Oh, those blest baby siblings of Kindermusik families!

I've been thinking about the pregnant mommies in my Kindermusik classes! I often will ask the "big" brother or sister if they think their baby can hear the egg shaker or jingle bells. I know they can hear it all and are familiar with the voices of mom (especially) and dad and siblings.

I know, moms, that talking to your unborn baby is really important for language development and emotional well being. And I've heard of people taking classes in music before the baby is born or putting earphones on their belly so the fetus can hear music. Sorry, I thought that was a bit much! Well, maybe not!!! And why am I not really surprised?

In the past, women all over the world have sung lullabies to their babies.
These were very important because as we now know the fetus is having first language lessons in the womb. The inflections of the mother tongue are conveyed not only through speech but most importantly through song. The singing voice has a richer frequency range than speech. In fact, studies in other disciplines such as linguistics and musicology (e.g., David Whitwell, 1993) point out that there was a time when speech was song and therefore singing is the older of the two.

Here's more.

So blest are those families who bring thier first to Kindermusik while expecting #2! That new baby really is getting the royal treatment. AND those songs will be your new baby's favorites! The auditory system of the fetus is fully functioal about twenty weeks after conception. Researcher Alexandra Lamont of Keele University in the UK shows that they are developing memory for those sounds they hear. One year old children recgonized and prefered music they were exposed to in the womb even when they had not heard it during their first year.

That information I found in Daniel Levitin's book: This Is Your Brain On Music. (I am looking forward to hearing him speak at the Kindermusik Conference in October!)

Shin'ichi Suzuki the founder of the Suzuki Method of private lessons for violin, piano etc. knew this first hand from observing the baby who reacted joyfully on hearing the familiar music of the sibling playing on the violin.

So, before birth the babies are working on their brain: language development, memory, pleasure in music, .......

Don't stop there. At Kindermusik of Holland babies under 5 months old will receive 5 classes free (materials not included). Let's keep up the great momentum.

Yvette