Even without any training, you can get your child started on their musical journey by learning several specific steps that can result in your child learning to love music. If you’re interested in raising your children into musicians, taking singing lessons online to learn how to play, sing, and move with your child can help you and your children learn to love music. The earlier you’re able to engage with your child, and the more exposure you can provide, the more you can increase your child’s musical ability and aptitude.
Singing to Foster your Child’s Musical Ability
There are many reasons why singing is healthy for your kids. Several of the activities that are geared towards your child’s future musical inclinations are based around the notion that singing is the best way to bring music into your child’s life. You may not be comfortable singing right now, but with singing lessons online, it’s absolutely worth a try. And besides, even if you don’t like your own voice, your voice is your baby’s favorite musical instrument.
Infants can actually begin to sing at around 3 months old. There are several ways you can experiment with different activities to see if your infant seems musically inclined. As your baby grows, they might begin to experiment or mimic some basic musical properties, and they might show special attention when music is being played.
We’ll discuss some ways that, in addition to singing lessons online, you can start your child down the pathway of becoming a lover of music one day. These activities and suggestions are appropriate for various ages- from birth to toddler age.
Listening to Music
Before you even begin to explore ways you can engage your own voice and body to foster your child’s musicality, you can start to expose your child to different types of music when they’re just an infant. Creating a rich and diverse musical environment for your infant helps them perceive different rhythms, meters, tonalities, and tunings. Infants’ brains are open and perceptive to things that adult brains are not, so by exposing them to a variety of music, you’re giving them a valuable opportunity to absorb and grow.
Rocking and Swaying with Chanting
Picking up your baby to hug, sway, or rock them is a natural way to soothe your child. But, learning how to add vocals through singing lessons online can help develop your child’s sense of rhythm. By gently adding your own vocals to your body’s movement, you can transform your infant-soothing technique into an educational opportunity for your child.
To synchronize your vocal chanting and your movement, you’ll want to start out by learning to chant by repeating short, ‘nonsense’ syllables in your normal speaking range. An easy way to learn this type of rhythmic chanting is to sing songs you know, but use nonsense syllables instead of the words. Keep the song repetitive by just doing a verse or a chorus.
Once you’re comfortable chanting, add some movement that is in time with your chant. For starters, you could simply gently tap your hand on your baby’s back while you softly chant a song. If you’re comfortable doing this, you can find an additional movement to add to the beat. Try swaying back and forth, walking in small steps, or bouncing your baby to the rhythm while sitting down.
Additional Ways to Foster Infant Singing
Taking lessons from a singing instructor online can help you, as a parent, master the basics of carrying a tune so that you can help your infant learn to recognize, practice, and love music. Learning to sing is an important step in your child’s music future.
But, in addition to learning to sing, there are some other tips and tricks that can help increase your child’s likelihood of an appreciation for music.
- Sing with other children – Developing their natural ‘singing’ voice, separate from their speaking voice, is important in a child’s musical journey. This is why it’s important to regularly expose your child to other people, especially children, who sing.
- Have singing caregivers – If you have the opportunity to have someone help you with your child caregiving, encourage them to sing when they are with your child. Exposure to other singing voices also helps children find their own.
- Don’t correct your child’s singing – When your child is young and finding their own singing voice, it’s important not to correct your child if they’re singing off-key. They won’t be aware that their singing isn’t correct, and it is best to encourage them to sing as it naturally comes to them.
At Lessons In Your Home, all of our instructors are thoroughly vetted, professional, and passionate. They can either come to your home to teach or can also provide online music lessons. Our virtual music lessons are taught by local music teachers who plan their lessons to suit your child. Contact us today to find an instructor near you who will help your child master their skills.