Archive for the ‘benefits of early childhood music education’ tag
ECE Brain Research receives Grammy Funding
So did Bruce Springsteen, Count Basie and k.d. lang.
Now Laurel Trainor has a Grammy award, too.
Hers is not the traditional, gold-plated, miniature gramophone, but a cheque in the amount of $39,800. And she didn’t have to produce a movie soundtrack or sing an outstanding song to get it.
The director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind is one of only 22 successful applicants for a 2008 grant from the Grammy Foundation in California, which received 102 applications for a share of $600,000 in disbursements.
She and her research team will use the money to finance a study of how — or whether — babies benefit from early music education. The project is unique because it involves a younger than usual study group — six-month-old infants — and their parents, and will not be conducted in the precisely controlled environment of Mac’s auditory labs.
Starting in the fall, Trainor’s team, which includes research partner and PhD student David Gerry, will recruit 80 babies from the Wesley Ontario Early Years Centre and Today’s Family Ontario Early Years Centre, which serve the city’s west and Mountain ridings respectively.
After a round of pre-testing, they will start taking weekly classes at their centres with a Suzuki early childhood education teacher. When the babies reach the ripe old age of one, the lessons will end and the “students” will be retested.
Trainor hopes to establish that exposing them to Suzuki ECE music lessons can improve their perceptual, cognitive and social development.
There are no expectations of baby virtuosos tinkling the ivories or tootling the flute.
The Suzuki ECE program, developed 15 years ago by Canadian Dorothy Jones, uses percussion instruments, nursery rhymes, finger play, action songs and storytelling to help little people develop such skills as rhythm, pitch, memory, observation, listening, fine and gross motor co-ordination.
“The younger children don’t play violins,” smiles Trainor, a professor in Mac’s department of psychology, neuroscience and behaviour. “There’s a lot of singing, clapping, xylophones.”
The project began when Today’s Family staff contacted the Music and the Mind institute for advice on setting up music programs for their young charges.
Trainor and Gerry saw a perfect opportunity for testing the theory that music training at a very early age could have long-lasting benefits. Although that hypothesis in itself is not news, the researchers wanted to reach a population that wouldn’t ordinarily be exposed to music lessons, especially expensive classes such as Suzuki.
After six months, Trainor’s team will use a variety of methods to measure the difference between infants who were in the study and those who weren’t.
While all of the teaching and some of the testing will be conducted in the class environment, babies will have to attend Trainor’s lab at Mac for an electroencephalogram (EEG). They’ll be outfitted with a fetching net bonnet consisting of 128 electrodes, which are attached to the scalp to record brain activity.
The results will show whether the babies have developed an aesthetic response that allows them to distinguish pleasant musical sounds from discordant ones, and melodies played with no expression from those with variations in pitch, timing and expression.
Trainor plans to gauge the infants’ cognitive development by looking at their early language skills.
“I suspect that language development will be accelerated in kids with music training,” says Trainor, who plays principal flute with Symphony Hamilton. “Studies show that music training increases cognitive development in all other areas and also trains the attentional system.”
She’ll also look at the social interactions of the babies and how they are taking cues from each other, observing the structure of activities, and attempting to mimic behaviour.
Laurel Brydges, of Today’s Child, says the centre is “totally excited” about the partnership with Trainor’s researchers. The Ontario Early Years Centres are all about providing children with the best opportunities for life, she says, and the Suzuki training will only enhance their healthy development.
“The more assets a child has, the more they stay out of trouble,” says Brydges. “It’s going to be interesting.”
Brydges says she expects the project will show there is a big difference when an infant receives live music training from a professional instructor as opposed to just listening to a tape.
If the findings support Trainor’s hypothesis, she will try to get ongoing government and private support to keep the project going, ideally expanding it to older children and poor neighbourhoods.
The Grammy Foundation, part of whose mandate is music education, “is a perfect fit,” says Trainor, but $40,000 is the maximum grant it bestows.
“We sure could have used more, but we’ll manage. If we find (the results) quite beneficial, we will look for donors to keep it going independent of research.”
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Benefits of Preschool Music
Research Studies Point to the Benefits of Preschool Music Programs
By Groshan Fabiola
Many different research studies lead to the same conclusion – preschool music programs help to build a solid foundation for lifelong learning and a host of other beneficial developments in an individual’s brain. Programs such as the Kindermusik curriculum have been shown to help children develop early literacy and language skills, acquire reasoning and early math skills, increase self control and cultivate a lifelong music appreciation. All of these skills that are made possible through preschool educational music can contribute to a greater chance of success and personal fulfillment in life.
One study that points to the benefits of preschool music programs is The Mozart Effect by Don Campbell. During this study, Mr. Campbell traced neurological development during childhood. He found that before any major spurt of neural integration in the brain during the elementary school years, learning occurred through movement and quick emotional associations. Since educational programs such as the Kindermusik curriculum include a great deal of music and movement, such programs are clearly valuable during the youngest years of a child’s life.
Campbell’s found that the brain has begun to fuse with the body through marching, dancing, and developing a sense of physical rhythm by the tender age of two. When children are exposed to preschool educational music they are able to better develop the neural coding that will assist them throughout their lives. And while music and movement for children and adults is always beneficial at any age, it is clear that starting early and getting kids into music when they are just toddlers will provide the most benefits.
