The Impact of Music on Child Development

I am a firm believer in all things music. From the surface level of it that deals on notes and bpm’s to its psychological effects on human beings. The entirety of music is never going to be a boring topic to me. I can talk all day long on the power of music, especially in our society. Music is soul food and it possesses spiritual elements. There is so much more going on with music rather than lyrics and style.

The beauty of music

Music is diverse. It has a long range of audience and these people come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, which means their taste is certainly different. People will gravitate to what they know first before moving on to what they want. I digress…

Music has come a long way from what it used to be. While we have the positives of it, the negatives are also glaring. In fact, we seem to be led by only the negative aspects of music in the world today. I think it is prerequisite to understand the world of music before we can gauge just how much of a mark it leaves on us. For this part, I want to talk about music and the child.

Children & Music

I said before that music is more than just words and beats. Music carries a message and that message resonates with all of us whether we accept it or not. It always leaves a mark, be it on adults or children. Children grow up watching and emulating what they see, first from their parents then from those around them like friends, classmates and the likes.

A child’s brain is always receptive. They take what they are taught and live by it long before they grow and begin to discover what life is truly all about themselves. So, let us explore just who the child is and what music has to do with their development.

Child development and Music

Music carries spiritual elements. This is that part that appeals to more than just the senses and seeks to convey thoughts upon human intelligence. People with active imaginations take those thoughts and continue to dwell on it.

Children live by imagination. Their entire thought process is based on what they are fed by the older people. However, they have zero ability to think for themselves, which is why we (as parents) are responsible for their lives until they are old enough to decide for themselves. Where I am leading with this is, if music has a spiritual element, and the imagination is an entity with which music imprints on the human soul, then what exactly is the effect of music?

If we as adults feel the effects of music with all our knowledge and experience, you best believe that children feel that effect raised to the power of ten. When we listen to music with words, our mind translates those words to pictures and then this may or may not affect our disposition, which is our attitude. It is the same for children or maybe even more. They hear words (or some of it) and these words become images. Especially for those with creative imaginations.

I do not think we should forget music has spirituality (cannot be emphasised enough) and children are very susceptible to whatever they listen to. It has maximum impact on how they view the world and people. You cannot expect that a child listen to ‘Bounce by Rema’ and not look at bum-bum the moment he or she sees one or they listen to ‘E don cast’ and not have a (negative) transformation take place in their mind. I guess this is why we are so mindful of what we let our children watch and mostly lead with educative content first. That is what I see happen in my country anyway.

Schools and Music

This is why I am surprised at how much schools seem to let within their doors now. During my time (OMG! I am actually using this phrase), for every class party or ‘Speech & Prize (Graduation Ceremony)’, the songs used were selective. Even when presenting dance or choreography. There were certain kind of songs not allowed.

Today however, I hear songs that should not be playing within a fifty-mile radius of a child blasting through speakers during these ceremonies. Not just that, parents have now accepted such songs as normal and leave it on the TV screen with images that should be prohibited coming into the child’s memory.

I am not going to judge anything because it is not my place, but I can voice my opinion, which is the future always, starts with today. The kids we are bringing up will lead someday and I feel that all those things are nothing but clutter, on which a child will spend some vital years of their life trying to take apart. That is also a part of life I guess.

Conclusion

In conclusion, music is more than just words and beats. Children have an overactive-interactive imagination and always pick up habits. The kind of music they listen to will have an effect on them and these effects may not always be positive.

---

This is my entry to the 04th Day of the September INLEO monthly initiative in the Afri-Tunes Community. All images imagined with Meta.ai through my prompts.