Music has always been a way for children to remember stories and learn about the world around them. Using music as a stimulus
can effect one''s emotions and make information easier to remember. Music also creates an environment that is conducive to
learning. It can reduce stress, increase interest, and set the stage for listening and learning. The similarities between literacy acquisition and musical development are many. Therefore, teaching that combines music with language arts instruction can be the most effective. Furthermore, it is important for emergent
readers to experience many connections between literacy in language, music, and in print.
Language in music and language in print have many similarities, such as the use of abstract symbols. Both oral language and written language can be obtained in the same manner. That is, by using them in a variety of holistic literacy experiences, and building on what the students already know about oral and written language.
For example, emergent readers will attempt to "read" along in a shared reading of a familiar text, just as they will join in a sing along to a familiar song. Just as emergent reading and writing are acquired to drawing and pretending to write, musical learning is connected to song and movement. Children instinctively listen to music and try to identify familiar melodies and rhythms, just as early readers will look for words that sound alike, have patterns, or rhyme. Song picture books such as The Ants Go Marching or The More We Get Together, support early readers in this manner. They also illustrate how the use of familiar text, predictability, and repetition can encourage children to read. Using songs put to print can expand vocabulary and knowledge of story structure, as well as build on concepts about print. The use of music for reading instruction allows children to easily recall new vocabulary, facts, numbers, and conventions of print. For example, try to remember how you learned your ABC''s or other memory skills -- many people learn them musically.
Two’s can use Meet Me at the Garden Gate to teach children to skip count; it is a song that is readily learned while at the same time assimilates the mathematical concept.
Repetition in songs supports and enhances emergent literacy by offering children an opportunity to read higher-leveled text and to read with the music repeatedly in a meaningful context. Print put to music also allows children to build on experiences, which in turn invites them to participate in reading and singing at the same time. Using Over the River and Through the Woods for instruction affords first grade students the familiarity necessary to read a higher leveled text based on experiences. Furthermore, teachers using repetitive text can easily model and exaggerate the repetition, rhyme, and rhythm of story, thereby encouraging the children to join in.
A child''s initial introduction to patterned text often first occurs in songs, chants, and rhymes that are repeated frequently throughout childhood. Once children become familiar with this patterning, they are excited and able to participate in shared reading, writing, and other oral language experiences. Concepts about print become more meaningful, and conventions of print are learned in context. Additionally, substitutions in songs, chants, or poems can provide for real language experience opportunities. When emergent readers see printed words in the text repeatedly, they come to identify those words and phrases by their similarities and configurations. Emergent readers who learn Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, for instance, can quickly spot the quotations marks and capital letters in the doctor''s statement, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!”
The effects of music on the emotions are commonly known. However, the effects of music on the brain and thinking are dble. Research has shown that during an electroencephalogram (EEG), music can change brain waves and make the brain more receptive to learning. Music connects the functions of the right, left hemispheres of the brain so that they work together, and makes learning quick and easy. Brain function is increased when listening to music and studies have shown that music promotes thinking that is more complex. It can make connections between emotions, thinking, and learning.