The benefits of music and movement for children have been proven scientifically, but any parent can tell just from the light in their child’s eyes that it is doing something positive. Having music around the house, in the car and in the classroom is fun and educational for everyone.
Early Childhood Music Education
Educational toys are fun for babies and provide another tool to stimulate learning and brain development in your infant. There are many ways to teach a child and tens of thousands of educational toys on the market to help parents in the endeavor. The challenge for parents, child care providers and educators is to choose from the vast array of educational toys available in a way that creates a balance of learning techniques, is age appropriate, and most of all fun. This article will provide basic facts about; how babies learn, types of educational toys available and examples of each.
How Babies Learn
It is quite surprising the rate at which babies learn and develop. Learning begins in the womb and continues throughout childhood. In early life how a child learns centers largely around the relationship with the parents. At least until the child starts preschool, the job of stimulating and satisfying baby’s desire to learn falls primarily to the parents.
While babies respond to their parent’s voice there are many other sounds they find interesting. When parents are choosing educational toys for babies they should look for toys that have sound, colors that are bright and contrasted like red, black and white, and have interesting textures that babies like to touch.
Sounds
Babies’ respond to sound and some of the best educational toys include rattles and musical toys. Soothing music such as lullabies is usually best. Auditory and musical toys are known to stimulate logical thinking and imagery in babies and in adults for that matter.
One good educational auditory toy is the Electronic Metal Keys. These keys are good for a child 6 months and up. The Electronic Metal Keys are an imitation of the parent’s car keys. However, the Electronic Metal Key toy is safe for the child to chew on and has a push button that emits sounds like a car horn, doorbell, ignition, and remote control door.
Sight
Bright colors in educational toys stimulate baby’s vision. Look for toys with strong color contrast and patterns. A good one to look for is a colorful crib mobile that emits music, has different textures, curves and symmetry.
One such educational toy is the Bath Time Fishing toy. This item is appropriate for babies 12 months and up. It’s a great prop to use during a baby bath. Making the bath as fun as possible can also help overcome any resistance or fear your child may have during the bathing process. The toy is bright in color, has a rod and reel, and the strong magnets attached to its tails allow for easy catching. Bath Time Fishing is priced at around $16.00 dollars.
Fine motor play
Fine motor play educational toys are used to stimulate coordination in baby’s finger and eye movements. One such toy aimed at developing the hand-eye coordination is “Counting Pals”, which is aimed at babies 6 months and up. Counting Pals are 10 soft and squishy colored blocks. They can be stacked, tossed, chewed by the baby. Counting pals also provides animal illustrations that will enchant the baby. Counting Pals educational toy is priced at around $12.00.
Cognitive Skills
There are some educational toys that promote cognitive skills in babies, which is to say they stimulate the child’s memory, how they picture things and their problem solving skills. Educational toys like building blocks, activity boxes or puzzles are a good purchase for your child. The puzzles can deal with numbers, letters or pictures; it does not matter, but they should be fairly easy for a baby to grasp and manipulate.
About the Author:
Tim Lawrence is a father of two and co-founder of Colic Calm Gripe Water for Babies. Tim has written and been published on several topics related to parenting, education and family. His website is Gripe Water for Infant Colic.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Educational Toys for Babies
Music, Culture, and Early Childhood Development
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Get Ready To Square Dance $15.95 Students learn the fundamentals of square dancing and the value of listening, following directions, cooperation, taking turns, and rhythmic response. These easy, pleasant songs and movement games only teach one or two basic calls at a time for gradual mastery, leading up to two simple, complete square dances. Includes these square dance learning songs along with the skills learned: Cotton-eyed Joe… |
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Square Dancing Made Easy CD $15.95 You won’t be able to sit still! This rollicking collection of easy-to-follow square dances will have everyone up and dancing as students and teachers learn the basics of square dance in an enjoyable, non-threatening, sequential manner. Includes these songs: |
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Too Much Fun! Demasiada Diversion, Volume 2 $15.95 More great songs for starting and ending the day, learning the calendar, counting, adding, subtracting, letter sounds, telling time, vocabulary, movement, manners, and a combination story and song about being who you are. Includes lyrics, translations and instructions. Includes these songs: |
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Xavier’s Music Hall Vol 1: Treble $14.95 Xavier’s Music Hall: Treble, is the first in a series of computer animated music videos designed to teach very young children how to read and understand music. With vibrant colors, entertaining animation, and exposure to the major scales in the treble clef, this DVD allows children to have fun while learning the fundamentals of music.This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable me… |
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Creative Resources for the Early Childhood Classroom $50.95 Creative Resource for the Early Childhood Classroom 5th edition is a theme based curriculum planner containing 70 different themes ranging from Ants to Zoo Animals. Each theme contains: Curriculum Web, Theme Goals, Concepts for the Children to Learn, Vocabulary, Bulletin Board, Parent Letter, Music, Fingerplay, Science, Math, Dramatic Play, Arts and Crafts, Sensory, Large Muscle, Small Muscle, Fie… |