Why Early Childhood Music Classes, and Which One?

You may be asking yourself why you should provide your infant, toddler or preschooler with music classes now. Why not wait until age 7, the age many instructors will accept students for private instrument playing study. Do young children have the motor skills and cognitive development to gain anything from music education?

Deborah Pratt from The University of Iowa in her article, Musical Development of the Young Child: Pitch, Melody, and Rhythm writes, "Age is such an important factor because at this young age, everything is developing at once. Mental abilities, motor skills, singing ability, and understanding of musical concepts all interact and affect the child's musical world."

She points to research that shows that the majority of children who have formal music education between the ages of two and six are able to develop perfect pitch.

Furthermore, rhythmic abilities develop very quickly in children who have formal music education at an early age.

She concludes, "Historically, the music training of preschool children has been left to early childhood specialists with minimal training in music education. The tremendous rate of growth in musical concepts and skills occurring at these early ages warrants more than a passing interest by early childhood educators."

Music education is the best thing you can do for your child to help them with math later on. After all, you are not going to teach many preschoolers to play chess or solve complex mathematical problems, but all children are interested in and can process music!

Okay, I Want my Child to Have Early Childhood Music Classes, but How Do I Know Which One?

I believe that the MENC (Music Educators National Conference) summarizes the goals of a good early childhood music program best.

The MENC identifies four content standards (goals) for music classes for children age 2-5. They are as follows:

Singing and playing instruments. Children will use their voices to sing, chant, and speak. They will become increasingly accurate in rhythm and pitch. They will experiment with a variety of instruments and will play simple accompaniment.

Creating Music. Improvisation is essential for the developing mind. You should observe your child "making up" songs that accompany their play. They will create music with voices and instruments and other sound sources. They will be able to represent musical ideas and sounds on paper.

Responding to music. Children will identify the source of a wide variety of sounds (auditory discrimination, which is also important for learning to read). They will respond to different tempos, meters, dynamics, etc. in ways that express what they feel about the music. They will participate freely in musical activities.

Understanding Music. Children will develop the vocabulary to describe musical instruments, voices, styles, etc. They will demonstrate through their singing, movement, instrument playing, etc. that they are aware of the changes in elements of music. They will be more aware of music in all parts of daily life.

Basically, I would summarize by cautioning you to be wary of programs that have a performance emphasis (choirs, etc.) before school age. I would also be careful not to involve your child in private instrument instruction at the preschool level unless the instructor is specifically trained in early childhood development. Make sure that the class you choose allows time for both structured, teacher-led activities, and for creative, child-led activities.

By Kim Northup, of MusiKids. Copyright © 2002 Kim Northup. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission. You can contact Kim at musikids@hotmail.com