Music Enrichment

This music enrichment program is the specialized use of music to learn both musical and non-musical skills. Music enrichment activities can be developed to help a child improve in a variety of areas, including, reading and math.

How is this music enrichment different from music education?

While music enrichment and music education are both fun musical experiences, music enrichment reaches beyond the goals of music education. During music enrichment, a child will learn musical skills commonly taught in music education classes. In addition, the child will develop improved skills necessary for other areas of their education. The non-musical skills focused on depend on the goals of the child, which could be auditory comprehension, cooperative learning, critical thinking, and executive functioning.

Why is music enrichment an important complement to a child’s education?

♪ Music stimulates all of the senses and involves the child at many levels. This "multi-modal approach" facilitates many developmental skills.

♪ Quality learning and maximum participation occur when children are permitted to experience the joy of play. The medium of music allows this play to occur naturally and frequently.

♪ Music is highly motivating, yet it can also have a calming and relaxing effect. Enjoyable music activities are designed to be success-oriented and make children feel better about themselves.

♪ Music can encourage socialization, self-expression, communication, and motor development.

♪ Because the brain processes music in both hemispheres, music can stimulate cognitive functioning and may be used for remediation of some speech/language skills.

How does music enrichment make a difference in a classroom setting?

Music is a fun! Children often don’t even realize that they are learning or being challenged to develop new skills while participating in music. In the learning process, music serves as a tool to both motivate and reinforce concepts, such as socialization, appropriate behavior, and academics.

Additionally, music experiences can be easily adapted by a trained professional in order to enable all children to participate at their own level. It allows for each child to participate in a way that accommodates his/her individual strengths and weaknesses. Adapting lessons is especially important when working with children with disabilities in a mainstream classroom.

What does the music therapist do to use music to enrich?

♪ Design music enrichment activities for the group dependent upon the skill or concept being taught

♪ Monitor the classes progress in order to determine when to introduce new concepts and music experiences

♪ Keep in contact with the teachers, teachers’ aides, and administrators to assure that the music enrichment is complementing their instruction

How does music enrichment directly enhance learning mathematics?

Music is in itself is full of mathematical concepts. One of the major components of music is rhythm. Rhythm is based upon counting the beats, looking at the fractions of a beat, relating the beat to time. Patterns, an important mathematical skill, allowing us to use math in making predictions is found throughout music in rhythm, melody, harmony, and form.

Additionally, music can be used as a mnemonic device to help remember concepts and formulas, such as the order of operations. Think for a moment about how you learned and sometimes remember the order of the alphabet. Do you still remember the ABC Song?

How does music enrichment directly enhance learning to read?

Reading consists of two kep elements: to be a able to decipher what's written and to comprehend. When playing a piece of music, one has the opportunity to practice deciphering codes because musical notation is a code like English. Also, music is written in horizontal lines from left to right, which helps to build tracking, an essential skill for reading.

Taking words written on a page and making them into auditory sounds is only half of the reading process. Understanding what is read is the other half. Since music is multisensory, it will help maintain focus of attention to what is being read. In addition, the rhythm of music can help set the pace to avoid reading too slowly or too quickly.