Teaching children the rhythm of life through music

A leading expert in music education will address an event hosted by the Academy of Popular Music at CIT Cork School of Music next Saturday.

Dr Susan Hallam, professor of education and music psychology at the Institute of Education, University of London, will speak about how children and adolescents benefit from learning music and playing instruments. The event, aimed at parents, guardians and teachers, will also be addressed by David Hayes, musical director of The Voice of Ireland and former musical director of Riverdance.

Dr Hallam will talk about the long-term benefits of learning to play a musical instrument. “In younger children, playing an instrument helps them with their aural skills because they’re able to process sound better. That means their language skills are helped. They will understand phonics and this leads to better verbal memory. This translates into issues to do with literacy.”

Research into music education is a growing field. “We’re not really sure how rhythmic skills improve reading but there’s a lot of evidence to say that they have that effect. It’s particularly evident with children who are having difficulty reading. If you get them to co-ordinate movements such as stomping and clapping along with music, while also watching simple music notations, there is a dramatic effect on the fluency of their reading skills.”

Dr Hallam says that human beings, as a species, are musical. “There’s a small number of people who have problems in differentiating pitch. But there’s nothing to stop even them from learning an instrument. We all have the potential to become a musician, not necessarily professional musicians, but we can take up an instrument or sing. It’s something we can do in the same way as we can learn to speak language.”

Music benefits social development “in all sorts of ways, from team working to developing self-discipline. It helps with concentration. When you’re participating in music, the music is time-specific. With lots of other activities, it doesn’t matter if you have a lapse of concentration. You can just pick up again. But if you’re playing music in a group, you’re in the here and now. If you lose concentration, you’ll be left behind.”

For adolescents, music can play a big role in self-expression and self-esteem. “If teenagers engage in playing music and want to be seen to be doing it well, then the rise in confidence that comes from that can spill over so that young people are more motivated to concentrate on other subjects. There is hard evidence from a huge study in the US involving 45,000 children which shows that those who learn to play an instrument, even taking into account socio-economic status and other variables, benefit generally when it comes to attainment in other areas.”

In the UK, pupils must study composition as part of the music curriculum. “As a result, some young people write lyrics and songs, which benefits creativity generally,” says Dr Hallam. Speaking about Ireland, she says that if the creative industries are to flourish here, music is a good starting point. “Creative industries include music itself, which is also a major part of things like film, TV, games and advertising. If young people are getting positive music education in schools, then it’s likely they’re going to become experts in the creative field.”

Reality TV talent shows such as The Voice of Ireland and The X Factor are not the average young person’s typical experience of music. “Very few people get to engage with the TV talent shows. But these programmes illustrate that if you’re going to become a good musician in any shape or form, you have to put in a lot of hard work and practice,” says Dr Hallam.