One way or another, children are exposed to and involved with singing from their earliest years. Whether it be a parent singing them to sleep, or the opening theme song from their favourite TV programme, singing plays an important part in a child’s development.
Singing encourages a child to express their emotions and sharpens their ability to communicate while exercising lip and tongue movement. But one of the biggest benefits of singing is the repeated use of the ‘memory muscle’.
Learning a piece of information attached to a tune embeds that information more rapidly in a child’s mind. The majority of children learn the alphabet not by simply saying the letters but singing them, ‘…now I know my ABCs won’t you come and sing with me’.
As children get older the power of singing in their lives can still be extremely beneficial. Matthew Freeman, development manager of ‘Sing up’, a national singing project to help enhance music in children’s education, has found that singing can be a great teaching tool for children and can be used as a creative and fun way to increase enjoyment and achievement in subject areas where children normally struggle.
He says, ‘Many children do not think of singing as “work” and willingly participate in sessions. Singing can be used as a tool to increase enjoyment and participation in a number of different subjects. A skilled singing tutor can cover subjects as diverse as English, numeracy, science, languages, and culture to name but a few.’
Singing is, of course, not something that has to be done alone. In fact taking each individual voice and putting them together can create a whole different sound and a whole different experience for children. Learning to work together in a group or choir can give children a sense of collectiveness and can help children make friends and develop more positive attitudes towards each other in general.
With a new serge in musical shows like High School Musical, Camp Rock and Hannah Montana, which all combine teenage drama with wonderfully catchy tunes and delightfully cheesy rhymes, there is no doubt that singing more now than ever has a big part in children’s lives. It is something they can use to bond and express their own feelings.
