The Rhythm of Learning: Discovering the Power of Music in Montessori Education

Chapter One

The Benefits of Music and Movement

Today we know more about how children learn and grow than ever before. We have data to confirm our hunch that Music is vital to life. Read what experts in their fields think about the benefits of music and movement:

Music brings people together. Through music, children take an inner experience and move it into a shared creative experience. Group music-making releases energy which can be channeled in creative, productive directions. Children learn about themselves and others by playing music together and by listening to each other—tapping into hidden courage that can be played out by singing together or discovering the inner resources to listen quietly to another child’s playing.

- Judi Bosco

Board Certified Music Therapist

Resiliency — to bounce back after a disturbing event is not something we are born with; it must be learned and sometimes that takes many years. There is no vehicle more joyful and playful for providing such training than early childhood music and movement.

- Dee Joy Coulter, Ed.D.

Neuroscience Educator

"A rich voice opens the ear and gives energy to the nervous system. Not only does it help children process and memorize the message, but it also increases their desire to listen more, learn more, and know more. A good voice fills the cognitive and emotional brain."

- Paul Madaule

Founder and Director

The Listening Centre

Speech and music have a number of shared processing systems. Musical experiences which enhance processing can therefore impact on the perception of language which in turn impacts on learning to read.

- Susan Hallam

Institute of Education

University of London

Noted author and neuroscience educator Jane Healy speaks about children whose parents have chosen more academic pursuits for their children:

Studies show that 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds in heavily academic classes tend to become less creative and more anxious - without gaining significant advantages over their peers.

- Jane M. Healy

Your Child’s Growing Mind

And, if everything else were not convincing enough…a 2007 poll found that 88% of all post-graduate students in college and 83% of all people earning $150,000 or more had extensive music training.

Poll, November 14, 2007

Reuters, Ltd.

Why Music and Movement are Vital for Children:

Peanut butter and jelly, socks and shoes, bats and balls, hide and seek and music are all elements of childhood. Children are naturally interested in music, and music is naturally good for children. Why is music so attractive to children and why is music so well suited to children?

•Music is a language, and children are oriented toward learning language.

•Music evokes movement, and children delight in and require movement for their development and growth.

•Music engages the brain while stimulating neural pathways associated with such higher forms of intelligence as abstract thinking, empathy, and