The Essential Role of Music in the Homeschooling Environment

Can you imagine a life without music? No tapping of the toes against the cold hard floor. No clanging of the cymbals. No drone of the organ. No tinkling of the piano keys. No soft child-like voices drifting through the air in song. No praise teams. None. No child ever dreamed of becoming a singer or musician. No one wore headphones as they walked down the street. No one hummed as they worked. No one sang lullabies to little babies as they rocked them to sleep. It was a silent world. Would you like to live in this world? If you do not implement music into your homeschool curriculum you are creating this type of world for your children. Music is such an important part of learning and memorization. If you don't use the tools available to you, you are doing a disservice to your children.

Music has always been an important part of my life. I was homeschooled for a number of years as a child. The most vivid memories I have all have one thing in common. They are memories packaged in music. I remember playing the piano while learning math and language arts songs. I remember watching videos of songs, one in particular was "Barney’s Brushing My Teeth." The tunes and lyrics still echo in my mind as I stand at the sink, reminding me to “never let the water run.” Another vivid memory of music was when I was studying for a Bible test. I had to memorize a Scripture and it was giving me a hard time. I decided to put it to music. I walked around our basement table and made up a tune and sang the verse to it, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven." (Revelation 12:7). To this day I still remember that phrase.

"Michael and his angels fought against the dragon...And prevailed not"

Studies have been conducted to test and see if musicians have better memory abilities. One of the studies I found on the PLOS website. This study was conducted between musicians and non-musicians.

"The results showed that musicians performed better than non-musicians in terms of long-term memory, short-term memory, and working memory." (PLOS Articles)

Homeschool parents, please use music as a tool to help your children memorize concepts such as Scriptures, math facts, language concepts, and so much more. If you enroll them in music programs such as voice, piano, or other instrument lessons you are enabling them to increase their memory and other skills.

Another study that was conducted shows the correlation between music and language. Infants and babies treat language as music. That is why Ms. Rachel, is such a popular figure in today's world because of the sing-song projection and intonations of her voice.

"It has been shown that, ontogenetically, infants' first steps into language are based considerably on prosodic information, and musical communication in early childhood (such as maternal music) might play a major role in the emotional, cognitive and social development of children." (Science Direct Article)

If musicians are finding and using techniques that increase their memory why not incorporate that into our lessons and add to our students’ success. Not only can they memorize but they can also withdraw from their bank of memories. This happens because they have to read music, count the beats and notes, and play an instrument simultaneously, so they are building skills not only in memory, but also in working together as a team and learning how to be effective multitaskers. Because the human brain does not treat music and language differently, musicians have been known to have better language skills. Often musicians must read or sing music in different languages as well.

Another study was done by Dr. James Catterall from the University of California Los Angeles. This study consisted of 25,000 participants over 10 years. The object of the study was to see if students who had exposure to music and were involved in music did better academically. It proved to be true across the board when taking standardized tests. Students from very diverse backgrounds, different genders, varied socioeconomic status, different cultures, races, learning styles, reading levels, all did better and scored higher when they were involved in music.

Hebrew child playing the piano

Just think, if we continued to have an effective music program in our homeschools our children would have a greater capacity to memorize and withdraw those topics they studied for. Our children would be highly successful in working as a team. Our children would be better equipped to study language and form good sentences.

Can we as teachers purposely ignore an opportunity for learning in our children? We often focus on the math programs and the children with mathematical intelligence thrive. We keep the language programs and the children with high linguistic intelligence continue succeeding. But what happens to our children with high musical intelligence? Are we pushing them down and crushing their ability to succeed if we neglect to include music and musical programs in our homeschooling classrooms?

Can you imagine a day without music? Not just one day, but everyday? Our children may never realize that they have a gift unless we foster it and nurture their talents. All students will benefit greatly from music classes, songs, and activities because it teaches them discipline, helps them work well in groups, and helps improve grades and stamina. Prayerfully consider adding music classes to your homeschool curriculum.

Happy Homeschooling,