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Research about the impact of music on brain development highlights the need to prepare teachers to provide effective music instruction in day-care and preschool settings.
The public is developing a new awareness of the importance of children's early years to their learning-including their learning about music. The media has proclaimed what early childhood educators and researchers have known for years-that what happens before birth and through the preschool years significantly affects a person for life. On a nationally televised program about the importance of parenting to children's psychosocial and cognitive growth, Oprah Winfrey made a plea for parents to sing to their children. Cover stories about emerging research on brain development in Time (February 8, 1997) and Newsweek (February 19, 1996) made special reference to the role that music plays in the developmental process and discussed implications for daycare and early childhood programs. National Public Radio aired a segment (April 1997) on music and the developing brain, focusing on a music program for at-risk kindergarteners.
The 1997 conference of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) in Dallas sponsored a "presession" on what it means to help children learn the language of music. Panelists came from the memberships of both MTNA and MENC and included studio teachers, early childhood specialists, and university experts in pedagogy and early childhood music education. They offered a wealth of suggestions and directions for further research, many of which were published in the August/September 1997 American Music Teacher. MTNA has continued to address these concerns at subsequent conferences.
Beyond the Sound Bites
Clearly, the time is ripe for reinforcing the importance of reaching children through music in the early years. The discussion needs to move beyond the evidence of the neurological impact of music to focus on the multiplicity of reasons why music is crucial to the development of the whole child. Moreover, we need to determine how to reach children through music. This inquiry leads us to ask some very practical questions. How can we identify-and how do we train-caring adults to create childcentered programs that offer music experiences of high quality? All who desire to bring music into the lives of young children in significant ways need to address these concerns in a thoughtful manner.
Certainly, parents...