Your Brain on Music
Why is music so important? What are the benefits to listening to music? How about playing or making music? When should you introduce music?
Great questions every parents needs to know! So let’s dive right in! New research has been done in more recent years using brain imaging to analyze brain activity in musicians and individuals passively listening to music and making music. The image below shows the areas of the brain involved when we listen to and make music.
Benefits of listening to and creating to music:
Sense of cohesion and social connectedness
increased cognition and language development
Dopamine release which elevates our mood and reduces stress
Fine motor skills development
Improved memory
In a group setting added benefits include community building and development of lasting friendships and strengthened family bonds.
Decreased fatigue and enhanced physical performance.
Music has been used as therapy inside and outside of the hospital to help manage pain, improve cognition, soothe babies, assist with nicu newborn feeding and reduce stress and anxiety!
Music can even boost exercise performance! It increases motivation, cuts down on awareness of exertion and helps your body exercise more efficiently! Work on those workout playlists people! Spotify anyone??
To celebrate the importance of music, we are highlighting Music&Me and Allisongs for Tots! Both of these organizations utilize the Music Together curriculum. It integrates music from all over the world, instrument introduction, family bonding, free movement and playfulness! It also brings together moms, dads, caregivers and children in community to walk through life together.
I personally participated in Music&Me with both of my kiddos (now 9 and 4). I started with them with they were young infants. I was lucky enough to meet some incredible mamas and made many great friendships thanks to those early music classes. Though our play dates are now (never enough)mom’s night outs and coffee dates, we are still forever bonded by our mornings being silly, singing and dancing together.
One of the best parts has been watching my kiddos love of music evolve over the years. We graduated from Music&Me to acoustic guitar lessons for my 9 year old son! He started lessons with one of his past music teachers three years ago. He reads music, plays songs by ear and has become more and more confident in himself! My personal experience aside, the proof is in the research!!
A great new read to check out, The Music Advantage: How Music Helps Your Child Develop, Learn and Thrive. Written by Dr. Anita Collins, PhD., she shares the research on how playing an instrument and creating music even with clapping can dramatically impact your child’s life for the better from infancy through teenage years!
