The Importance of Music in Early Childhood and in Society

Music is considered a great creation of humanity. It can be defined as ‘creativity in the pure and undiluted form. Music is believed to be an important medium for expressing one’s emotions. Over time, it has become an essential part of our life as it helps us express our feelings of joy and sorrow. Several people believe that music is an ideal way to reduce stress, and hence, they describe it as a powerful therapy. All these points collectively highlight the importance of music in our lives.

It is considered to have the potential which helps people temporarily escaping from their pain and problems. It also assists people in celebrating their joys and developments in life. On the other hand, music also develops the mind of the listener and boosts the self-confidence of the individual. Therefore, it is not just a source of entertainment but much more than that. Music plays multiple roles in our lives. Some of them, expressing the importance of music, are mentioned below:

Music makes us creative

Music is the key to creativity. It helps individuals to improve their minds and make them more artistic energetically. Another stated and accepted fact is that music improves the listening skills and understanding ability of an individual. It can be explained with the help of a simple example that when we hear a song, we not only enjoy its music but try to understand the meaning of its lyrics as well. In this way, the understanding ability of an individual gets improved.

Music helps in expressing emotion

The choice of music at a particular time reflects our preferences during that time period which completely depends upon our mood and emotion. The research studies state that when an individual plays any instrument, the selection of theme represents his emotion while at the same time, his brain is also carrying out its responsibilities inside the body. The brain actually conveys thoughts of the person through the medium of music without verbal words. Therefore, when an individual tries to understand the song’s lyrics, his brain will become more creative.

Music makes learning more pleasant

The importance of music also includes the fact that it makes it really easy for us to memorize things. We can find several examples of this statement in our routine life. For example, learning a song is easier as compared to learning notes. Similarly, several advertising campaigns provide the target audience with a jingle that they can chant all the time intentionally or unintentionally to make their campaign and product more popular. Research studies state that this happens because our minds enjoy music and hence, preserves it easily.

The Importance of Music in early childhood

Just like adults, music is trendy among children too. From a very early age, we observe them keenly listening to rhymes and dancing to music, etc. Music is even used to make them sleep at night or calm them if they are crying due to any reason.  Recent studies show that exposure of children to music has a substantial impact on their lives. Some of the impacts are discussed below:

• Develop fine and large motor control: Making music of any sort can help the children enhance their motor skills, e.g., activities intended to make sound by tapping, clapping, dancing, and bouncing, etc., can actually prove to be beneficial for kids. Simple rhymes with simple back and forth play can help create coordination between mind and body. Collectively, all these activities connect the importance of music with creating important connections in the developing brain during childhood, which is considered an essential time of development.
• Music builds intimacy: A close bond between a child and his close relationships can prove to be very helpful during the child’s development. Music can play a vital role in enhancing this bond. Research shows that children listen to lullaby with more concentration for a long time than baby talks or speech of adults. The tone and lyrics of lullabies give a sense of care and security to the baby and make him calm and help him relax.
• Music expands communication and imagination: Right from a very early age, music and sound of children’s babbling and sound-play helps develop their neural pathways, which help them in speaking and listening. These children also tend to have a rich vocabulary compared to their age group fellows, and also, they are more likely to babble more. In this way, music plays an additional source that helps the children understand the world around them.
• Music makes children happy: Music is a source of enjoyment for children as it is for adults. It helps them experience the feeling of delight, affection, and joy. Listening to music and dancing on its beats helps children get possibilities of feeling happy, smiling, laughing, and enjoying the moments.

The Importance of music in society

Music is an important component of society. It would not be wrong to say that music holds utmost importance in imparting identity to society. Music is a substantial part of the variables that define a culture. It allows people to have a sense of expression, and therefore, it is also taken as therapy by people rather than just entertainment.

In society, for some people, music is a ‘pastime’ while for others, it is a ‘lifestyle.’ Every nation has its own musical identity. Still, the question that arises here is why music is so important in people’s lives and the societal benefits of music? Music is important for society due to several properties that include:

• Music as a form of entertainment: It is a great source of entertainment. Regardless of the geographical, cultural, or linguistic identity – people enjoy music and get entertainment from it. Secondly, music is all around us. From advertisements on televisions to the ringtones on mobiles, music remains around us in one form or another.
• Music helps communicate thoughts and feelings: At times, music proves to be really helpful when words become insufficient to express our feelings or thoughts. In such situations, we seek music to express our emotions of anger, excitement, love, and peace. This is also the reason why some songs get more popular among the public as compared to others. It is so because people connect to some songs more.
• Music sends a message: Music, along with the lyrics of songs, sends messages to the listener. We all have observed on television multiple times that certain background music is played in the scenes that depict sorrow. Similarly, for scenes expressing happiness, there is different music. In this way, music actually communicates with the listeners without the help of words. It is interesting to know that music itself is so powerful that it does not need words.
• Music calms and relaxes the mind: Music leaves physiological and psychological effects on the mind, body, and spirit of the individual. It directly impacts the hormones in the human body, which, resultantly, creates a feeling of pleasure or disgrace in the listener. It is due to this reason that listening to peaceful music makes us relax, and loud music affects us oppositely.
• Music tells a story: Music is a form of storytelling for many years, and it varies from culture to culture. Even in Pakistani culture, several folklores are presented in music, which makes it more interesting and enjoyable.

Conclusion:

Music is a part of our being. Looking closely would further reveal the importance of music by highlighting that even heart pumping creates a rhythm. Similarly, every religion has hymns to praise God, and that is also a form of music. Nature is also surrounded by music. Therefore, music is such an important component of our being that sometimes we do not feel it around us because its presence is obvious and very much a part of our own existence.