Music & baby

I finally got around to changing my playlist. Sitting here this arvo thinking of songs in my past and reminiscing those carefree days, I've come up with a list of songs that I used to listen to many times over. Skid Row's "I remember you" was on repeat for days and today I can still listen to this song over and over again!

I am happy to say that Lucas has inherited my love for music - since he was in my tummy, I've exposed him to many genres, from Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and U2 to Backstreet Boys and N'Sync; Britney and Christina, Il Divo and Celine, Vivaldi, Bach & Mozart. This morning he jumped up and took my hands and started dancing when "Girl, you'll be a woman soon" started playing on my blog.

He has also started singing along with Mickey - in french, no less!!!! Its such a joy to see my baby singing and playing with his toy piano & toy guitar from Aunty Jenn. I've noticed that he listens raptly when classical music is on and I've read that to encourage musical tendencies in babies, exposure to classical music is important. From the day he was born, Lucas has been sleeping with classical music.

Last week, Fred & I were at a store looking at guitars and Lucas was so excited he wanted to touch every guitar!

It is a fact that children who grow up listening to music will develop strong music related connections. Some of these music pathways will actually affect the way we think. Listening to classical music can improve our spatial reasoning, at least for a short time. And learning to play an instrument may have an even longer effect on certain thinking skills. In several studies, children who took piano lessons for six months improved their ability to work puzzles and solve other spatial tasks by as much as 30 percent.

Many experts think that music may stimulate the brain in a way that helps educational and emotional development. Listening to classical music probably will not make your baby smarter or raise his IQ. However, it may help to prime his brain for specific types of thinking.

Numerous studies conclude that playing music to babies in the womb and in the early years helps build the neural bridges along which thoughts and information travel. And research suggests it can stimulate the brain's alpha waves, creating a feeling of calm - a recent study of premature infants found that they were soothed by the music.

"The music most people call "classical"--works by composers such as Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart--is different from music such as rock and country. Classical music has a more complex musical structure. Babies as young as 3 months can pick out that structure and even recognize classical music selections they have heard before.
Researchers think the complexity of classical music is what primes the brain to solve spatial problems more quickly. So listening to classical music may have different effects on the brain than listening to other types of music." (Diane Bales)

What can you do to nurture your baby's love of music?

* Play music for your baby. Try different selections of classical music. If you play an instrument, practice when your baby is nearby. However, keep in mind that loud music can damage your baby's hearing, so be sure to keep the volume soft to moderate.

* Sing to your baby. Hearing your voice helps your baby begin to learn language. Research shows there is a strong connection between language development and musical ability.

* Sing with your child. Setting words to music actually helps the brain learn them more quickly and retain them longer.

* Start music lessons early. If your toddler shows interest in learning an instrument, you don't need to wait. Young children's developing brains are equipped to learn music. Children as young as 3 and 4 years can understand and become proficient in the basics of certain musical instruments. And starting lessons early help children build a lifelong love of music.