Toddlers Learn Through Music

Toddlers learn through music

Published Wednesday, February 27, 2008

by Lesley Martin

Kennedy Library started its first Reading Music Reading Words class Wednesday.

The library gave toddlers tambourines, drumsticks and bells to go along with story time. They encourage creative chaos during story time to help them develop reading skills.

Studies have shown incorporating music, rhythms and instruments with reading help children develop language skills.

“The whole patterns, counting, and pacing through music help children to pace through reading,” Jody DelaGardelle, Assistant Librarian said. “I think a lot of times with a story, a child just listens, but when they have to pay attention, when they make noise, or when they have to participate they are learning something.”

The class consisted of 14 children ranging from ages three to four, all having fun but learning at the same time.

The parents who bring their children to Reading Music Reading Words have seen an improvement in educational skills and will continue to bring their children each week.

“Music is a great teacher. Children pick up music so young,” Anne Gaydos, a parent whose two sons attend the class, said. “My babies love listening to music and singing and dancing. I think you accompany that with words and I think that the learning sinks in even more.”

The class was created by a Ball State music professor a couple of years ago, and Dela Gardelle has been in charge of the class for the last six years.

Before moving the class to Kennedy library it was held at Carnegie Library. Reading Music Reading Words is every Wednesday at 10:30 am.

Make a postcard – it’s easy!

Bilibos

Bibos, as my daughter calls them, are a huge hit with the Kindermusik kids.  Bilibos have received numerous awards and are made in Switzerland.  Don’t ask me what they are because I don’t know.   They are a bilibo.  Kids can tell you though.  Sometimes they are a car, sometimes an airplane, horse, train or anything their imagination can concoct.  They have sat in them, stood on them, spinned in them and scooted on them.  We have already used them in class to encourage imagination and if the kids see them, we have to get them out.  I plan on ordering some more so if you’d like to order one let me know.  They are $30 each and can only be ordered through a distributor and in multiples of 6.

Hands-on parent strikes better chord with children

 article from Herald Sun AU,  Fay Burstin  2/5/08

 PLONKING kids in front of music videos such as the Wiggles or Hi-5 doesn’t enhance their musical talent and may even hinder it.

New Australian research shows parents rely heavily on commercially produced CDs and DVDs for children’s musical stimulation, claiming they don’t have the time or musical talent for anything more creative.

But mass-market music products, especially those with a visual component such as videos, DVDs and TV, are no substitute for musical interaction between adults and children, and may even be detrimental, according to a Monash University education study.

“Singing with a young child allows for spontaneous vocal play, movement and drama that are not always possible with music CDs and DVDs,” said study author Peter de Vries. “Some products with a visual component are non-interactive . . . and detract from musical events.

“These products can constrain spontaneous musical play . . . and parents need to be aware of their detrimental effects on young children’s musical development.”

Dr de Vries’ survey of 63 parents of preschool pupils under five, published recently in the Australian Journal of Early Childhood, found 65 per cent of parents played music to children at least once a week and 18 per cent did so daily.

But only 29 per cent regularly sang to their kids and a meagre 8 per cent played with them using bought or made instruments.

Children often sang and danced to CDs but DVDs tended to “quieten children down”, with some parents noting their children “just sat there and blanked out”, the study found.

“Someone will be singing and dancing and talking to the camera, asking children to join in, and all I see is my child staring at the screen,” one parent reported.

Research shows music helps develop children’s co-ordination, listening, language, communication and social skills.

Many parents assumed Wiggles and Hi-5 music “must be good” because they were often played in preschools and childcare centres, but the key was to be present rather than use them to babysit.

“Watching together enables adults to respond to opportunities the program offers and listen to their child’s comments and observe responses, which can lay the foundation for further exploration,” Dr de Vries said.

Australian Institute of Music and Childhood Development director Jenny Wilkinson said CDs often helped give self-conscious parents the confidence to sing with kids.

“But just putting music on doesn’t have the same effect. Children learn by doing, especially with adults, and there are so many opportunities for spontaneous singing,” she said.

Carnegie mum Simone Waterman sings daily to her three children, making up silly rhymes and playing with a basket of musical instruments. “I sing really badly and have no rhythm but until the kids beg me to stop I’ll keep going.”

The ex-childcare worker attends a weekly parent-and-child music session and rarely resorts to TV.

