Have you ever noticed how the perfect song can make a bad day good or a good day great? It’s funny how powerful music can be when it comes to giving us a boost of energy or helping us relax.
But the power of music goes deeper than energizing or setting a mood. Music has been proven to have incredible benefits as a teaching tool, especially for struggling students.
On May 21, the Today show reported on the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas — an exciting, New York-based orchestra whose director, Alondra de la Parra, is passionate about bringing music to the children of the world. “There’s just about every important value that a child can learn in music,” she said in an interview. “Teamwork, respect for one another, imagination, discipline.” Music, de la Parra said, “has nothing to do with where we came from, how old we are, what our political views are… nothing! It’s just ‘let’s do something beautiful together.’”
Perhaps that is one of the reasons why music is such a powerful educational tool. When students learn a song together, it doesn’t matter what language they speak. Music crosses boundaries, so every student can understand. As Eric Jensen wrote in Teaching with the Brain in Mind (1998), “Music is a language.”
In the same book, Jensen also wrote that music is “a carrier of words, primer for brain activity. “ If you think about it, music really is a sort of glue. I still remember jingles I heard on TV when I was five years old, and I bet most of you do, too! That same kind of sticking power applies to educational songs as well. Consider early literacy. Most children learn the English alphabet by singing the alphabet song—something most people remember all of their lives. Music has also been found as an effective tool for building literacy skills in English learners. In the article “The Effect of Music on Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition,” published in 1993, Suzanne L. Medina reported that her studies showed music to be an effective tool for building vocabulary in a second language, especially when that music was accompanied by illustrations.
One of my favorite features in Imagine Learning English is the activity “Recording Studio.” In this activity, students listen to songs and chants that teach literacy or grammar rules and then sing along with the song or chant to make a recording. Then, students can listen to their recording to see how they sounded. The best part is that while they’re playing rock star, students are also learning important skills such as pronoun usage and how to use multi-meaning words. Thanks to the sticking-power of music, those skills will be stuck in their head for a long time.
Music is a powerful tool. It can unlock many doors for children and open them up to a lifetime of success. As Alondra de la Parra said in her interview, “If [children] can imagine something, they can get it out and make it a reality. And that is a perfect example of a tool that can help them for a lifetime.”
To learn more about how Imagine Learning can help students gain lifelong skills through the power of music, go here.
Having studied music in college, and having a father who is a music theory college professor, I can definitely attest to the power of music in our lives, and I completely agree with the assertion that “music is a language.” We all speak it, and we all understand it. Why are songs in a minor key universally regarded as sad? It’s amazing.
It makes sense that music is a powerful component of any person’s education, regardless of the subject matter. Having learned another language, I know that music helped me tremendously. I’ve also seen first-hand how kids on Imagine Learning English get caught up in the music, singing at the top of their lungs, oblivious to the world around them.
I never thought about the fact that songs in minor keys evoke the same sorts of emotions universally, but now that you mention it I see that. I suppose that’s why people can still follow the storyline of an opera that’s written in another language– the music helps to carry understanding.
I know music has helped me learn a second language as well. I remember color names in Spanish because of a song I learned in the sixth grade, which I still remember. I could sing it word for word right this minute. But I won’t.
Thanks for your comment, Carter!
That’s so cool about remembering Spanish vocabulary through song. I find that if I can learn something to a tune, I’ll remember it forever. In fact, one of the ways I best remember grammar and usage rules is through music. A former professor of mine had a song about its and it’s that I use all the time. The song is sung to the tune of row, row, row your boat.
I-t-apostrophe s always means it is,
Its mean posessive like their and her and his.
I honestly use this song all the time, and I teach it to anyone who asks me about it’s and its.