Before my current student phase, I was a Kindermusik teacher. I read a lot of research while I was doing that about the myriad benefits of music on the human brain, especially the young, developing human brain. More synapses are firing and more sections of our brain are in use when we make or purposefully listen to music than when we do any other activity. When I think about my future classroom, I think about songs, dances, rhythmic storytelling, and little tunes woven into the fabric of our day.
I came across this video on Kindermusik's blog, called Mind on Music. Sometimes this blog can be a little too much about Corporate and not enough about education, but often there are gems, like this summary of Northwestern University's research on the effects of musical education on language development. Really nice graphic representations here of their data.
What a great blog from Kindermusic - thanks for sharing this with us!
ReplyDeleteFantastic video. Kindermusic was an important part of my daughter's early years.
ReplyDeleteI'm toying with the idea of trying to go an entire preschool day only singing to the children. I already sing through our transitions and circle times, but it would be interesting to see what happens if I sing throughout free-play. I'll probably have to work up to it. =)
I think it is possible to sing through the entire day! I have started with morning greeting and made it almost to lunch - but then I think I was starting to get on my preschooler's nerves:)
ReplyDeleteAll right, Tom, you must do that, but you have to install the webcams first so it's documented for posterity!
ReplyDeleteDeborah, too funny! All morning--I'm impressed!