How Does Music Affect Children?
Music is an amazing mix of different sounds. It helps us develop spiritually, enriches our imagination, and simply brings joy and happiness into our lives.
Music has the potential of greatly affecting a child’s personality during their formative years. It is a scientifically proven fact that classical music can help develop children’s creative abilities, boost their intelligence, improve their attention, and enhance their concentration.
Kids are able to absorb new knowledge and skills much faster than adults. In fact, they’re so good at it that they can even give them a hand with finding stuff on the Internet. For example, if your original search query (e.g., “edit my paper”) failed to return any meaningful results, they can help you come up with a more precise one and get you the exact thing you’ve been looking for.
Their character, personality, life priorities, and talents are determined by the environment they grow up in. Music can have a significant impact on them, which is why it is so important for parents to pay more attention to their kids’ education.
Numerous studies have established that music plays an important role in children’s cognitive development. Therefore, quite a few expectant mothers practice playing music to their yet unborn babies. Of course, the kids begin to make sense of the lyrics at a more advanced age, but they’re still able to recognize a melody even in their mother’s womb.
1. How Does Music Impact Children?
Beneficial effects:
- Improved memory. Children are able to remember the melody and lyrics subconsciously.
- Formation of speech. By encouraging your kid to sing your favorite songs, you get them to develop their articulation.
- Music therapy is a way to control the emotional state of children. Hyperactive children become calmer by listening to relaxing music. And conversely, lively tunes help energize passive kids.
- Development of creative abilities. By listening to music, kids learn to interpret and understand it, and this means that they actively use their imagination.
- Development of writing and math skills. Surprisingly, regular listening to music also impacts children’s ability to write and count. There is even a scientific explanation for this: music develops spatial perception.
Negative effects:
- Noisy and loud music. Violent music (e.g., chaotic house, aggressive heavy metal, hard garage rock) can provoke hysteria, aggression in children. Therefore, psychologists do not recommend letting your kids listen to songs in which percussion instruments prevail.
- Obscene language. Some songs contain words that even adults would be too embarrassed to use. Children, on the other hand, can get into the habit of repeating filthy lyrics, and it will be very difficult for them to shake it off afterward.
- Slow songs. Having your children listen to lyrical ballads all day long isn’t a very good idea. That can make them feel bored or sad.
20-30-minute music therapy sessions should be held 2-3 times a day. The duration can be increased if the baby is OK with listening to music. It is also a good idea to play dynamic songs before feeding your kid and more relaxing ones after.
There’s no need to crank up the volume — just make sure the song is sufficiently audible. The repertoire can be wide and include pop, jazz, folk songs, etc.
2. Classical Music
Not all people have a passion for classical music. To them, it seems too boring, overly sophisticated, and excessively monotonous. However, classical music has been medically proven to have a beneficial psychological impact on children. Of course, everything is very individual., On hearing the sounds of an orchestra, some kids begin to cry, while others completely calm down. Their reaction depends primarily on a kid’s temperament, and for each of them, you need to come up with an individual program.
The benefits of classical music for children of all ages are universally recognized. By regularly listening to Mozart, Bach, and Chopin, children can dramatically boost their creative, and communicative skills. There is even the so-called “Mozart Effect”: kids listening to the works of Mozart tend to develop their spatial- temporal abilities better than the ones who don’t. According to doctors, this phenomenon can be explained by the fact that Wolfgang Amadeus’s works have some special tonal series in them.
3. Children Songs
Songs written specifically for young music lovers play a major role in the development of their personality. Usually, these are simple compositions with easily memorable lyrics that are designed to develop children’s creative skills and
enrich their imagination.
By listening to such songs, kids immerse themselves in the wonderful world of music n and are able to conjure up various images in their mind’s eye. Very often, parents combine their children’s music therapy sessions with drawing classes. That provides them with a unique opportunity to graphically express their thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
As we can see, music helps parents educate their children in many different ways.
4. Influence of Music on Children’s Psyche
Music begins to impact kids when they’re still in their mother’s womb. Not only can it have a beneficial effect on their mental health, but it can also be used for treating various emotional disorders, such as communication problems, isolation, and all kinds of phobias.
Music can also be very effective in relieving tension and achieving positive self-esteem.
Your kid can benefit from music not only by listening to it. Try to encourage them to sing along with you, and you’ll see a significant improvement in their overall psychological stater.
When choosing what music to play for your kid, you should keep in mind their character. That way, you’ll ensure that both you and your baby have only positive emotions. Also, it will let you fill your life with new colors and emotions.
