Teaching Our Children About Christmas Through Music

We’ve all considered or put on our own special Christmas Eve program. There have been baby dolls swaddled in blankets, ?children fighting over who gets to be the angel or who has to use the pink towel for their shepherd’s costume, and we’ve even decided to avoid the drama and merely read the kids the Christmas Story from the Bible while they all drift off to the Land of Nod.

But…What if you did something different – shook things up a little and got the kids really involved?

Adding music is a wonderful way to capture your children’s attention and make sure everyone can be involved – everyone can sing a Christmas carol. Discussing and interpreting the biblical text is also a wonderful way to help them really get something from the tradition.

An example of a Christmas program could be:

-Sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” when you discuss Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem

-Sing “Away in a Manger” when you read about Jesus being born

-And then sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” when you talk about how special it is that Christ was born and how important it was that he was born so humbly

-Sing “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” when you talk about the shepherds being told by the angels that Christ was born

-Sing “With Wondering Awe” when you tell your children about the three wise men who came to visit Christ

Finish your special musical Christmas program as follows:

-Sing “O Come All Ye Faithful” and then talk about how we can all come to Christ and still follow the star by following His teachings

-And then sing “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” and talk about the true meaning of Christmas.

-Sing your children’s favorite Christmas hymns – even if you sung them during the story.

If there are other songs you enjoy that help tell of the Christmas story, make sure to include them! A couple favorites that would be wonderful in the story are: “We Three Kings” and “The Friendly Beasts”. Make sure you sing songs your family loves because it will personalize it and help it hit home for your children.

Do your best to make sure you don’t just read the story, but explain it and teach the principles the story holds. It’s a wonderful opportunity to bring a loving spirit to your home on the holiest night of the year.

Have you ever done a Christmas program with your children? What have you done to help tell your children the Christmas story?

Hymns can be viewed here

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The Influences of Music on Child Development: Beyond the Mozart Effect

You’ve probably heard that listening to music, specifically Mozart’s music, makes young children smarter. Obviously, this statement isn’t quite on-target, but there might be some substance to the idea that music positively affects children’s brain development. Two recent research studies on the topic of music in child development give us some helpful information that spans the spectrum of professional thought on the subject. So even though that “Young Mozart” CD won’t make your child more intelligent, you might want to hang onto it for other reasons.

Mood, Arousal, and Cognitive Ability

In a study conducted by psychologists at Canadian and Japanese universities, two experiments showed that the effects of music on “intelligence” are really due to individuals’ emotional reactions. Mood and arousal, the two components of emotion, are directly influenced by music – rhythm and other factors determine the degree of arousal, or engagement, as well as the positive or negative quality of a person’s mood. For example, the first experiment with adults showed that the auditory stimulus of hearing a story had the same positive impact on an IQ subtest as listening to classical music (Mozart and Albinoni). The subjects were similarly affected by both music and stories, implying that a heightened level of engagement and elevated mood were the factors behind their increased cognitive ability.

The second experiment in this study analyzed 5-year-old Japanese children’s drawing abilities for temporal length of engagement, creativity, energy, and technical proficiency, comparing children who listened to Mozart and Albinoni to a different group that listened to children’s songs. The group that heard children’s songs was judged to be superior in drawing ability, demonstrating that engagement and mood were the determining factors in drawing success.

Depending on your child’s age, he or she may be more responsive to a positive stimulus that’s more similar to children’s songs or stories than classical music. However, any music with an upbeat rhythm and major tonality tends to elevate mood and aid concentration.

Musical Training and Neuroplasticity

This study showed that after fifteen months of training on a musical instrument, children’s neuroplasticity increased significantly. In other words, musical training positively affected their brains’ ability to adapt to environmental conditions and stimuli. Specifically, these children’s motor abilities and auditory melodic and rhythmic discrimination skills improved noticeably as compared to those of children who did not receive musical instruction. The researchers who conducted the study judged that early musical training could effectively predict adult expertise – and not just in music. By increasing the brain’s plasticity at a young age, it was found that the brain could more readily adapt to changes throughout life, enabling trained individuals to develop expertise.

According to this study, it’s not enough to simply have your child listen to music. Interactive lessons are necessary to obtain increased neuroplasticity; however, having your child listen to upbeat music may improve cognitive ability. With a combination of both, you’ll be sure to give your child the best intellectual opportunities and encourage healthy development.

