Earlier this year, I attended an awards ceremony for my high school senior and noticed a pattern. Most of the very same kids who received academic awards participated in one or more high school performing groups. I made this observation easily because those performing groups were fantastic cheering sections. It came as no surprise to me, but I took particular note as I am expanding my music studio to include classes for children ages 4-7.
It’s no secret that the academic benefits of early music education are not few.
For starters, neuroscientists observing the brain among those who play instruments demonstrate an extremely high level of neuroactivity in both hemispheres. In fact, playing a musical instrument activates pretty much every area of the brain at once. It’s like a full-body workout going on inside the brain.
Imagine how these regular brain workouts play out in academics. The correlation between music and mathematics alone is astounding. I mean, it stands to reason, as music itself is mathematical. Learning intervals, counting rhythms, and even adjusting one’s motor movements to changing tempos and key signatures are highly mathematical. Early childhood is considered the best time to begin a study of music. Therefore, early music education could be the key to developing math skills in children who otherwise might not have a natural aptitude for the subject.
If music is a whole brain activity, understandably, learning music at a young age can also improve language and literacy outcomes. When we see or hear words in a new context (ie: music), our brain creates new connections to those words. Music reinforces rhyming, it increases vocabulary, and encourages memorization. I can remember almost every single word of the songs I sang in choirs while growing up. And yet, the lines I delivered in high school theatre have long since disappeared from memory. Why? Because the added input of music embedded the connection to those words in my brain.
When we add another input -movement, more synapses begin firing, and learning is further enhanced.
But why music education? Wouldn’t early music exposure be sufficient in training the brain for academics?
While the benefits of music exposure cannot be disputed, engaging the brain through playing music ups the ante. It’s like the difference between a backyard fireworks show and the Boston Pops 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular.
As one might expect, when teaching music to young children, methods matter. If we want to maximize the academic benefits of early music education, we must meet our students where they are. Young children learn through experience. They absorb new concepts as they move their bodies and play. Kids need love and connection in the learning process.
Let’s Play Music uses the research of Zoltán Kodály, Carl Orff and Émile Jaques-Dalcroze in their methodologies. Let’s Play Music teachers employ these methods in every lesson plan. We use solfege, movement, instruments, folk songs, and ear-training in teaching. Kids are then equipped to pursue music further in other age-appropriate ways as they mature. This early music education develops the brain for success in any academic discipline.