Kindermusik brings auditory system to the forefront

These are transcribed excerpts from a discussion by Dr. Melissa Johnson, a pediatric psychologist and clinical associate of pediatrics.

Integration of listening skills, attention and language development is so important. One concern for kindergarten and pre-school teachers is that many children these days just don’t listen. Considering what young children are exposed to, there may be good reason for this. Music, or the arts in general, comes from electronic media which has a lot of visual stimulation, whether video, DVD’s or computer. There is a lot to look at and the auditory stimulation is generally more in the background. To be able to fully develop their musical skills and talents, as well as language skills, children need to focus on what’s coming into their ears, front and center. It needs to come in through their ears, rather than being an accompaniment to visual input or background. The Kindermusik curriculum focuses on auditory stimulation being the primary input. Visual support is used when appropriate and interesting without overwhelming or overshadowing the auditory stimulus. This may be a real asset to children in supporting the development of that area of their brains, along with their listening skills, that they might not get enough of through everyday activities at home.

The essence of language learning is stimulation; in order to initiate you have to hear, not only hear the big picture, but the fine points and details. When you think about it, so much meaning in English is conveyed by subtle differences from one word to another and if children are missing those subtle differences, they’re going to miss out on a lot of potential language development. So that’s partly why in a medical setting we are careful to check a child’s hearing if they have language delays but we find that many children hear just fine. However, for some reason they’re not adding the words and hearing the complexity of language or the clarity of articulation that we want to see. It may be that they’re not listening in to those fine distinctions. So giving children exposure to the fine distinctions in music, (solo or group singing, ethnic variety), instrument sounds and the world-life sounds that the Kindermusik curricula provides. This may really help children to tune into the kinds of subtle differences in the language world around them that could help them develop their speaking skills.

One absolutely key skill for children as they enter kindergarten is the ability to pay attention for extended periods. It’s the same with playful preschoolers which we tend not to worry about very much. But if you think about it, in the Kindergarten or preschool classroom, they really need to attend to what they’re hearing for fairly extended periods. And that’s something that a lot of children given a chance to practice or develop.

Consequently, the opportunity in the Kindermusik curricula for children to listen to input that, in itself, is very interesting and stimulating. This is likely to extend that skill, so when they’re in a classroom situation, they may be better listeners than children who haven’t had the opportunity to experience listening to the buoys and the ocean sounds and all those wonderful inputs that they might not get anywhere else.