Music workshop, St. Peters Church, Port Chester

Music & Me

The music program combines several techniques and methods with the goals of:

  • Providing youth with a constructive and exciting after school outlet
  • Strengthening the participation of parents in their children’s expression and activities
  • Using music as a medium to raise self-esteem and create social interactions

The program consists of a combination of: vocal and pitch awareness games, beat keeping games, singing, playing instruments such as resonator bells, and various percussion instruments, circle dancing, use of puppets and scarves in creative and dramatic play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnQOcGIH6og

After completing the first study of its kind, researchers at McMaster University have discovered that very early musical training benefits children even before they can walk or talk. ~ScienceDaily, May 9, 2012.

They found that one-year-old babies who participate in interactive music classes with their parents smile more, communicate better and show earlier and more sophisticated brain responses to music. The findings were published recently in the scientific journals Developmental Science and Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Many past studies of musical training have focused on older children, says Laurel Trainor, director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind. Our results suggest that the infant brain might be particularly plastic with regard to musical exposure.

“Young children who received a year of musical training showed brain changes and superior memory compared with children who did not receive the instruction.” ~Fuijoka,T., Ross, B., Kakigi,R., Pantev,C., and Trainor,L., Brain, A Journal of Neurology; Oxford University Press, Sept, 2006.

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