A child's growth and development can be stimulated in various ways. Whether it's through constant interaction with their parents, the different environments they find themselves in or just observation. In this case, we're talking about something that is increasingly considered and utilised at this stage of development - music.
Music has long been considered fundamental to children's intellectual, social, physical and personal development. It is of undeniable importance. The many transformations throughout the 20th century have provided new ways of experiencing music - through radio, television and other music production and reproduction equipment. In this way, music has become more accessible and can be listened to anywhere at any time.
Nowadays, we can listen to music associated with various themes, cultures, certain social behaviours and with different meanings.
Music is essential for promoting an increased capacity for social and cognitive interaction, giving human beings the chance to develop in a different way to other species. In addition, music can be a link for human beings to express themselves, to interact, to put some meaning into a particular moment, a form of entertainment, communication and it can contribute to integration into society.
Music brings with it various meanings - individual (music is associated with our feelings) and social (it facilitates integration into different social groups and can translate into a bond when we integrate and create ties with people). With such characteristics, music can only be beneficial to a child's development, don't you think?
The development of the human being is an ongoing process. Right from the start, it begins in the mother's tummy. It is called the process of acculturation, in other words, something that is done spontaneously and something that human beings are exposed to in their daily lives through sounds or even music associated with the culture of their country. Experiencing music is something that shapes the human brain, which causes our listening skills to develop and we create preferences for certain sounds.
Let's start with newborns - the constant interaction of parents through speech, music and all the emotions generated is the perfect game for baby's emotional, social and musical development. It's a great tool for attracting the baby's attention, calming them down and sharing certain emotions. At this stage, babies are especially sensitive to lullabies and simple, soft, repetitive rhythms.
We must bear in mind that babies develop systems for processing music and are sensitive to intensity, tone and rhythm. At 6 months, babies can already distinguish between different rhythmic and melodic patterns and musical structure. By the age of 9 months, they begin to make and sing some spontaneous sounds and by the age of 18 months they are able to sing small melodies in a recognisable way. Memorising and recognising music comes about largely through the process of acculturation. Listening and musical memory are two components developed from an early age by our musical experts and fans of expressive musical interpretations.
As for musical development in childhood, we can guarantee that it contributes to the integration of sensitivity and intellect, collaborates with communication, body expression and socialisation, stimulates concentration and memory, as well as being a great way for children to entertain themselves and play. Activities such as musical games or mime help develop motor coordination and language. It is essential for their musical development to promote musical experiences, through creating music, listening and singing.
Understanding a particular piece of music is a process that takes time and will depend on the amount of exposure the child has, because the more exposure they have, the faster their musical development will be. In many cases, parents encourage early music education because they believe in its benefits. The most common example is for parents to have their child learn an instrument and realise that, throughout the learning process, several components are developed - musical sensitivity, musical thinking (e.g. harmony or timing), vocal production skills, musical composition (progressing to more complex stages) and musical appreciation, which is already developing at a later stage.
This whole explanation makes us think how extraordinary it is to think that music really is a great source of stimulation for children.
At Wedoble, we consider music to be an valuable asset and a great help in the whole creative process and in the message we want to convey. Today we bring you an example of someone who, since childhood, has always had music in her life. "Hello, my name is Maria. I'm the youngest of three sisters and I can assure you that music has always been present in my life. My parents have always made sure that music was present in our lives ever since we were babies - on a car trip we listened to all kinds of musical styles, some songs we asked to repeat because we loved to sing and dance; at our school, there were many musical activities - I learnt to play the flute, we created dances for the Christmas party and I learnt to associate music with philosophy as a form of expression; ever since I was a baby, my mum sang to us and I think that was a huge trigger, so as a little girl I started waking up and singing in my own way every morning and waking everyone up at home. In addition, from a very early age I began to associate different songs with certain moments in my life - a memorable concert, a song that symbolises friendship with my best friend or a song that was associated with a learning moment. Music really transforms us and I think that life wouldn't make as much sense without certain sounds - the sound of birds or sea waves - that are part of our daily lives and that we sometimes take for granted. Plus, it's a great way to express ourselves. I think any activity where you can add music is always better - whether it's going for a walk, playing with the kids, or even just putting on your headphones and starting to sing and dance. I often think, I'm glad my parents introduced music into my life and I have this freedom and ability to listen to any kind of music and have my favourites. Music was one of the ways I learnt - new ways of expressing ourselves, different languages, different meanings of words and learning about people".
Here's an example that we think is a great way to show how important music can be and the benefits it can bring at an early stage in our lives.
What about you? We want to know if music has always been present in your lives. What is your children's relationship with music like? Have you used music as a way of stimulating your little ones' development? We want to know your opinion.
