“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” Plato
Words to live by! Great minds over centuries and from all over the world have realized this truth about music and told us about it time and again. With evolution, our questioning skills evolved which led to numerous amounts of studies and research to satisfy this curiosity. Similarly, lots of researches have been conducted in the field of music and its connection with the human mind. And all the results from these studies point to one single conclusion – Music, especially the practice of learning music helps towards the overall development of an individual.
We have internet and social media to thank for when it comes to acquiring such a wide variety of knowledge about music. But awareness alone won’t get us anywhere; we need to take that one step to enter the beautiful world of music.
The importance of Music in child development
We have been asked this question a lot of times and each and every time our answer has been firm. “Music education is extremely important for child development”.
Music binds the body and mind to work together in harmony. Now imagine this amalgamation of body and mind taking place from childhood.
According to various researches conducted, learning music from childhood facilitates learning other subjects and enhances skills in children which are inevitably used in other aspects of life as well.
Music learning helps develop the motor skills, social and emotional skills in children and also improves the overall literacy rate in them. Learning to play an instrument includes improving hand-to-eye coordination, ear-to-hand coordination.
And it’s not just about the developmental aspects but music is simple and pure joy.
What do Parents think about providing music education to their children?
We conducted a survey with parents to find out if they think music is important for child development. 1500 parents participated in this survey, of which 70% of parents agreed that music education is extremely important for child development.
According to Mrs. Mehta, (Mother of 10-year-old Ishaan, who is a talented Piano player); they had a tough time finding a good music class for their son. They were not aware of where to start or how to start with their son’s music education or for that matter which
music
instrument should their son train for?
Just like Mrs. Mehta, a lot of parents, although convinced about the benefits of music education from early childhood find it difficult to make the right contact or decision when it comes to enrolling their kids in a music class.
Should Music education be a part of school curriculum?
Due to the immense benefits music education presents, music education should ideally be made a part of every school’s curriculum.
We conducted a survey across schools to understand what the teaching faculty thinks about this.
In this survey, we asked school teachers if they think music education is important for child development & if music education should be made a part of school curriculum. Of the 14,000 who participated in the survey, 92% teachers replied in affirmative and think that music education is very important at a school level and it should be made an integral part of the school curriculum.
In fact, a lot of teachers had a unified opinion about making music education mandatory in the school curriculum.
Being in the field of education, teachers understand the value of adding music education as a part of the curriculum, because they have
learnt
and realized how music education can positively impact children.
Conclusion
Lack of knowledge with regards to how one can search and get started with their music education is one of the most important challenges most of us face. However, there are several approaches through which music education can be imparted to children and adults.
- Schools can introduce Pre-primary music lessons which helpin maximum nerve connection.
- Schools can take the initiative of adding music sessions to their existing curriculum.
- Adults and kids can enroll in a good music class in their city. Some of the factors they can look for in a good music class would be, an experience of music teachers, teaching method, infrastructure and accessibility.
- However, if time & travel is a constraint, they can always avail Music athome. Furtados school of Music also offer individual music instrument class at your doorstep across
Parents, educators, and society as a whole have a tremendous power to shape the wrinkly universe inside each child’s head, and, with it, the kind of person he or she will turn out to be. We owe it to our children to help them grow the best brains possible.