Could early music training help babies learn language?

You should know that I'm a firm believer in exposing our babies to music, singing, and nursery rhymes.

I'm not formally trained, but I love all music!

As a family, we listen to classical music in the late afternoons to calm our senses (and get through to bedtime), and I also love this playlist of mostly female R&B artists. We have disco dance parties in the morning when energy levels are high. And I'm not gonna lie, I love all 80's and 90's music. Oh, and then there's country music for a different kind of musical story time because the lyrics are often so rich. I also love to make family friendly playlists for the seasons (Halloween is on my radar, stay tuned).

So I'm sharing this article and study about the effects of musical training and language acquisition -it is fascinating!

After thinking about her own musical training as a child, and finding that her fellow musician friends are particularly good at learning new languages, the author poses the question if music shapes how the brain perceives sounds other than musical notes. And if so, could learning music help us learn languages?

“Babies in the music group had stronger brain responses to both music and speech sounds compared with babies in the control group. This shows that musical experience, as early as nine month of age, improved infants’ ability to process both musical and speech rhythms.”

Click above to have a quick read through the article if you're interested in the study done with 9 month old babies and music.

Are you ready to add more music, singing and signing into your day with your little ones?

Me, too!

That's why I teach weekly sing & sign classes on Zoom and Facebook to keep families learning at home with fun, skill-based learning to help facilitate learning.

Click here to see all of my virtual classes full of playful, light-hearted songs and American Sign Language to stimulate your language acquisition as a family.

xox Lee Ann