The Importance of Musical  Activities for  Children’s Development and Learning

 

According to the ancient Sanskrit teachings now presented in the Vaisnava philosophy the first manifestation of God, in a physical form within our world, was that which we perceive as vibrations associated with the production of sound.

The bible describes the creation of the world was by His ‘word’; “And God said,….” implies a specific presentation of sound vibrations through His spoken words. Each of the words spoken by God organised how He directed the creation of our earth.

The bible presents that God made us in His own image and Jesus illustrated that if we have faith we can also use words to influence our world; either from a negative destructive intention or a positive creative perspective through prayer.

The spiritual conception of creation is described in Physical terms as:-organised movement (as opposed to chaos) creates patterns of vibration which are perceived as sound, music and words. It is interesting to acknowledge the importance that is given to the power of our own words as influential, and the primary importance of music within our cultural life styles and systems of communication. In religions and spiritual practices based on shared and individual systems of worship there are specifically notable musical and spoken formats, e.g. recitation, chanting and singing with and without musical accompaniment.

If all vibration emanates sound and thereby gives a deeper meaning to the different perceptions of our worldly domain then musical experiences may be strongly related to our development and learning as we relate to sound and spoken language.

Steiner describes perception as ‘the musical element’ that relates not only to music, but also the musicality of language and the natural world.

‘…they are forces of a musical nature………  For everything going on in nature is permeated by a hidden music, the earthly projection of the ‘music of their spheres’ (Steiner, 1982:19)

The late Vicky Walls formulated and manufactured a range of colour healing products. The range of different coloured Aura Soma balance oils is still, today, produced according to her formulas, which provide a range of over 100 different coloured oils. Vicky Walls was blind but she could feel and discern the quality of vibration related to what we would see as colour. She developed an advanced healing resource that the author has personally witnessed and could truthfully describe as miracle healing.

Dr kjeld Johansen developed frequency specific music tapes designed to improve a person’s hearing discrimination and speed of processing. These tapes have been successfully used to help children overcome specific learning difficulties. (Goddard, 2004:79)

More recently in 1996, Dr. Linda Long, a biochemist at Exeter University, formulated a technique whereby she can translate scientific data which recorded the molecular frequency of activity within the physical structure of different plants and crystals. She then accurately translated this computer data into a musical notation that can be heard by the human ear. This musical presentation of scientific data she has called Molecular music. (www.molecularmusic.com). The author has used the CD titled Music of the Plants when working with children in both educational and healing environments. The children not only appeared to be more at ease but also illustrated a deeper and more personally empowered link with their creativity whilst the music was being played.

These examples illustrate the wide spectrum of influential understanding based on information directly related to the frequency of vibrations presented within our physical world.

Pre-Birth Sensory Development Within the Ear

The ear is the first sensory organ to develop and actively function whilst the baby is in the womb.

‘Both rhythm and sound are created as a result of movement – rhythm is a sequence of movements in time, and sound is made up of vibrations.’  (Goddard, 2004:68)

The reception of vibrations related to sound develops within the inner ear during the first four months of development in the womb. Hearing the sounds produced by the mother’s bodily functions is combined with later perceptions of sounds associated with the mother’s speech and external sounds from the environment. The baby’s reception of external sounds is however, a little distorted by the mother’s physical structure and the fluid around the foetus within the womb.

This very early development and functional ability can later be related to the importance of movement and accompanying sounds generally considered to be of primary importance to the young child’s learning. Within the inner ear there are two chambers:-

The vestibular system monitors balance and physical movement and presents related information to the body and brain.

The cochlea is the hearing apparatus and this organ monitors the varying frequencies of a sound coming into the ear from the environment.

‘both chambers within the inner ear need to work together to produce the dual elements of music – rhythm and sound’.  The human ear can detect vibrations that travel in the form of sound waves, covering varying frequencies from 16hz (low) to 25000hz(high)…………………..Modern music has a comparatively limited range of low frequencies. Classical music contains a wide spectrum of frequencies and is far richer in the high frequencies.’ (Goddard, 2004:69)

Our capacity to hear the potential range of sounds detected by the human ear diminishes notably throughout our life time. Between childhood and adolescence the average person’s range of hearing decreases down to the frequency range required for accurate reception and production of one’s first language. .Research also suggests that children who have high levels of musical experience and musical skills retain and acquire greater auditory perceptual skills. (Goddard, 2004:chapters 5-6)

The extensive range of frequencies presented in classical music, together with the enriched range of musical composition and orchestral instruments, has founded the promotion of the ‘Mozart Effect’. It is presented that listening to certain classical recordings will help children’s intellectual and creative development. (www.childrensgroup.com) S. Norman cited the work of Dr. Alfred Tomatis researching the relationship between listening and learning.  He found that Mozart’s music helped to stimulate speech and improve children’s movement. (Norman, www.susan@seal.org.uk)

In past generations before the time of Electronic Entertainment, a mother would rock the baby in his crib or on her lap in the rocking chair. She would sing lullabies and nursery rhymes to the young baby, then chants and songs with a strong rhythm and repetitive chorus to the young child and later ballads and songs associated with social culture and traditions. For past generations musical relaxation and entertainment was through music making and dancing. People were well motivated to learn to play musical instruments and sing by their desires for associated social and personal ’time out’ from the demands of everyday living.

Today’s increasing media use in the home has superseded the early dependence upon individual musical skills, ‘communicative musicality’ and the characteristics of infant appropriate musical environments. (The Music One to One Project, 2007: 257). In the present day parenting rocking the baby and singing lullabies seems too often to be that of taking baby for a ride around the streets in the buggy or the car. The playing of musical instruments in the home has changed to putting on the television or playing a music CD, and verbal chatter has replaced spontaneous singing.

If the multi-media boom has distracted a significant number of families from pursuing musical skills and associated activities, what influence might this have on young children’s development during their first three years?!

‘One area of proven concern is with premature babies, whose exposure to noise in incubators should be as close to the natural sound environment in the womb as possible…….  After birth, appropriate auditory stimulation promotes emotional, social, and language development.  Soothing, pleasant and interesting sounds inspire curiosity and a receptive attitude.  A variety of sounds is important, one at a time……..  but a constant background of music or machinery noise makes sound discrimination difficult for babies (Healy, 1987: p33)