Friday, July 2, 2010

A Born 'Musician'

"I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent."
- Luciano Pavarotti

Many of the well-known artists, like Luciano Pavarotti, started music at a very early age. Music is one of the first things a child can comprehend. Even before the baby is born, the mother is asked to listen to good music because the unborn baby can hear and is already learning. That is debatable but the fact that a child can understand music is not.

If you have a piano in your home, have you ever seen your baby crawl onto the piano bench, stand on it and start banging on the keys? Yes, it's loud and can get annoying but the baby's brain is at work, already experimenting with the discovery of music.

Let's go even further back before being able to crawl onto a piano bench... Do you remember when your baby would take any two things and bang them together, get excited and try to make it louder (toys, pots and pans, your shoes). The baby isn't thinking, "This discovery of sound vibrations is intriguing!" but the baby is loving what it he/she is creating.

It's music! Cultivate that born musicianship in your child. If you need to put in ear plugs because it's so loud, go ahead; or make a homemade instrument that's a little quieter; or even sing along to help out. The baby is learning and is starting a beautifully-spent life. He/she may not be a prodigy or even ever take music seriously, but it can still be there from the very beginning to the end.

Please bear in mind that there is no such thing as being 'too young' to learn, especially learning (through) music. As we allow our children to explore this subject, we will see more of how amazing their little minds and imaginations are as will they. Thank you for reading!