Sunnyvale School of Music
Prenatal Music and Language Education
Trio, Sunnyvale School of Music, Dance and Languages, has started to offer a very special program to expecting parents, Prenatal Music and Language, or €Mom, Dad & Me€. The goal of this program is to supply parents with the tools to give their children a head start in music and language. There have been plenty of fads in the area of prenatal learning, but the fundamentals of the idea are still valid: Babies Can Hear and Learn Before Birth.
A baby's ear begins to form in its 3rd week and is starting to work by the 16th week. At this point the baby cannot €hear€ but it can respond to pulses. At week 20, the cochlear structures have formed. This is about when the program recommends starting to talk, to sing, and to play music to the baby. Between week 24 and 28, the nerves connecting the ear to the brain are visible in scans so we know that at this point the baby can hear just fine.
It is also interesting to note that, while the baby can hear sounds from outside the womb, the amniotic fluid muffles the noise so sounds are indistinct. But the mother's voice is not just transmitted to the baby through the air; it is also transmitted through her bones. Since sound vibrations travel more efficiently through solid material than air or liquid, the mother's voice is the loudest and clearest sound the baby will hear before it is born. This makes the mother's influence over the baby so important while it grows and develops. She will be its first teacher.
You may be saying that this is all very interesting but why is it important? Research has shown that babies begin to learn language and sound structure while they are in the womb. All the different tones and rhythms of language that we take for granted are more intricate that most people realize. While the baby cannot hear very well, it can still feel and hear the vibration patterns of sound. The more it hears these sounds, the more familiar they become. This is thought to be the reason why children pick up their native language so fast. They begin learning it before they are born.
As for music, babies respond to different rhythms and tones in music. During the experiments, where babies were viewed with ultrasound while music was played, they were even seen to €dance€. Something else to consider is that, after they are born, babies still respond to music that they heard while in the womb. A song or music score that was sung or played frequently before birth, then played after birth, gets the babies' attention, and their heart rate drops, and their movements decrease.
There is no question that sounds, especially the voices of their mothers, have an effect on unborn children. How do we use this knowledge to help their development? In the Prenatal Music and Language program, parents will use some basic tools to accelerate their baby's learning. The program is an eight - week course taught to a group, which will teach parents basic music skills and provide them with the most important speech patterns to be used. The fundamental idea is to teach parents how to sing lullabies and accompany them on the keyboard or piano, and to teach them how to interact with their babied before birth and immediately after they've been born. In doing so, the parents will be learning pitch and rhythm and mastering creative movements. The best part is that, while the parents are learning, so are the children! This will make it easier for the babies to pick up language and music as they grow up, because they will already know it. What parent wouldn't want to give their child that sort of head start?
Trio, Sunnyvale School of Music, Dance and Languages, has started to offer a very special program to expecting parents, Prenatal Music and Language, or €Mom, Dad & Me€. The goal of this program is to supply parents with the tools to give their children a head start in music and language. There have been plenty of fads in the area of prenatal learning, but the fundamentals of the idea are still valid: Babies Can Hear and Learn Before Birth.
A baby's ear begins to form in its 3rd week and is starting to work by the 16th week. At this point the baby cannot €hear€ but it can respond to pulses. At week 20, the cochlear structures have formed. This is about when the program recommends starting to talk, to sing, and to play music to the baby. Between week 24 and 28, the nerves connecting the ear to the brain are visible in scans so we know that at this point the baby can hear just fine.
It is also interesting to note that, while the baby can hear sounds from outside the womb, the amniotic fluid muffles the noise so sounds are indistinct. But the mother's voice is not just transmitted to the baby through the air; it is also transmitted through her bones. Since sound vibrations travel more efficiently through solid material than air or liquid, the mother's voice is the loudest and clearest sound the baby will hear before it is born. This makes the mother's influence over the baby so important while it grows and develops. She will be its first teacher.
You may be saying that this is all very interesting but why is it important? Research has shown that babies begin to learn language and sound structure while they are in the womb. All the different tones and rhythms of language that we take for granted are more intricate that most people realize. While the baby cannot hear very well, it can still feel and hear the vibration patterns of sound. The more it hears these sounds, the more familiar they become. This is thought to be the reason why children pick up their native language so fast. They begin learning it before they are born.
As for music, babies respond to different rhythms and tones in music. During the experiments, where babies were viewed with ultrasound while music was played, they were even seen to €dance€. Something else to consider is that, after they are born, babies still respond to music that they heard while in the womb. A song or music score that was sung or played frequently before birth, then played after birth, gets the babies' attention, and their heart rate drops, and their movements decrease.
There is no question that sounds, especially the voices of their mothers, have an effect on unborn children. How do we use this knowledge to help their development? In the Prenatal Music and Language program, parents will use some basic tools to accelerate their baby's learning. The program is an eight - week course taught to a group, which will teach parents basic music skills and provide them with the most important speech patterns to be used. The fundamental idea is to teach parents how to sing lullabies and accompany them on the keyboard or piano, and to teach them how to interact with their babied before birth and immediately after they've been born. In doing so, the parents will be learning pitch and rhythm and mastering creative movements. The best part is that, while the parents are learning, so are the children! This will make it easier for the babies to pick up language and music as they grow up, because they will already know it. What parent wouldn't want to give their child that sort of head start?
Source...