“I like Play School but I’m not fond of The Wiggles or Hi-5.”

article from Herald Sun AU,  Fay Burstin  2/5/08

Choosing Activities for our Children

As parents, we want to make the right choices for our children; ones that will make a difference both now and as they grow and mature.  Being careful not to overload them with extracurricular activities and choosing the “best” for them can be a challenge.  It seems that sports is the popular choice and of course dance includes pretty costumes, but do those provide the most lasting effects?  Growing up in a musical family, I was priviledged to witness the long term love of music throughout my father’s life.  I also think about how different life events can effect playing sports and dance (including age, ability, injury) but music can carry you throughout your life.  I found the following information and thought I’d pass it along in hopes that it might make it easier for you to make  choices for your children.

Music Advocacy’s Top Ten for Everyone
1. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania School District analyzed its 1997 dropout rate in terms of students’ musical experience. Students with no ensemble performance experience had a dropout rate of 7.4 percent. Students with one to two years of ensemble experience had a dropout rate of 1 percent, and those with three or more years of performance experience had a dropout rate of 0.0 percent.
Eleanor Chute, “Music and Art Lessons Do More Than Complement Three R’s,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,April 13, 1998.

2. Two research projects have found that music training – specifically piano instruction – can dramatically enhance children’s spatial-temporal reasoning skills, the skills crucial for greater success in subjects like math and science.
Shaw, Grazianow, and Peterson, Neurological Research, March 1999.

3. School leaders affirm that the single most critical factor in sustaining arts education in their schools is the active involvement of influential segments of the community. These community members help shape and implement the policies and programs of the district.
- Gaining the Arts Advantage, The President’s Council on the Arts and Humanities, 1999.

4. Students with band and orchestra experience attend college at a rate twice the national average.
- Bands Across the USA.

5. Music students out-perform non-music on achievement tests in reading and math. Skills such as reading, anticipating, memory, listening, forecasting, recall, and concentration are developed in musical performance, and these skills are valuable to students in math, reading, and science.
- B. Friedman, “An Evaluation of the Achievement in Reading and Arithmetic of Pupils in ElementarySchool Instrumental Music Classes,” Dissertation Abstracts International.

6. One in three of today’s school-aged children will hold an arts-related job at some time in his or her career.
- Education Commission on the States.

7. The College Board, in a publication about college admissions, states, “preparation in the arts will be valuable to college entrants whatever their intended field of study.”
- Academic Preparation for College: What Students Need To Know and Be Able To Do, The CollegeBoard.

8. Music therapists working with Alzheimer’s patients have found that rhythmic interaction or listening to music resulted in decreased agitation, increased focus and concentration, enhanced ability to respond verbally and behaviorally, elimination of demented speech, improved ability to respond to questions, and better social interaction.
- Carol Prickett and Randall Moore, “The Use of Music to Aid Memory of Alzheimer’s Patients,” Journalof Music Therapy, 1991.

9. Medical researchers have reported that subjects lowered both their systolic and diastolic blood pressure as much as five points (mm/Hg) and reduced heart rates by four to five beats per minute following music listening sessions. People with high blood pressure can help keep their blood pressure down by listening to tapes of relaxing low frequency music in the morning and evening.
- Tony Wigram, “The Psychological and Physiological Effects of Low Frequency Sound and Music,” MusicTherapy Perspectives, 1995.

10. A 1997 Gallup Survey on Americans’ attitudes toward music revealed that 89% of respondents believe music helps a child’s overall development, and 93% believe that music is part of a well-rounded education.
- Americans’ Attitudes Toward Music, The Gallup Organization, 1997.

So choose Kindermusik! It’s the single best choice a parent can make!

New Spring Schedule Posted

I have posted the new Spring schedule at my website http://kindermusikwithtanya.kindermusik.net  If you would like a class offered at a different time or day, please let me know and I will try to accommodate you.  If we have 2 or 3 enrolled in a class then it won’t be cancelled and you can have the day and time you want. 

I’m still offering the “friend” discount.  If you refer a friend that enrolls then you will receive a $10 discount toward your tuition.  Remember, you can bring a friend to a free preview class anytime, just let me know in advance and they can enroll at any time during the semester.  The tuition is prorated. 

