As we continue our conversation on the advantages of music education for children, I want to make sure you understand that music schools and private teachers do not have it in their agendas to make a great musician out of every student!
Have you ever talked to people who have completed only half of their music education? If not, then I recommend you do. Certainly, they had some difficulties in training, because studying is hard work! But I bet you’ll hear them say that they regret quitting. Later in life, people understand that the kind of push they received in their emotional and intellectual development was due to musical training in their childhood.
I talked to many adults who had taken music lessons as children. Some told me amazing stories about how the music helped them improve their memory (and not only musical). Others noticed that their spoken language became richer, and their voice more expressive. I’ve also met people who use their once-musically trained hands and fingers to do dainty, nimble work in skillful projects. For example, among these are many who work as secretaries or at jobs that are closely connected with a computer.
Children who study music can better and more expressively recite poems than other children. Many “musical” children grow up to be fine actors.
Also, very few people know that the most successful among those who are multilingual used to play musical instruments in childhood! And, the longer their training was as a child, the better their grip on foreign language speaking and comprehension as an adult! Ninety-five percent of polyglots used to or still play musical instruments.
Also, it is obvious that playing music makes the hands – and especially the fingers – of painters or artists quite skillful and capable. Having listed the advantages of music education, I’d like to add that former “musical” children, even if they did not become professional musicians, having grown up, regard their work with more responsibility and professionalism. They are pleasant to talk with because they love people. Due to their specially developed ear for music, “musical” people understand their relatives and children better. The majority of them are happily married, and they choose jobs that have to do with communicating and working with people. There are many teachers, doctors, personnel managers, lawyers, bank clerks, counselors, as well as translators, journalists, etc., among them.
Now, dear parents, hopefully I have dispelled all your doubts about choosing music lessons for your child and answered the question as to “Why I want my child to get music education.”
Yet having made such a serious and responsible decision, I am sure that many of you still have some doubts and questions. And those of you whose children have already begun training will come across certain issues and require assistance and guidance in resolving them from time to time.
Drawing from my own experience, I have noticed that while preparing children for music lessons, parents do not always use the recommended literature, which, unfortunately, is really hard to come by. Sometimes such books are written in “dry” and complex language not intended for easy reading and understanding.
Most music teachers consider teaching music to their dear students both their profession and passion. Most of them have the heart for arts and music – making each student love learning music and music as a whole. With this kind of outlook and disposition in teaching music, the inspired and motivated music teacher tends to begin his search for consistent improvement in his teaching strategies as well as his effort for personal and professional growth.
Indeed, there is a wide variety of creative music teachers resources that students can certainly enjoy and get excited working on with. According to studies, the integration of audio and video recording in music education has been an effective technique to catch the attention and grab the interest of the learners. This is believed to be an effective tool in raising the level of interest and motivation among music learners.
Current practice in music teaching favors a practical and a hands-on approach in emphasizing performance and composition. The use of recorded music as a teaching resource has tended to take a back seat. However, recordings are the predominant vehicle of musical experience today. As the students are expert listeners to recorded sound, major developments in the access to and presentation of recorded music are opening up new educational possibilities to most of them.
Targeted to be implemented in most music classrooms, the production and engineering aspects of recorded sound to online music libraries and teachers’ experiences of using recordings in the classroom have been randomly practiced and taken into consideration.
When a classroom setting has a relaxed atmosphere, informal learning may take place yet anxiety, tension and pressure would neither rule the learning situation. Hence, when there is relaxed supervision with no teachers behind the desk, the students would be more eager and interested to learn music. Students may also work in groups – giving them more chances of friendship and peer support. In this case, cooperative learning is found effective. The music teacher may encourage the students choose various musical instruments of their choice and eventually master such.
After they finish recording, they may organize or set-up a short play or a mini-concert to show their rendition of songs and other performances. These activities can heighten the learning process as they get too excited in meeting their objectives and getting high grades. These can also help them boost enough self-confidence and self-esteem. Through these music teachers’ resources, the music teacher tends to meet most of his objectives all at the same time.
These creative techniques in music education intend to motivate the learners from different ages and with different lifestyles. So start your quest to amazingly creative music teachers resources now. Be inspired to share your knowledge as well as the joys of music to your students. Make them realize that learning music is fun so they have to do it all by heart. Happy teaching!
When I ask parents, “Why do your children need music education?” I often get a generalized answer like, “My child studies for himself.” Drawing from my own life experience, I can tell you this with absolute confidence: the more clearly and more precisely we know what we want, the quicker and easier we get it.
To understand the advantage of musical education, let’s talk about the music lessons in more detail, beginning with the most simple and popular art – the art of singing.
The voice is given to a person from the moment he is born as the means of a congenital, unconditional, protective reflex. Later, the person learns to use the sounds produced to develop a speaking and then a singing voice. By singing songs or humming tunes, children have an opportunity to accumulate musical impressions and acoustical experience, develop an ear for music, and learn to use the natural musical instrument, the voice. The skilful use of a singing voice is one of the main advantages for the development of child’s musical abilities. Even simply singing for your own pleasure can bring a lot of positive moments into your life. Also, singing activates the functioning in the left (logic) and right (figurative) hemispheres of a brain. As a result, the working capacity of the child increases. Singing also promotes attention and improves the mood.
How can singing positively influence children’s health? Singing actively develops and strengthens the respiratory system, which is especially important at the early age. It also naturally trains the muscles of the throat and vocal chords. Because the respiratory system is closely connected with the cardiovascular system, the child, being engaged in respiratory gymnastics during singing, thereby strengthens his health. Singing also promotes the development of musical abilities such as hearing, memory, sense of rhythm, and time/tempo.
Many of you have probably heard that singing can cure such speech impediments such as stuttering. I can confirm this fact with confidence – by using my own techniques, I helped one of my daughters eliminate this problem within two years. The fact is that while singing, words are sounded lingeringly, which helps the child pronounce separate sounds and syllables more precisely. In other words, singing is the cure to many language and speech difficulties, such as stuttering! Well-chosen drills combined with a child’s desire to get rid of an unpleasant impediment are the keystone to success.
In addition, proper speech characterizes correct thinking. Thus, after eliminating a stutter, your child’s susceptibility to general studying and learning at public school will improve due to the resultant emotional liberation.
Children who sing regularly are also very focused. They easily learn foreign languages, they are more diligent in comparison to other children, and they are able to study and absorb any training much easier.
Singing in vocal ensemble or choir is also beneficial. This way, children get to develop additional qualities as musicians. For example, harmonic hearing is a skill in which a person hears and distinguishes a number of tones that sound simultaneously, as well as the sense of ensemble. (Ensemble, from the French, means “together.”) By becoming part of a choir or vocal ensemble, the child starts to understand and feel his own importance and power. Besides, who would scoff at the ability to have a beautiful and well-trained voice? Let’s admit it: it would be very pleasant to talk with such a person – and hopefully, hear him sing,
(To be continued)
