Growing up with Music
Music has a number of positive effects on children’s brains. It can help make learning words a lot more fun and natural, like learning the parts of the body through singing “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes” as an example. As we all know music unites us with its common language. For children that do not have fully developed language, they can connect with one another profoundly, through music. The power of music influences us on a much deeper level as well. Research has shown that music can stimulate the brain’s alpha waves to help calm people down when stressed. There are stories of musicians who used their musical talents to play in hospitals to help soldiers cope with their mental and physical traumas, after fighting in wars. It’s safe to say music is a fantastic tool that we have easily available to use in many situations.
Many of us, however, don’t have the time to learn or practice an instrument to play for our children; or we want our children to learn an instrument, but are not sure which one we should choose? In this article I would like to talk about my experience growing up with music. These are all my personal experiences and opinions, and they are open for both agreement or other.
My father was a great Beatles fan. He actually went all over the US with his trusty guitar in hand playing in live houses and bars. At home my father would always sing and play the Beatles and whenever we were in the car, Beatles music would be playing from the stereo. My parents never really expected me to play any musical instrument as I never appeared to show an interest in an instrument and they didn’t suggest to send me to lessons. It was when I was in 6th grade that I met the violin and fell in love My mother bought me my own one and I joined an orchestra in my junior high year of school. I underestimated the violin and didn’t know it was actually the most difficult instrument to play. With weekly violin lessons, orchestra practice five days a week, and mom nagging at me to practice at home as well, I slowly, improved. I played all the way through junior high school, and a little bit in university, and then it all stopped. It took another five years after I stopped playing, to pick it back up again.
Now as an adult and teaching music, I have found a number of things I wish I had worked on when I was learning music. I never really studied music theory or how to properly understand it. I learned it all by ear, and although I could “read” music, I definitely wasn’t 100% fluent in it. I couldn’t sing my do-re-mi’s until very recently. I actually hated choir in elementary class, and I chose the violin over the guitar because I didn’t want to sing.
As I began to dive deeper into the world of music, I found that one of the biggest issues I had, playing the violin, was playing the right sounds. I was tone deaf, and the reason for this was, because I didn’t have the most important foundation, my do-re-mi’s.
So, what instrument would be perfect for my child, is still the question that you are asking yourself? Parents often ask me this very same question, and I always recommend the piano. The piano teaches the correct pitch. If you hit the “do” key it will play “do”. Compared to the violin where if your finger is 1 millimeter off the point that your finger should be, you will play an incorrect note. The piano helps a child learn his/her do-re-mi’s in perfect pitch which will ultimately help him/her in any musical endeavors in the future. As a bonus, the piano also requires a child to use his/her fine motor skills which helps with their cognitive development as well.
Music is a beautiful thing. Use it to play an instrument. Use it to dance to. Use it to sing to. Use it in any way that you like!
