Music: The language we all know
We’ve had the delight of discovering some incredibly heart-warming moments through the years. Seeing babies, who are too young to talk, trying to singalong to music seems to happen relatively frequently and is definitely at top end of the list of most precious moments.
Other than being really cute and sweet to watch, the most mesmerising part is how music can communicate with babies that haven’t even said their first words. Videos, like the one below, clearly showcase that babies understand the music they’re hearing and, in some cases, try to mimic the sounds they hear.
It’s fascinating how the human brain is stimulated by the sound of music. We know that singing to your youngsters can help improve their cognitive functioning. The unicef website says, “One study from the Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences detected that after babies listen to music, their auditory and prefrontal cortexes look different. These are the regions of the brains in charge of processing both music and speech.”
More research needs to be done to prove conclusively that music can help treat memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia. However, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests there is a strong link, including videos of people with Alzheimer’s playing musical instruments to incredible standards, despite not remembering major life circumstances, such as where they live etc. Might music have the ability to tap in to our brains in ways we don’t funny understand yet?
Listening to music impacts the brain in multiple different ways, however, actually playing music has even more profound effects. The fine motor skills needed to play a musical instrument, sing and keep rhythm fire up all sorts of different Neurocognitive functions. So getting your little ones playing a musical instrument could help their development in multiple ways.
As different areas of the brain are stimulated, messages being sent from one half of the brain to the other helps to create a bridge between the two hemispheres. This helps messages pass through the brain faster and more efficiently. So there you have it, music isn’t just magical, it’s heavily linked with triggering lost memories and linked with advancing development in children.