The Importance of Exposure of Music and Musical Play in the Early Years, Part 1

By Susan Bialek
This article is part of the Awakening the Natural Musician in Your Child series. ¹

From the moment your child found his or her own voice as an infant, every coo or shriek or babble seemed to elicit a response of glee, wonder, amazement or just plain laughter in both your child and in you. From the very beginning, children have a natural curiosity about and interest in sound. Some children seem to chatter all the time and some seem to sing everything they might otherwise just say.

Love for Music at a Young Age

Does your young child chant, sing or dance at every opportunity? Does hearing a favorite familiar song elicit an instant smile or giggle or wiggle or “I love this!” ? Does he or she keep time with a fork on the dinner table to the music playing in your home or tap his or her foot against the back of your seat in the car to the beat of the music playing as you drive together? Does your child remember lyrics to all kinds of songs, from the silly to the hauntingly thoughtful and sing those songs independently just because it’s fun? If yes to any of the above, the window is open!

“Children must receive music instruction as naturally as food, with as much pleasure as they derive from a ball game, and this must happen from the beginning of their lives.”

World renowned composer and conductor, Leonard Bernstein

Most children gain whatever music education they will receive in the school they attend. This can range from as much as two 45 minute classes each week to as little as once a week for just 10 weeks of the 40-week school year. Some primary grade children have no music instruction in school at all. Although some children have the opportunity to sing with a group of peers after school in a club or a house of worship, many do not.

Music Education at Home

In reality, the readiness for music education truly begins at home. Children learn language at home first, by being spoken to and read to, and thus learning to speak. They learn to walk and run at home. They learn the joy of silly stories and the pure fun of dancing around at home. If babies are fortunate enough to have parents, caregivers and family members who shared chants such as Itsy Bitsy Spider and Patty Cake and other similar games, or who introduced the alphabet by singing the ABC song, the musical awakening is already well underway! There is abundant research from many cultures in multiple languages attesting to the value and critical importance of awakening this awareness in young children!

“Since music has so much to do with the molding of character, it is necessary that we teach it to our children.”

Aristotle

It is heartening then to think that these first musical awakenings in children happen with you, the parents and caregivers. Your active participation is important. You don’t have to sing well or be an instrumentalist. What you must share with your young children is the curiosity about sound. Shared participation in musically related play and light hearted music making catches children when their window of opportunity for musical discovery and learning is open at its widest. Young children are uninhibited and not yet disheartened by ‘not getting it’. It’s just fun to sing, keep a beat, play a clapping game or dance. Their musicality is organic and true.

Creating a Musical Culture

Listening to music together, talking about it, singing songs you know as a family together, dancing in the kitchen, tapping on pots, or trying out a kazoo to play a familiar song are all relaxed ways to nourish musicality in your children from the start, without pressure or expectation. Once this culture is created, moving on to more formal instruction is just a logical next step, with interest, curiosity, and genuine excitement to learn already in place. If you feel you haven’t quite created that at home, there are programs in your community specifically for these younger children, many designed for parents to attend and participate right along with the children! Imagine the joy and value of sitting side by side with your toddler, learning something new together! If you feel your child shows an affinity for music, you will likely know better than anyone when to seek further enrichment and instruction. Your school music teacher will also prove to be a tremendous resource helping you to find the right match for your child.

As research clearly shows, children learn in different ways and have different kinds of intelligences. Knowing your child as a learner will help you best set up your child for a situation in which…

“…everyone wins when we match the nurture portion of our children’s development to what nature has already provided.”

Jessica Baron Turner

In my next article, I will outline the standard types of learners and intelligences, and then try to help direct you to musical activities that may match best to each.

FEATURE IMAGE: Crickets class, 2011.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Susan Bialek, Artistic Director of Children’s Chorus of Maryland, has over 22 years of experience as a choral music teacher, BA in Music from Vassar College, MA in Teaching, Music Education from Manhattanville College, and Kodály certification from the Hartt School of Music.

1. This article is part of Awakening the Natural Musician in Your Child series. Originally distributed as a newsletter in 2016-2017, the article portion is re-published here. This project was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and created by the music faculty of the Children’s Chorus of Maryland and School of Music.