The Important Role of Music and Movement in Early Childhood Learning

Sue Fletcher outlines the advantages of music and movement education and the effects that this can have on early childhood development.

Music is an emotional, complex, creative, multisensory, and whole-body experience.

When children sing or listen to music, when they move or clap or dance to it, they immerse themselves in the experience. When children sing, they listen closely to learn new lyrics and rhymes; they internalize phrasing, predict refrains, and mentally organize rhythmic patterns. When children sing with their classmates, the sound they create is richer and their experience more broad and inclusive. When children sing, they move, for there is very little music in early childhood without expressive movement.

“Music molds the mind,” writes Susan Barry, professor of neurobiology at Mount Holyoke College, referring to that window of opportunity, or developmental stage, in which children are most receptive to music’s benefits. “Making music actively engages the brain’s synapses, and there is good reason to believe that it increases the brain’s capacity by increasing the connections among neurons.” As young children participate in music-based activities, their muscles, senses, and intellect are engaged simultaneously; they are exercising their brains in ways they rarely do.

Scientists can now demonstrate how this occurs and predict which areas of the brain children tap into when they engage in singing, play an instrument, dance, or actively listen to a rhythm or melody.

Pre-schoolers and Music

Pre-schoolers enjoy singing just to be singing. They aren’t self-conscious about their ability and most are eager to let their voices roar. In my classroom I have a karaoke microphone on hand for each lesson. I invite the children to stand solo on a stage and sing one of their favourite songs. This is incredibly popular with the pre-schoolers. Everyone raises their hand to sing a song with the golden microphone. They like songs that repeat words and melodies, use rhythms with a definite beat, and ask them to do things. Preschool children enjoy nursery rhymes and songs about familiar things like toys, animals, play activities, and people. They also like finger plays and nonsense rhymes, ask your pre-schooler about our funny song A Ram Sam Sam. None of the lyrics make any sense at all!

I am often asked by parents ‘when should my child start learning an instrument?’ My answer; it is never too early!

Children who play an instrument are consistently organizing, adjusting, and sequencing new material before committing it to memory, and while not every child has the opportunity or inclination, many can benefit from classroom activities that mimic the brain’s multitasking challenges. Writer and musician Blake Madden puts it this way, “You want higher test scores in math and science? Music education will help. You want children with higher mental faculty? Music education will help. You want to keep kids out of trouble and on track toward college and future employment? Music education will help.”

Here at Concordia, Music and Movement is an integral part of the daily activities. While rhymes are sung during multiple times of the day (like during circle time, during lunchtime, during transitions and even during hand wash), Music and Movement is a focused activity time intended to meet certain objectives. The role of the teacher during music and movement is critical as she needs to make observations on the developing milestones of children. Schools must prioritise Music and Movement classes in Early Childhood to develop the students’ physical literacy, social skills and language development.

Four important benefits of music and movement in early childhood education include:

1. Music and movement can be healing. It’s simply good for children. Studies have shown that music can help children with everything from autism to school performance
2. It also helps babies learn languages. Music and movement draw on a baby’s natural well-tuned sense of sound, rhythmic abilities and a strong motivation to communicate with others.
3. Music helps with gross motor development because it involves rhythm and sound recognition. Children have a natural inclination to skip, run, jump, crawl and walk when music is playing.
4. Music and movement in early childhood education inspires children’s creative self-expression either by making music with an instrument, singing along or making up their own songs and dancing.

Why Start Young? What are the long term benefits?

It is now widely accepted that there are direct correlations between musical study and verbal competency, motor and auditory skills, reasoning abilities and problem solving — essential abilities that children take into adulthood.

Musical experience promotes brain development

Findings in a 2009 study featured in the journal of Neuroscience showed for the first time that musical experience for as little as 15 months in early childhood leads to structural brain changes and results in improvements in motor and auditory skills (Hyde et al. 2009, Journal of Neuroscience 29(10):3019–3025).

Music contributes to academic success

Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital worked with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and found early musical training enhances the areas of the brain responsible for executive functioning. Children with at least two years of private lessons showed enhanced cognitive control, with aids in information retention and behavior regulation. “Musical training may actually help to set up children for a better academic future,” said Senior Investigator Nadine Gaab, PhD, of the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience. (June 2014)

Music training stimulates verbal competency

A Stanford University study showed that mastering a musical instrument improves brain processing in areas associated with language development, and may have implications for improving language/reading skills (Gabrieli, John, http://news-service.stanford.edu, Nov. 2005).

Practicing a musical instrument provides auditory discrimination and fine motor skills

A Harvard-based study found that children who receive instrument music training for three years or more outperform their control counterparts in areas such as fine motor skills and superior discrimination in melodic/tonal and rhythmic discrimination abilities. (Schlaug, G, Norton, A, Overy, K, Winner, E. 2005 Annals NY Acad of Sciences 1060).

Music and character development

In addition to cognitive skills, study in the arts develops character traits such as discipline, perseverance, teamwork, patience, self-control, problem solving, and empathy.

Music and movement classes have proven to provide many more benefits to children than simple entertainment. Much research is currently being undertaken to learn the effects of music and movement on the mind and body, yet we now know from findings of several of the most prestigious researchers in the field that it can have very positive effects on child development.

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