Wellness,

Music and Brain Development- On World Music Day, Explore This Important Connection!

Jul 11, 2022 | Wellness | 0 Comments | 89

In a 2016 study by the University of Southern California, researchers found significant differences between children who learned to play the instrument and those who did not. Learning instruments at a young age helps children excel in multiple cognitive functions like processing sound, and language, enhancing reading skills, and helping in better speech perception. Although World Music Day was last month, let us take a minute to explore why we should, as parents, be more proactive to expose our children to music. 

Music is one of the simple pleasures of life. Coming back from a dreary day at school, or livening up your spirits on a good day- both these situations are made better with a song close to our heart. This is probably why hearing is one of the earliest senses that develops, with infants at the end of the last trimester being able to identify and hear music. So much so that if the baby hears a tune multiple times when inside the womb, can identify the same tune as a newborn. 

Music requires complex cognitive functioning, hand-eye coordination, tone processing, etc which are excellent exercises for a young mind. These activities at a young age even facilitate your child’s brain to process complex mathematical operations and numerical logic at a later age. Moving from the long-term benefits, learning how to play an instrument is a classic example of the learning-by-doing school that encourages children to learn new skills by actually getting hands-on. This gives them numerous opportunities for personality development as they gain confidence and satisfaction from playing a set on the violin or finally getting the beats right on the drum set. 

If you have a young infant at home, try incorporating music into their daily routine. Babies can identify patterns and tunes faster than they can comprehend the words- this exposes them to different rhythms and instruments. Soothing music and white noise in the background can actually help them sleep faster and be calmer. Making up your own songs during bath time, feeding and other routines can be a playful bonding experience with them and can be your baby’s first exposure to songs. This is especially true for bilingual or trilingual households where you want children to learn and identify their mother tongue well. Nursery rhymes and short and simple songs in the mother tongue are excellent ways to get your child to be proficient in their mother tongue. 

At a later age, say teenage and young adulthood, music is a stress buster. As your kids grow up, their school work mounts up, hormonal changes of puberty start acting up and they go through a lot of changes at home and at school. At this, music serves as an outlet and emotional support for many kids as they navigate through these changes. In a study, music was found to be related to positive mental health and immunity! This study throws light on the positive effects of music therapy on patients with mental health issues, and the other physiological effects of music like improved heart rate, motor skills, brain stimulation, and modulation of the immune system. 

So parents, on the occasion of World Music Day, let your children discover the world of music and cherish the gift of a lifetime! Here are some online resources and classes that you enroll your child in-