Music Is The Key
Advances in medical technology, specifically the advent of the MRI, has shown that the brain is significantly changed by participation in music making.
When researchers dissect a healthy human brain, nothing about the person’s life experience or IQ can be determined. However, they can tell if the person was a musician, especially a musician trained at a young age because the musician's brain is markedly enlarged in approximately twenty to thirty areas.
There are striking changes that can occur with a single year of musical instruction.Only music seems to have the power to alter the brain during life particularly during the first years of life.
One day in my classroom, I was explaining to my 8th grade orchestra students how my two-year-old daughter was beginning violin. One student raised his hand right away and said incredulously “You’re forcing her to play violin?” “What if she hates it?”
I said, “Tim, do you hate talking? Did your parents force you to learn to talk?" He and everyone in the class laughed as he was a particularly talkative and social student at the time.
I went on to say that I thought my daughter will embrace music just as she will with talking, playing, and walking.He seemed to understand my point but I could tell he was still a little skeptical. Most of my students were excited about what I was talking about and wished they had been given the opportunity to start that young.
It’s not important that your baby becomes a child prodigy on any particular instrument. You naturally want to teach her to talk and to read to get the best start in life.
Similarly, music learning should be incorporated into your baby’s life just as talking and reading without a specific goal of prodigy like performance on an instrument. Being involved in music as a performer can give your child a lifetime of enjoyment and creativity but it is not something you need to force.
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