People often seem surprised when I tell them that I teach music classes for babies and preschoolers. I think there is a belief that a child needs to be a certain age before taking a music class, but your child is never too young to start! Taking a music class with your newborn is a lot of fun for the grown-ups as well as the babies, but there are many benefits too.
By taking a music class with your baby, you will learn not only how to recognize your babies earliest musical behaviors but also how to support and reinforce these behaviors and to create a playful, developmentally appropriate musical environment for your child. Just as children learn to talk and walk by going through many different stages, they learn to keep rhythm and hold a melody by going through a predictable sequence.
In their first year, babies’ responses to music change from being primarily reflexive to more and more intentional. Watching your baby respond to music can be really exciting, and over time you will notice their responses becoming more sophisticated. Early responses to music can include outstretched feet or kicking legs, eyes brightening, hands clenching or moving wildly in the air, torso moving rhythmically and cooing or smiling.
Over time babies begin to try and match pitches to notes that we are singing and their jerky arm movements in response to rhythms becomes more deliberate and eventually begin to match the beat of the songs that we are singing. It is really exciting when you hear a child hum the last note of a melody or even echo a musical phrase.
During class we move around to the music and parents get the chance to hold their babies in different ways. Changing their position stimulates their vestibular system which is used in maintaining balance. We also sing songs where we bounce or rock babies to the beat of the music. This allows them to feel the rhythm of the music whilst snuggling at the same time. When we dance around the room as a group, babies get to experience the social aspect of music making and interact with adults from different families.
As well as dancing and bouncing to the music I like to introduce babies to various percussion instruments and musical props. This is obviously entertaining, but the changing sensory stimulation also helps build neural pathways in the developing brain. As babies gain more control over their grasp mechanism they begin to experiment with the instruments or props themselves. Watching their caregivers interact with instruments is important for the babies as it motivates them to try new things.
I encourage families to get into the habit of singing a lullaby to their babies at sleep time. It helps with bedtime routine and is an easy way to make sure that you sing to your child every day. As your child gets older, you can use music to make routine activities fun - such as singing about getting pajamas on or cleaning your teeth.
Exposing children to a wide variety of music at a young age and allowing them to explore this through musical play really sows the seeds for a lifelong love of music.
Grania Buckley is the director at Tiger Mountain Music Together and teaches classes for babies and preschoolers in the Issaquah and Snoqualmie area. FREE TRIAL CLASSES are always available and if you mention Macaroni Kid when registering for a class she will waive the $15 new family registration fee.
More information available at www.tigermountainmusictogether.com
More information available at www.tigermountainmusictogether.com
