How Music Influence On Development And Intelligence Of Children?
"All highly inteligent people are not necessarily musical, but all highly musical people are apparently highly intelligent." [Desmond Sergeant and Gillian Thatcher]
RESEARCH
Although research does not show clearly that listening and creating music directly influences the intelligence, it definitely shows improvement in certain brain functions.
Children who attend music classes and listen to music show greater abilities to solve problems and puzzles associated with logical reasoning. They often find unconventional solutions that most non-musical children do not see. In addition, listening to music combined with playing the instrument helps in the development of movement coordination and memory.
GROUP LESSONS
Children who attend group classes, learn to open up themselves through music in front of other children, which greatly builds self-confidence and a sense of acceptation in a society.
CHILDREN SURROUNDED BY MUSIC AT HOME
You probably heard that children of musicians are mostly musically talented as well. Have you ever wondered why?
Of course, you can put it on genes, but hardly anyone wonders how much time per day such a child is surrounded by music. Already in the pregnancy period, it experiences a great dose of rhythmic lessons (mom's heartbeat) and music when mom listens to music, sings, or performs during pregnancy.
LISTENING TO MUSIC AND MUSIC LESSONS
Listening to music is a great preparation for a child before he/she starts taking music lessons. Children shape their musical taste and learn to justify their choice: what song they like and why, what song they don’t like and what causes this feeling. They start using adjectives such as: calm, too loud, too sad, too cheerful - these adjectives are the first feelings of a child towards music.
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As a music teacher of Polish children in the Netherlands, I personally record a lot more positives that my little students experience, such as discipline in pursuing their goals or improvement of pronunciation (with Polish children singing in Polish). Also learning Dutch or English through songs is not as scary as with a book ;)
WHAT IS THE CHILD DOESN'T SHOW ANY INTEREST TOWARDS MUSIC?
I strongly suggest to surround such children with music at home and give them time to build a bond with music. The sounds that subconsciously "enters" their brain will sooner or later be evaluated by a child in terms of taste and experience.