-esteem, developing memory, boosting IQ, helping with mathematics, reducing aggression, teaching planning skills and improving overall happiness. Source: Music Education Works
The magic of music
T
he magic of music runs deeper than just sound, rhythm and words. Music plays a significant role in a child’s development and is known to have a positive influence on intellectual, social-emotional, motor skills, language and overall literacy. “It comes as no surprise that music students often operate at a higher level in the academic classroom, as they have been exposed to a multiple-layered learning environment in music,” says Elsabé Fourie, director of arts and music at Kingsmead College. Music fulfils so many purposes in a young person’s development, including reading, co-ordination, processing and sequencing, adds Fourie. “Whether playing instruments in a class setting and even more so, when learning to play an instrument, students learn to balance independent hand movements. In fact, in the case of a wind instrument, face muscles are also used, while maintaining a specific posture, controlling breathing, reading music notation and interpreting the various symbols used in music.”
THE LANGUAGE OF MUSIC “Music-based activities engage both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously,” says Kirsty Savides, founder of Wriggle and Rhyme Music and Movement Programme.
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Exposure to music from a young age is beneficial in so many ways, writes Sue Voysey-Morris
“During the early years of a child’s life, their brain develops the most and this is when music plays an enormous role in facilitating the development of language and speech, as well as auditory and motor skills.” Christina Zhao, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS), explains that listening to and performing music activates areas of the brain associated with memory, reasoning, speech and emotion. On an elementary level, Zhao adds that construction of language and music is similar in that they are both created using small, stand-alone, insignificant elements called notes and letters. However, when these are arranged in a pattern or
sequence, the outcome is meaningful. For example, language consists of letters that combine to form words, and words follow a configuration that forms a sentence. Similarly, specific music notes combine with others to form a tune. Research shows that music improves a child’s speech and reading skills by increasing their ability to identify and distinguish between different sounds, as well as understand the patterns of language.
FINE AND LARGE MOTOR SKILLS Savides adds that when children explore music through play and instrumentation, they make discoveries about themselves as well as the environment around them. Creating songs often includes tapping, clapping, bouncing and dancing. These actions automatically increase muscle use and co-ordination, which enhances fine and large motor skills. “Simple songs coupled with back-and-forth play can help build brain and body composition,” explains Savides. Ongoing research in the field of neuroscience highlights the overwhelming benefits of engaging in music-based learning from an early age. Brain mechanisms related to memory have been analysed, and it has been proven that words set to music are the easiest to recall. The structure of a song assists memory because it provides rhythm, rhyme and sometimes alliteration.
BABY AND TODDLER MUSIC AND MOVEMENT Wriggle and Rhyme – https://wriggleandrhyme.co.za Moms and Tots – http://momsandtots.co.za Kindermusik – http://kindermusik.com Be Sharp Beetles – https://besharpbeetles.business.site/ Music Works – http://musicworks.org.za/ Kiddi Beat – http://www.kiddibeat.co.za Music 4 Minis – https://www.music4minis.co.za
The South African Schools Collection 2021 2017
2021/04/16 10:09 AM
