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Music has a very positive effect on our lives; for most people, music plays different roles. It can be a soothing therapy for a stressful day, or a non-aggressive release for pent-up emotions. Music has affected human emotions for many years; it has also affected the culture and has a direct connection and relationship with political views in our country.

Recent studies show that music affects the brain in various ways and can significantly improve abilities both in adults and children. Much research has been done on the effects of music on the physical, emotional and intellectual development of babies and children. One recent study demonstrates that children exposed to classical music in the womb show a positive change in their physical and mental development after birth. In this experiment the fetuses were exposed to non-stop classical music during the last weeks of pregnancy. When reviewed six months after birth, these babies were more advanced in terms of LINGUISTIC (relating to language or the study of languages) MOTOR (relating to muscular movement or the nerves activating them) and INTELLECTUAL (possessing a high level of understanding or intelligence) development, than babies who received no musical stimulus during pregnancy.

Scientists give an explanation to this saying that babies are born with 100 billion nerve cells in their bodies; these cells are however connected loosely. Each event a baby experiences such as listening to his mother talk, seeing a picture or attempting to touch a toy hanging above, triggers electrical signals which strengthen the intercellular connections in the brain. The larger the number of connections in the brain, the richer it’s functioning.

Of the value of Music in Child Development - What do experts say?

1. By playing classical music to the baby, one can activate the neural pathways responsible for many intellectual skills. General skills such as creativity and more specifically, spatial intelligence, mathematical ability, linguistic ability and emotional intelligence are honed by the effects of listening to classical music.
2. A study conducted in Hungary showed that 3 to 4 year old children given lessons in singing and playing instruments attained higher grades in creativity than children of the same age who did not receive any musical training.
3. Scientists believe that the connection between music and mathematics is partly related to the fact that music helps children understand concepts such as number series or relationships between numbers.
4. In order for an infant to be able to tell the difference between similar sounds such as ‘B’ and ‘P’ she must hone her auditory perception. Listening to complex classical music will contribute greatly to babies’ development of this skill.
5. Music contributes to recovery of premature babies. A Florida study showed that 52 newborns with a low birth weight demonstrated that playing music to them contributed to a rapid increase in their weight and shortened their stay in the hospital by an average of five days.
6. The womb is quite quiet so your baby is able to hear your stereo at a reasonable volume. And unborn babies have the ability to remember the music they hear for up to a year after being born.

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