Dear All Saints Preschool Parents,

Thank you for allowing me the privilege to teach music to your precious children.  They truly are a delight to work with each day.  I look forward to seeing their faces light up when they see me and know that it is music time.  Please read the following information below.  I think you will find it interesting.  Thanks again for sharing your little ones with me.

 

Have a blessed 2011-2012 school year,

Audra Croup

 

WHY START IN EARLY CHILDHOOD?

The following in an excerpt from a recent article presented in Early Childhood Connections,

a journal for early childhood education. 

 

• Music is language and children instinctively recognize & try to imitate spoken language & communication.

 

• Music evokes movement, and children delight in and require movement for their growth and development.

 

• Music engages the brain while stimulating neural pathways associated with higher processes such as abstract reasoning, mathematics, and empathy.

 

• Music’s melodic and rhythmic patterns provide exercises for the brain and help develop memory.

 

• Music is an aural art and young children & babies are aural learners.  Since hearing is fully mature well before birth, infants begin responding to the sounds of their environment in the womb & continue to do so throughout their early development.  

 

• Music is perfectly designed for training listening skills.  Good listening skills and school achievement go hand in hand.

 

• Developmentally appropriate music activities involve the whole child – the learning of language, the desire to move, the brain’s attention to patterns, the ear’s role in communication & response to sounds, as well as the eye-hand coordination associated with playing musical instruments specially designed for little hands.

 

• Making music is a creative experience which involves expression of feelings.  Children often do not have the words to express themselves and need positive ways to release their emotions.

 

• Music transmits culture and is an avenue by which beloved songs, rhymes, and dances can be passed down from one generation to the next.

 

• Music is a social activity which involves family and community participation.  Children love to sing & dance at home, school, in the car, and at church. 

 

•  ...and, unlike cribs, strollers, and clothes, children will never outgrow music and its many benefits!