American Idol resulted in a surprising win for humble Kris Allen as opposed to the confident Adam Lambert. One major difference between the two is that Kris Allen played both guitar and piano.
Listening to music nurtures brain development beginning in the womb. As a child develops, musical activities, including experimenting with playing various musical instruments, such as a xylophone, aid in brain development.
Music instruction improves a preschooler’s listening skills and rhythm. The first rhythmic skills a child may copy include head bobbing and hand clapping. Patterns of music help preschoolers develop recognition of other patterns, such as in math and reading texts.
Preschoolers who are given access to instruments can use them to mimic beats they hear in music. Does your preschool offer a listening center and a music center with a variety of instruments? If not, you may find your child experimenting on pots and pans with wooden spoons in the housekeeping or dramatic play area. Should you stop the child from doing an activity that helps to develop the brain? Some philosophies argue that a child who bangs pots and pans with a spoon needs to learn the appropriate way to use those materials. Most old school folks just let them bang.
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Comments
Again...right on the money. I always put a very heavy focus in my classrooms on music and movement. Since I am a piano person myself, there was always a keyboard, actually a FEW keyboards, one for me and a few for others to experiment with, and instruments (especially rhythm instruments) of all sorts. I found that at times when it seemed EVERYBODY had some sensory overload issues, having a music activity (especially one that involved movement and especially crossing the mid-line of the body type of movements)brought everybody back into focus. I think we're just scratching the surface of what movement, music, rhythm patterns, and sound can do in the development of neuro pathways. Nice article!
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