Cognition and Music In the Early Years

Singing in the early years is a natural activity in many cultures. This is because young children actively respond to music from very early on. Children particularly respond to singing from voices that they will have heard often during pregnancy.

Parents and care givers often use singing to soothe during potentially difficult times like bathing, changing, activity changes, tidying away and going to sleep. They would be hard pressed to continue for half an hour or longer, maintaining the child's interest as well as their own! Yet there is such value in sitting together and singing together, not to mention the physical, health, social and emotional benefits.

Because it is seen as such a natural, everyday activity, it is easy to under-value the specialist skills involved from trained staff. Many early years music specialists have attended and continue to attend training in both early childhood development and music education, along with developing their skills as musicians, running into thousands. Quick note: the easier they make it look, the harder it is, because of all the years of training, planning and experience!

The under-valuing of this amazing resource is another reason that early years music is rarely if ever funded enough to allow for all children to attend, or even for all childcare workers to be properly trained. This book provides some background into the way that cognition is impacted by music, which will be useful particularly for those interested or training in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS, UK), and similar programmes internationally.