The physical benefits of early childhood music are outstanding. Motor skills can be improved through improvisational dancing and handling of the instruments. Vocal and speech development improve through singing while listening skills and concentration improve with aural training. The old-fashioned goals of sharing and cooperation are reinforced with the sharing of instruments and encouragement of other students.
The most important benefit, however, is the proven positive effects music has on brain development. This has been thoroughly researched and documented and is most crucial during the first six years, when the most important brain development takes place. NPR radio broadcast a program called Gray Matters: Music and the Brain, which included Dr. Gordon Shaw, who first described the Mozart Effect.
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The Mozart Effect has been shown to be bogus. How about music for music's sake?
ReplyDeleteThe Mozart effect is a theory that listening to Mozart's music can enhance intellect. The term was first coined by Alfred A. Tomatis who used Mozart's music as the listening stimulus in his work attempting to cure a variety of disorders. The approach has been popularized in a book by Don Campbell, who trademarked the term, and is based on an experiment published in Nature suggesting that listening to Mozart boosted students' IQ by 8 to 9 points. As a result, The Governor of Georgia, Zell Miller proposed a budget to provide every child born in Georgia with a CD of classical music.
ReplyDeleteIt's a totally bogus theory. The research has never been shown to be valid.
ReplyDelete