Why Children Need to Listen to Classical Music
Children today have the freedom to choose what and when they listen to music, which is fantastic! However, classical compositions rarely make it onto their playlists independently. This article explores the importance of listening to classical music and how to weave it into your child's life.
The Benefits of Classical Music
Classical music is dynamic, weaving together a multitude of rhythms and moods, sounds of varying pitch and volume. This diversity fosters a child's psycho-emotional development.
Furthermore, classical music stimulates creative thinking and emotional growth, helps understand the culture of the past and historical context, develops concentration, and promotes aesthetic education.
Scientists are also conducting research on the impact of music on a child's brain, but so far, they are not characterized by a sufficient sample or have many subjective criteria. Nevertheless, it can be argued that appropriate melodies help to calm down faster, develop memory, distract from negative emotions, and create pleasant associations. And when listening to favorite compositions, the happiness hormone - dopamine - is released in the body.
Why Classical Music is Accessible
Parents are often afraid to introduce children to classical works, worrying that it is too difficult for the child. But in fact, academic music accompanies us from our very childhood: for example, we hear it in cartoons and movies.
Classical music sounds in cafes and shopping centers, at train stations and airports. Therefore, the task of parents is not so much to introduce, but simply to emphasize the diversity of genres.
This should be done without restricting the child in what he likes. Classics should become a complement, not a punishment. You should help the child express his opinion and explain which direction he likes more and which one he likes less.
How to Make Classical Music a Part of a Child's Life
Set an Example
If classical music is not listened to in the family, the chances that the child will become interested in it are small. Unlike the one in whose house it plays regularly.
Young children learn by copying the behavior of adults. When academic music plays during breakfast or in the car, for a child it becomes part of the usual routine, and not a special work for the study of which it is necessary to make efforts.
Discuss Emotions and Express Them
You can also discuss with children why you like this music, what feelings you experience while listening to it. This way, the child learns not just to perceive music as a background, but to pay attention to details and react emotionally to what he hears.
Older children can be asked to describe the piece they heard: "Is it joyful or sad? Which cartoon character do you think would suit such a melody? What do you feel when you listen to this composition?"
But children cannot always express their feelings in words. Here, movements come to the rescue. Allow them to dance, jump and run while listening. Another way to understand the child's reaction is to ask him to draw and listen to music at the same time. See what image comes out, and then discuss it.
Listen to Music While Reading
Evening reading with parents is an important ritual that is remembered for children. It can be supplemented by putting classical music in the background. It is better to choose compositions that are suitable for the works in advance.
Learn More
Stories about the life and work of the composer help to immerse yourself in the work.
Tell children about Mozart, who began composing original compositions at the age of 5, about Beethoven, who continued to work even after losing his hearing, and so on.
Books and podcasts will help you learn more about the history of music.
Go to Concerts
The fact that we can listen to any work in any arrangement, just by clicking on the desired button on the phone, is very valuable. But classical music is a performing art, with which it is still worth getting acquainted live.
Chamber performances are held for the youngest today, during which the kids can walk around the hall and even touch the instruments. And with an older child, you can go to a ballet, a concert, a music festival or a musical.
The more often you attend such events, the better the child will understand the nuances: understand that music sounds differently in different halls, that the same work can evoke very different emotions, because performers choose different approaches.
Find Appropriate Groups
Sometimes the best way to interest a child in music is to help him become a performer. And for this it is not necessary to go to a music school. It is enough to choose an appropriate choir or guitar group in kindergarten or school. For many children, it is the independently performed melody that becomes the first step on the way to learning music and its history.
