We know this: throughout our lives—and our children’s,
too—-music accompanies our growth. From a mother’s heartbeat to a sweet nursery
song, the gleeful sounds of “The Wheels on the Bus” to a raucous “Take Me Out
to the Ballgame,” the songs and sounds in our lives become associated with
events, people, and emotions.
We also know this: together, music and the brain can make magic.
In fact, as scientists increasingly turn their attention to the quantifiable
effects that early music education can have on a child’s development, the
results of their research have been consistent and mind-blowing: specifically,
that music can have a dramatic effect on a child’s overall readiness for school in ways we never even dared to expect.
One of the most exciting research revelations is that early
music experiences can have a significant impact on literacy and reading.
According to experts, learning to read depends on acquiring a variety of
skills—including phonological processing, oral language, and comprehension*.
So, when it comes to these literacy-boosting skills . . . how does Kindermusik
fit in?
Phonological Awareness
What is it? A phoneme is
a speech sound—the smallest bit of sound that distinguishes one word from
another. For example, with the change of one sound, cat becomes bat or mat
becomes mad. With some instruction and practice during the preschool years,
children can begin to develop an awareness of phonemes—or the ability to
recognize that words can be divided into individual sounds. They can learn to
distinguish one word from another word, recognize the “beats” that we call
syllables, and even begin to hear individual phonemes within words (e.g., Sam’s
name starts with the sound /s/). This is called phonological awareness.
According to researchers, a child’s level
of phonological awareness upon entering school may be the single best predictor
of the success he or she will experience in learning to read.
How It Works in a
Kindermusik Class
Ready for the amazing part? Young children with musical
experience perform better on measures of phonological awareness than those without it. In
scientific trials, playing musical instruments and taking music classes like Kindermusik
improved young children’s brains’ abilities to process spoken speech sounds.
Why? Well, if you think about it, spoken language and music are
each made up of a series of sounds strung together to create something bigger.
(Combine spoken sounds to make words. Combine tones to make music.) Researchers
have theorized that learning to distinguish the sounds within music is a skill
that transfers to the sounds of language, and brain scan studies have proven
this to be true.
Developmental Milestones:
Phonological Awareness
By the time your child enters kindergarten, he or she will
probably be able to:
-- Divide short
sentences into individual words.
-- Point to the
picture (“hat”) for a word that rhymes with a spoken word (/cat/).
-- Fill in the
rhyming words of known nursery rhymes.
-- Isolate the
first sound of some simple spoken words (/s/ in “sun”).
-- Name the
sounds that correspond with about 8 different letters.
NOTE: Every child is unique, and different children may reach
milestones at different times. If you’re concerned about your child’s development, talk
to your pediatrician.
So, congratulations. If your child is enrolled in Kindermusik,
you’re already on the right track! New nationwide guidelines recommend that
building phonological awareness should begin even earlier than kindergarten—in
preschool—and educational researchers recommend using the very tools for which
Kindermusik is so famous—singing songs, playing with the
sounds in words, and listening to, repeating, and predicting
rhymes—to foster children’s awareness of speech sounds. Believe it or not,
there is even a strong link between children’s knowledge of nursery rhymes at
age three and success in reading and spelling as children enter school.
Reprinted from Kindermusik International eBook for Parents and Educators.
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