| Babies' Brains Benefit from Music Lessons They found that one-year-old babies who participate in interactive music classes with their parents smile more, communicate better and show earlier and more sophisticated brain responses to music. Before the classes began, all the babies had shown similar communication and social development and none had previously participated in other baby music classes. In the other music class, infants and parents played at various toy stations while recordings from the popular "Baby Einstein" series played in the background. One music class involved interactive music-making and learning a small set of lullabies, nursery rhymes and songs with actions. Even their brains responded to music differently. The non-musical differences between the two groups of babies were even more surprising, say researchers. Infants who participated in the passive listening classes did not show the same preferences. "Babies who participated in the interactive music classes with their parents showed earlier sensitivity to the pitch structure in music," says Trainor. "Many past studies of musical training have focused on older children," says Laurel Trainor, director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind. Infants from the interactive music classes showed larger and/or earlier brain responses to musical tones. Babies from the interactive classes showed better early communication skills, like pointing at objects that are out of reach, or waving goodbye. Trainor, as well as David Gerry, a music educator and graduate student, received an award from the Grammy Foundation in 2008 to study the effects of musical training in infancy. While both class types included listening to music and all of the infants heard a similar amount of music at home, a big difference between the classes was the interactive exposure to music. "There are many ways that parents can connect with their babies," says study coordinator Andrea Unrau. " . |
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Babies' Brains Benefit from Music Lessons
