“Music’s impact on the brain can be traced with neuroimaging tools such as MRIs and PET scans. The actual brain pathways and mechanisms involved can be isolated. This suggests that the effects also happen on a physical level.”*

“At five-months old, infants can even discriminate between the smallest interval used in Western music, a semitone. In fact, infants eight to eleven months old have been shown to perceive and remember melodic contour. And infants ages seven to nine months old can “chunk” music in the same way experienced musicians do.”*

“Using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques, researchers have uncovered the most common areas activated during mathematical operations. The key math areas of the brain, it turns out, have some overlap with areas highly involved with music.”*

 “At the Tallahassee Florida Memorial Regional Medical Center, a study was done to discover the impact of music on newborns and premature babies with low birth weight. Those who heard a tape of children’s lullabies for one hour per day reduced hospital stays by five days; the weights normalized quicker; and stress levels were lower than the control conditions.”*

 “Although children Typically hear music through the media, and may even hear live music on occasion, adults need to sing to them as a means of teaching them to use their singing and chanting voices, in the same way speaking to them provides a model in the use of their speaking voices.”#

 “Unless children experience a rich and varied exposure to music before they are eighteen months of age, they will become primarily preoccupied with language acquisition and music will take a place of little or no importance in their later lives.”#

 “The brain receives and retains information as a result of movement that is sensed primarily through the arms and legs. Without the entire body providing input, the brain for all intents and purpose is deprived and remains dormant. That is, the body must feel before the brain can comprehend.”#

 “What children learn during these first five years of their lives forms the foundation for all subsequent educational development, which traditionally begins when they enter kindergarten or first grade and receive formal academic instruction.”#

 “The most important time for learning, however, is from birth (if not before) until eighteen months, a period during which a child learns through exploration and from unstructured guidance by parents and other caretakers.”#

 “Numerous neurologists, pediatricians, biologists, and psychologists associated with universities and research institutes have come to believe that the critical periods for establishing neurological connections and synapses take place prenatally and during very early childhood.”#

“…Unless cells are used to make neurological network connections and synapses related to each of the senses at appropriate times, the cells will dissipate or direct themselves to enhancing other senses, and the sense that is neglected will be limited throughout life.”#

KEY #- “Music with the Brain in Mind” by Eric Jensen. The Brain Store, Inc. 2000. *- “A Music Learning Theory for Newborn and Young Children” by Edwin Gordon. GIA Publications, 2003.

This information was complied  by Holly Kowalski, Music Education Student.

 

 

Benefits of Music at and Early Age