The results of a new study have just been released (Broken link, active September 22, 2006), which show that four- to six- year olds who take music lessons, even for as little as four months, show increased memory and intelligence, not just in music, but also general memory, verbal memory, literacy, and math.
“The research tells us that if you take music lessons your brain is getting wired up differently than if you don’t take music lessons,” said Prof Laurel Trainor from McMaster University. “This is the first study to show that brain responses in young, musically trained and untrained children change differently over the course of a year,” she said.
Memory is the most important thinking skill young children develop, in respect to education, for nearly everything a child is learning at this stage needs to be committed to memory: language, phonics, grammar, spelling, math, and individual and cultural history, which grounds children in their personal identity before puberty. And let’s not forget the word of God.
Classical Christian Homeschooling on memory training for young children
CCH on music for young children (Broken link, active September 22, 2006)
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