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.
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)
Music and arts education are valuable components of academic instruction. And they become even more valuable when they are used towards the resolution of crisis situations that affect and traumatized children around the globe. Creative expression has both educational and psychological significance for children that have suffered natural disasters, wars, and violent acts, serving as a way through which people of diverse cultures can interact and unite in their shared humanity.
Teachers use art and music to cultivate communication, social abilities and cognitive emotions to increase cooperation, self-confidence and self-esteem. Through the creation of singing, moving, and listening stimulus to music, a broad range of emotional, cognitive and physical abilities of children are brought out and help them to learn new skills.
Creative therapy can be expressed in a variety of forms including music and movement therapy, writing techniques and play therapies. Aiming to provide children with a means of expression that can help them express their emotions about their individual experiences while using their imagination and the creativity of the therapist, creative therapy offers a sense of accomplishment.
Music and movement therapies have a therapeutic effect on children. By addressing physical, psychological, cognitive and/or social functioning, music and movement act as a powerful medium that provides support and encouragement to each traumatized child in the effort to acquire new skills and abilities. Movement therapies transform feelings into movement that helps children release their stress and express their emotions. On the other hand, music, because of its ability to touch each person in a different way and often in many different ways, creates the grounds for new learning opportunities and most importantly, for leading a normal life.
Writing techniques have been researched widely regarding their physical and emotional benefits. They can be used as a means for stress relief because children can write down anything they think about or focus on unresolved feelings that have been created as a result of a traumatic experience.
Play therapies use the imagination of children as a means to communicate with them.
Psychologists suggest that children who experience a major traumatic event before the age of 11 are three times more likely to develop psychological symptoms that those children who experience their first traumatic event as teenagers or even at a later age. However, children’s ability to deal with their trauma is highly subject to the reaction of their parents or their care-takers, but also to the method used to overcome the trauma.
Unfortunately, there are numerous examples of children that have suffered traumatic events around the world over the past five years. A typical example of how arts are implemented to help them overcome their feelings of distress and anxiety is a study on the young victims of Hurricane Katrina. Children were gathered under large white tents to feel protected and taken care of and were asked by art therapists to draw their houses. What art therapists saw in almost all their drawings was that the place of safety in the drawing was not the house, but the roof. Besides, the children’s drawings included dead birds, snakes, alligators, helicopters and rescue boats, depicting quite accurate the magnitude of the disaster and their feelings of despair.
Focusing on the long-lasting effects of Hurricane Katrina on those children that included anxiety, learning difficulties or even suicidal impulses, psychologists concluded that only art could improve the children’s psychological and mental condition. Several months later, the art therapists returned to New Orleans to check on the children and their families. Children were asked to draw and express their feelings again. This time, most children drew scary water lines, which made the art therapists conclude that the trauma had not end with the Hurricane Katrina. Children were still afraid of water.
Similar examples are derived from the children of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Iran, and many other areas on the planet. The children’s participation in arts and music strengthens their identity and creates strong bonds within their communities. Using music and performing arts helps refugee children to integrate with the local community, while teachers address the need for social connection. In doing so, children are effectively assimilated into the education system, building relationships and gaining trust, while enhancing their self-esteem, confidence, and language skills.
The use of music and arts to the healing of traumatized children is not an easy task. It requires high competence in the knowledge and skills of teachers who need to be prepared to meet the diverse needs of each child. Besides, to educate children with arts and music and help them overcome their traumas, teachers need to have professional responsibilities and the ability to communicate knowledge and skills.
After having suffered extreme situations of crisis and having experienced severe traumas, children need a positive impact on their life. This motivation can only be driven through teamwork, appreciation for other cultures and community awareness. Interactive performance programs as well as strategic partnerships with arts-based and community-based organizations can offer those children education, personal development and community involvement. And all these attributes can be found in the creativity and self-expression provided in arts and music education.
