The Benefit of Music for Complex Learners
Monique Lareau
Music is an art form deeply rooted in human nature. It is a unique form of communication and a means by which feelings and interests are organized and expressed. It is a profoundly satisfying area of individual and shared experience that can foster a deep sense of well-being. Music offers lifelong opportunities for the development of imagination, sensitivity, inventiveness, risk-taking, and enjoyment.
The benefits of music for Complex Learners can be profound, since music has the ability to connect with us on a deep emotional level. Incorporating music into our students’ lives at Wolf has some key advantages, which are evident every day during my music classes. For example, when I teach children how to play an instrument or sing a song, their communication skills are enhanced. The pride, joy, and self-confidence that emerge can help reduce anxiety, improve their mood, and encourage growth.
Why Music Matters?
Children of all ages and abilities have potential in music, and music education is one impactful way we can celebrate individual differences among children. In music class, a child’s unique musical expression and responses to musical experience are fostered and valued. As an educator, it is my job to help students understand that while a universal art form, music is also a personal experience. What one student connects with, another student may not, and that is not only okay, it’s encouraged!
The ability for a child to explore music with guidance from an instructor and feel encouraged to experiment with sound is an essential aspect of musical growth. It also provides students with an opportunity to enjoy a shared experience with their peers as they take part in playing a song together, exploring a new sound, or listening to a new genre of music together.
Every aspect of a music lesson helps contribute to a child’s developing creativity and self-esteem. With this knowledge, we are aware that music education is more than just “for fun,” it’s part of a balanced curriculum that aims to develop the whole spectrum of the child’s intelligence. It helps children learn in many ways—through what they know, what they can do, how they feel, and how they experience the world. Because of this, it supports learning across all subjects.
The Benefits of Music Education
- While listening to music for pleasure or for specific elements and patterns, the child develops skills in discrimination, concentration, and reflection that are necessary for understanding in all disciplines.
- Long and short-term memory is developed, and spatial reasoning is enhanced as the child discovers musical instruments, listens to the sounds they make, and recognizes the differences between them.
- The ability to visualize and to think in abstract form enhances problem-solving skills.
- During the process of making music, the child gains a sense of achievement as they perform or create alone, or with a group.
- The child develops technical and artistic skills, involving muscular coordination and movement, as well as skills of perseverance and self-discipline that are essential to self-expression.
Music Curriculum
But these benefits don’t just happen by chance. They happen through a carefully curated curriculum developed for Complex Learners of various ages and abilities.
At Wolf, the aims of the music curriculum are to:
- Enable the child to enjoy, appreciate, and understand music.
- Develop the child’s awareness of and response to a wide range of musical genres.
- Develop the child’s capacity to express feelings through music with others.
- Enable the child to develop his musical potential.
- Experience the excitement of being actively engaged in musical creativity.
- Nurture the child’s self-esteem and confidence through performance.
- Foster lifelong learning through the acquisition of musical knowledge, skills, and concepts.
Incorporating music into the lives of neurodivergent children offers a creative avenue for development and connection. At Wolf, we foster an environment rich in musical experiences, including electives and after-school programs. In addition to the curriculum in both music and Integrated Art and Music, we support each student’s growth and enhance their well-being.
“Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, and flight to the imagination.” Plato