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Guest Post: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education, where recently she's been researching different music degree programs and blogging about student life. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

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The Music In Me: Musical Talent and Teens

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by Linda Shaw?

The Music in Me:? Musical Talent and Teens

Recently we had guests over for dinner and afterwards our son performed several piano pieces for them. (His favorite composer is Vince Guaraldi) Before it was over our guests were playing the infectious duet “Heart and Soul” with him and we were laughing and enjoying one another immensely.

Musical appreciation enriches our lives. ?So many children and well-intentioned parents start their children with music lessons, but very few follow through to their teen years and beyond. I often hear young adults lament, ?“I wish I had kept with my music lessons.”

So how do parents help develop their child’s musical talents? How do you keep teen that insists on quitting or not practicing, focused?

You might start by building your resolve through realizing the many benefits of musical education.

What are some of the benefits of musical training? Research has shown that Music Lessons can:?

• ·????? Help develop the brain in the areas of language and reasoning.
• ·????? Help students develop creativity and problem solving skills
• ·????? Improves SAT scores
• ·????? Help develop cultural compassion and empathy
• ·????? Improve a students quality of excellence and craftsmanship
• ·????? Teach the benefits of sustained effort and the benefits of hard work
• ·????? Help develop self-expression and increase self-esteem.
• ·????? Help develop teamwork skills and discipline.
• ·????? Help students conquer their fears and take risks
• ·????? Teach children how to perform well in a workplace environment.
• ·????? Prepare students with a life-marketable skill

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So with all these benefits, why can it be difficult to help your child realize their full potential? Over the past thirty years my husband and I have attended a few concerts. All but one of our "grown"children chose to keep music in their lives through high school, of those four all have either minimally continued their music education in college or have used their experience to supplement their incomes.?

How do you keep your teen in tune?

• ·????? Resolve - Expect that when they hit eleven or twelve, they are going to become defensive about how they spend their “free time.” Build your resolve to not give in. Your child at this age is too young to really know what they want? Insist they keep with it. They will thank you later.?
• ·????? Routine - Insist they make time for practice in the form of a daily routine. Our children practiced before school. It made for early mornings, but we enjoyed their early morning focus and they enjoyed the ability to relax after school. ( I took this idea from Linda and Richard Eyre's book Teaching Children Responsibility)??
• ·????? Resource - Network. Network. Network. Even if you have musical talents, as your child becomes a teen they are looking for other mentors, new musical avenues. Develop a good relationship with their teachers, other musicians, friends and other musical family members.
• ·????? Recitals- Insist on recitals and concerts.? Playing without a goal is like walking and never arriving. Or schedule them to play for church or other social gatherings.?
• ·????? Respond – When your child plays a piece of music make comments that are both instructive and supportive. Try not to nag or get into a power struggle.?
• ·????? Expose? – Enjoy many different kinds of music in your home. By exposing your child to the variety of musical genres you are giving him choice.? In our home, evening and bedtime were set aside for classical music, Sundays were gospel, and weekends we enjoyed country, jazz, and rock.
• ?? ? Have Fun?- Music can emote the frolic within us. I can still hear my husband chorusing through the house as he sang "Awake and Arise" to rouse the children from their weekend slumber.?
• ·????? Camps - Summer musical camps help teens connect with other teens both on a social and creative way. Teens need to identify with others that have similar talents and skills. It helps stretch their talent and creates a mild spirit of competition which helps to bring out their best.?
• ·????? Share - Music was meant to be shared with others. A good way to help them to excel and grow in their talent involves finding way to help the share their talent with others. Guests, family gatherings, church meetings, videos, Utube are just a few ideas.?
• ·????? Identify – Create ways to help your child identify music as part of their life. Photos with them and their instrument and family letters that describe their talents both help teens to identify and define themselves with music.
• ·????? Respect – Understand that they may not want to play a certain instrument. We insisted they play piano until 5^th grade because piano is such a good base for all other instruments. After 5^th grade if they wanted to explore other instruments this was fine. High school meant they were free to forego lessons for other activities.?
• ·????? Support – Attend as many of their recitals and performances as possible. If you play then play duets and trios with them.? Try to find music that bridges the generation differences and creates a bond between you. If you don't play try to invite guests to your house that do play. They will serve as mentors and role models for your teen.??

How do you encourage your child’s musical talent to blossom?

How do you help them keep that stick to it “ness” that is required for success?

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