Music Making Creates Magical Holiday Traditions and Gifts for Kids, Gift of Music Keeps on Giving with Numerous Health, Wellness and Cost Benefits

With interest in recreational music making at an all-time high, according to a 2009 Gallup Poll* conducted by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), the holidays are the perfect time to share the gift of music by giving a gift of music lessons or instruments. NAMM’s “Top 10 Reasons” illustrates just some of the many proven benefits of an untraditional musical gift that keeps on giving beyond the holidays:

10 Reasons for Giving Musical Instruments and Lessons This Holiday Season

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You’re never too old to learn how to play music - A common myth, but music can be learned at any age, and studies show that making music is a life-long skill that enriches the lives of children and adults

Making music relieves stress - Recreational music making has been scientifically proven to help reduce stress and reverse the body’s response to stress at the DNA level. With the holidays as one of the most stressful times of the year, making music or giving a gift for someone special to make music for you, can help reduce stress for an entire family

Making music fights off depression - Depression affects about 19 million people in the U.S.**, and with the holiday season as one of the most vulnerable times of the year, music making can make all the difference in keeping spirits uplifted

Enrich your holiday experience - and your life! - with music making - Whether gathering around the piano to play holiday tunes or caroling around the neighborhood, or dancing to live music at a holiday party, music making vibrantly brings the entire holiday experience to life

Use music to create lasting family traditions - Each family has its own traditions, but music making offers a new way for families to celebrate the festive season together. From playing a favorite tune on the piano or jamming on the drums with a rock n’ roll rendition of a classic holiday song, music-making can create unique traditions for generations to share

Source NAMM

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According to researches and studies, music can help in child development- both cognitive and behavioral. Music therapy is increasingly becoming popular among kids and therapists believe that certain tones, rhythms and vibrations can actually help treat various medical and behavioral problems in babies and adults alike. It has been seen that lullabies in parents’ voice indeed make babies feel more secure and loved and can help them thrive. It has been seen that relaxing music and 20 minutes of vocal lullaby twice daily helped premature babies and preemies to thrive better, slowed their heart rates and increased the amounts of formula and oxygen they took in.

Similarly, colicky babies or teething babies that hurt and cry a lot are easier to soothe with songs that have soothing melody and steady rhythm. However, if parents love the lullabies, then it works much better than instrumental music, even if they are unable to carry a tune and have to make up the lyrics because they simply can’t remember the words. Another study showed that the brain waves of kids with attention-deficit or hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that listened to three 40-minute recordings of classical music per week for about six months, moved to higher levels and that they could focus or concentrate better on the tasks assigned to them while they were listening the music.

Listening to regular music sessions periodically throughout the day and classical rhythmic music such as that of Mozart or Haydn can help calm a kid, when he is restless or very tired such as after school. Some kids can learn better or show improvement in their efficiency levels when they do their homework while playing music. However, some kids are just the opposite and cannot just concentrate on studies or work while the music is on, so it basically varies from individual to individual. Kids who face difficulty in following directions may show better results and pay more attention to you if they are given directions in playful, rhythmic, singsong tunes. So, music does help health and stimulate development of a kid.

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Music in school can be one of the most interesting aspects of child education for your child and parents can do well to support their children if they are showing an inclination towards it. So talk to the teacher and gauge how interested your child is; you can also raise him with passion for music.

Here are some questions from BBC which you can ask your teacher regarding your child’s music education:

- What progress is my child making in music lessons?
- How will my child be assessed?
- Can you suggest ways that I could support my child’s learning at home?
- Is there anything that my child needs to improve on?
- Are they working well with their classmates in their music lessons?

Also try to expose your child to different musical styles and if they latch on to something, you can follow up on it from there. Here are additional discussion points you can raise;

- Would you like to learn an instrument?
- Is there anything you would like to do that might help you - e.g go and see a particular musical performance?
- What music do you and your friends like?
- Do you enjoy working with the other children in your class?

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