Early Infant Development
The Benefits of Making Music with Your Infant
When you think about music-making with your new baby, the image that comes to mind is probably singing lullabies late at night with bleary, loving eyes, your child calming in your arms. This is a time-tested and enjoyable activity, as every culture has its own lullaby tradition. But that same bond also happens during active, waking hours with more lively music. Singing and other musical activities are more than a happy way to pass the time – they are important for early development of physical, intellectual, emotional and social skills.
Music is an incredibly important bonding tool for new parents. All children are musical, because our response to music is an inborn trait. Babies are programmed to learn and imitate from their bonded caregiver, so imagine how much greater the impact is when Mom and Dad sing to baby, compared to simply playing a CD. Babies love faces, and singing to an infant will focus his or her attention directly on your face which creates a powerful connection between parent and child. A parent's response to music will inspire a child to be interested in music, so any music that a parent enjoys and wants to move to is appropriate for dancing with baby.
“But, a music class for babies,” you say? Yes!—and the earlier the better. When a baby first sings, parents may mistake it for random cooing, losing an important opportunity to reinforce and encourage baby’s first musical efforts. Music classes allow babies and children to absorb and learn music in the same way they are learning language. It works like this: babies experiment vocally and are born with all the phonemes, or segments/units of sound, that they will need to speak any language. The ones that are repeated most often become recognized and reinforced and the child is praised for efforts toward those sounds. An infant music class allows parents to recognize baby’s musical babbling and learn the best ways of using music to create a strong bond. This serves to reinforce baby’s musical behavior in order that it will be repeated in the same way that sounds are repeated to achieve language. In fact, a study out of the University of York in England shows that babies move their bodies in response to music, much more than to speech.
You will see visceral reactions to music, as I have seen many times in my music classes:
- Turning head toward a caregiver who is singing
- Baby calming down when fussy
- Cooing back on the “resting tone” or “fifth” of the key that was just sung (These two notes are the foundations of a musical key, and babies gravitate towards them.)
- “Complaining” or crying/whining on the resting tone
- Nursing or sucking a pacifier in time to the beat of the song!
- Moving arms and legs excitedly in response to music, and as early as seven to nine months, moving them on a steady beat
- Babies making a vocalization in the key of the song just as a song has ended, because they want to hear more
- Shaking a rattle in response to music
- Quieting down in the car in response to music
Musical skills are not created in a vacuum. Two studies conducted by the Center for Music and Young Children® have shown the positive impact of music making in children’s’ development. A study in Bridgeport, Connecticut showed that right alongside music development, children also benefit from music-making activities with increased cognitive, linguistic, physical and social development. Another study in Trenton, New Jersey showed that music-making activities support school readiness skills and family bonding.
You may have heard that musical ability is one of many ways to be intelligent. In fact, Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner describes seven different kinds of intelligence: musical, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Importantly, according to Gardner, music intelligence is just as important as any other kind of intelligence, and yet for some reason, many adults were not allowed to experiment with music as kids and never developed their musical skills. Just like any other skill, it must be practiced to be fully realized.
When choosing a music class, it is important that it be research-based rather than performance-based. This is because people learn most easily through trial and error, and by being exposed to a rich variety of musical stimuli. More performance-based approaches unfairly create anxiety in kids and parents. Programs that excite both parents and babies will build neural gateways in the brain while providing significant bonding and attachment time.
There are so many ways to incorporate music into your everyday routine. A few suggestions are:
- Sing in a pitch that is comfortable for your child.
- Find music that you are comfortable hearing again and again. Repetition is good!
- Sing conversations. Sing, then wait for baby to sing back to you.
- Sing to your baby as you change your baby's diaper.
- Make up a simple song or rap using your baby's name.
- Sing or chant when strolling your baby in a stroller.
- When your baby is fussy, try singing or howling at the same pitch. It may surprise him or her and calm the crying.
- Try singing the same lullaby each day, perhaps right before nap time. Did I mention that children love repetition?
- Have the courage to sing in public places. It will have the added benefit of allowing you as a parent to feel more confident in your nurturing skills.
Making music with your child offers a way for you to connect on social, physical and emotional levels all at once. It doesn’t matter if you sing a favorite lullaby from your childhood or your college fight song, whether you dance to Mozart or Miley. When you sing and dance with your baby you are deepening your bond, encouraging your baby’s neural development and having fun all at the same time.