As tiny tots sing, tap and play in music class, experts say it boosts their brain development

On a parky, drizzly morning time, toddlers and caregivers ar all smiles interior a cozy room at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music.

They're singing songs, tapping rhythm sticks together and playing simple games with colourful balls and small toys — all taking the lead from a soft-spoken and nurturing instructor, Michaela Tomiska, who kindly but intentionally ushers them along with her sweet voice and gentle piano-playing.

Syd Healey says his young son, Charlie, "just soaks it up like a sponge."

The Toronto parent describes the once-a-week class as structured, research-based and thoughtful in approach, which has meant Charlie’s more engaged than with other activities they’ve tried: another music-themed class, gymnastics and soccer.

Music classes for the very youngest children can set a foundation for them to one day pick up an instrument. But experts say engaging this age group with structured, intentional music learning also brings broader cognitive benefits: firing up areas of their developing brains linked to attention, memory and language development.

In the conservatory's classes for tots, "there's a lot of different activities and it's changing quickly — and that works very well for him, so he's just always engaged at each moment, [while] in other classes he usually kind of drifts off," Healey said of his son.

"He listens a lot better, and he's starting to pick up on a bit of the rhythm, like the beat."

Although naturally still reliant on caregivers in their first years of life, kids in this age range are already learning fundamental skills — like how to listen, communicate, pay attention, remember things or to switch between tasks. Doing it with music can help.

With early music instruction, young children see “improvements in things like pre-reading ability ... Attention to the sounds of language and even vocabulary size,” said Sean Hutchins, a neuroscientist and director of research at the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM).

What does a toddler music class look like?

“Music cannot only train musical development but also linguistic and cognitive development," he said.

Hutchins, who researches music training in early childhood, has worked for a decade to develop a play-based music curriculum called Smart Start.

It spans infancy up to kindergarten, with instruction and content adapted to each age group, since "what a one-year-old needs out of music and can learn from music is very different from what a two-year-old can learn, which is different from what a four-year-old can learn," he said.

Just hearing and seeing someone sing or perform "lights up" a child's brain, so music classes can be an enjoyable way to build cognition, said Sheila Lee, a certified Vancouver music therapist and instructor at Capilano University. She's taught early childhood music classes to tots and caregivers since 2010.

"It’s just a really natural and fun way for kids to be curious about the world, explore themselves, and then they’re also using their cognitive skills: thinking, learning, remembering, processing, problem-solving,” she said, putting extra emphasis on the "fun."

"It's not an adult that is telling them, ‘OK, let's work on these skills,’" she said.

When kids learn music, ‘the brain is lighting up’

That said, Lee is a proponent of more educators learning to teach music intentionally and through science-based approaches.

“We're not just randomly using songs,” she said, noting the breadth that teacher-training can dive into — such as the benefits of different timbres of music or instruments, incorporating physical movement versus stillness, or the impact of major or minor keys.

Having piloted Smart Start in Toronto, as well as at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Hutchins said he's eager for it to expand further.

Some educators at daycares and music schools in Vancouver, Regina and Calgary have started running the curriculum as well, while a recent $1-million donation from a Calgary-born RCM board member will help introduce the program in underserved communities in Western Canada.

"We're really excited to get it to be something that is available to everyone around the world," Hutchins said.

While public school music budgets are often reduced or targeted when boards tighten their belts, he said he thinks the curriculum can be valuable for primary schools as well, "because we know that these same types of principles are really relevant to what children are doing there."

Even without formal training, however, both Hutchins and Lee said they would love to see everyone engaging young children with music more often.

Lee encourages all adults to sing — from parents crooning lullabies at bedtime or The Alphabet Song during diaper changes to early childhood educators singing about the weather during morning circle time.

"The voice is such a powerful instrument, and it's the most flexible instrument that we have," Hutchins said.

"Even if you're not an amazing singer, the act of starting to work with rhythmic structure, of starting to work with helping children to bring simple songs to them ... Even that can make a huge difference in children's development."

A regular attendee at the RCM's toddler music classes this fall, Laurie Mitchell said she's started to notice an impact on her granddaughter, Clara.

"She watches and she gets an idea what's going on ... Then she'll do it. It takes a while," said Mitchell, who plays violin and believes music engages children's imaginations.

Now, Clara "definitely sings as she's playing, and we hope that it'll develop into playing the piano or the violin or something," the Toronto grandparent said. "It's always fun to see them enjoying themselves [in class] and then bringing it home."

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