Music At Home: Daily Listening

We all understand the importance of reading to our children every day. The constant exposure to books provides far too many benefits to be listed here. By reading every day, you allow the children to forge a bond with books, a love of reading and the ability to understand the art of writing.

Similarly, daily exposure to quality music is important for children to learn to appreciate and understand what they are hearing.

So today, I charge you with creating a specific time every day to listen to music. You probably already have a time for reading, don't you? Bedtime, maybe? Or first thing in the morning? The great thing about listening to music is that it can be done while you are doing other things. For example, during lunch would be a great time. Or perhaps during your afternoon clean up time. You choose a time that works best for you and that lasts at least 10 minutes.

What should you play during your listening time? You should choose one or two selections and they should be from the same genre. And you should repeat that selection every day for one week or more, if you really enjoy it. Try to choose something a little outside your comfort zone. Your library can be an excellent source of music or you can usually find bargain recordings at your local music store.

Remember that you do not need to discuss the music with the children during the daily listening time. If there is information you would like to share with your children, you should find another time to do it. The children should be allowed to enjoy the selections and take away from it whatever they can on their own. Certainly, you may choose to use this weeks selection to help the children focus on a particular feature, such as tempo, dynamics and so forth, but make sure you do this at some other time.

Now go through the music you have at home, or borrow something from a friendly neighbor and get listening. Every day!