The new Spring semester starts the week of February 25th so I need to order materials by Feb. 11th to make sure we receive them by the first class.  You can enroll online or schedule a time to drop by and enroll in person.  A $100 deposit is due at enrollment and the remaining tuition is due first day of class.  Please call if you would like to talk about a payment plan.  Payment plans must be approved before first day of class.  

It’s going to be a fabulous semester and I’m real excited about the curricula.  You and your child are  really going to love it!! 

Our First Winter Party with Kindermusik

                                       

  The Kindermusik kids in the Our Time and Young Child classes enjoyed special music about snow, jingle bells and the Nutcracker.  They also used the scarves for free

dance.  Ice skating with paper plates is the way to do it in the Arizona desert.  The closest thing to snow we have is the cotton balls and tissue paper “snow” balls that they

played with on the parachute.  After making snowflake ornaments and getting their gifts, Miss Tanya told each good-bye until next year when we will enjoy many more fun

activities and making new memories.  See you in 2008 !!!  Continue making music.

               

Musical Activities Stimulate Development in every area of the brain

First Day with Our Time bunch

                               The kids really opened up and enjoyed doing an impromptu group dance.

Hang in There!!

Hi! I’m Diane. Aimee invited me to post to her wonderful blog, so here I am.

Today, I would like to post about perseverance in parenting, particularly when it involves introducing a child to something new.

No, this post will not be about broccoli. It’s actually about Kindermusik classes.  

I’ve been taking my eldest daughter, Bethany, to Kindermusik classes since she was five months old. She’s now just turned four. So I’ve been through a lot of semesters, and every new semester I meet all kinds of wonderful new moms, moms who want to give their babies the best of everything. They envision taking a music class and cuddling with their child, humming to their child–all bliss and Mozart. But they get to the class with their baby and all of a sudden there is screaming and squirming. The child won’t lay still for infant massage. They won’t cuddle for rocking. They could care less about the books during quiet time. All they want to do is play under Mrs. Aimee’s table, or try to break into Mrs. Aimee’s amazing closet. And slowly, ever so slowly, I see some of those moms start to look disappointed and sad. 

At those moments I just want to say: hang in there! Persevere. And so many do. They come back, week after week, and lo and behold what they find: their children acclimate. Even as young as a few months old, these infants start to get in touch with they rhythm of the class. They get less fussy, less weepy, less difficult. The older ones get into the swing of the class in more overt ways. They find their favorite books. They squirm less during massage. They will allow some rocking. 

Part of the reason they adjust is because such things are repeated each week. Part of the reason is that mom and dad start trying to work with these things at home. And another part is that mom and dad (and grandma and grandpa) have learned the way their child likes to be massaged and rocked. Maybe baby doesn’t like to be massaged laying on her back; she prefers to sit in lap. Maybe baby doesn’t like to be rocked in the lap; she prefers to be rocked with mom standing up.  And slowly, with the power of parenting perseverance (say that 10 times quickly) things get smoother and more fun. More idyllic. 

Note: As they get older and more used to class, though, they only get more interested in that table and in trying to break into the closet (or get past Mrs. Aimee’s lovely ocean-scene covered doors to the world beyond). 

I’m writing about this today because while my first daughter, Bethany, was a dream child (i.e. the one I was given to trick me into having the second one) my second daughter, Christa, is a free spirit. While Bethany always has, and still will, lay perfectly limp during “infant massage” (even though she is four) Christa has always squirmed. While Bethany will still allow me to rock her to music, Christa has always tried to escape my lap. Christa has, up until today, been more likely to let someone else rock or massage her than me–and Christa has been going to Kindermusik classes (at the start with her sister) since she was an infant in a carrier, six weeks old. Now she is almost eighteen months old (perseverance, anyone?) and today, for the first time, she let me massage her the whole time–albeit laying with her head upside down hanging down from my lap. She also cuddled in my lap for rocking. And she didn’t even try to pry Mrs. Aimee’s outlet protectors out–not even once! She has become a model Kindermusik citizen, after eighteen months of classes!

Most children are not Christa. They do not take this long. Most get in the groove in just a few weeks. So just remember–if at first you don’t succeed, keep trying with whatever it is (even vegetables). Eventually, you and your child will find your way. 

Posted by Diane Masiell

reproduced with permission from Delightful Sounds blogspot