Drama, Music, Dance: It's All Good for the Young Brain

http://www.parentmap.com/article/drama music dance its all good for the !oung "rain By Linda Morgan

How important are the arts? Right up there with vocabulary and literacy, claim many educators, who advise parents to begin engaging their children in art activities early on. Researchers say there's reason to believe music stimulates your infant's brain, dance helps develop motor s ills, and drama teaches emotions and problem solving. !nd that's "ust the beginning. #$reschoolers who were given eyboard lessons and did group singing scored higher on tests measuring spatial reasoning,# reports a %&&' (.). *epartment of +ducation Bulletin. )uch information on the arts has not been ignored by sharp,eyed toy e-ecutives. .n fact, it's why formally /uiet ob"ects,say dollhouses,now play Beethoven while stimulating your child's other sensory receptors with flashing lights and fu00y ob"ects. .t's also the reason there are more early music, dance and drama programs out there than ever,with a plethora of boo s, 1*s and *2*s to accompany them. 3hile e-perts and educators agree that some parents ta e the theory too far 4you'll probably en"oy 5chai ovs y more than your 6,wee ,old will7, they also report that music, dance, painting, storytelling and acting can indeed help children learn. #5he arts are a thin ing tool, a way for children to communicate understanding and misunderstandings and confront them,# says Margie 1arter, an early childhood specialist who has co,authored many boo s, including 5raining 5eachers8 ! Harvest of 5heory and $ractice. #.f you turn an idea into a drawing or sculpture, you can figure out things you'd never figure out if you "ust try to e-plain. 5he purpose of the arts goes way beyond creativity and imagination.# +-posure to the arts is a critical school readiness component, according to Rachael 9lass, who teaches creative movement at the 3est )eattle :M1!. !n actor and director, 9lass has also taught preschoolers drama, music and dance in Head )tart programs.

#)chool is so much more than reading, writing and arithmetic,# 9lass says. #5he arts provide a way for children to discover they can ma e a contribution; it empowers them and raises their self,esteem. 5he arts let children put their own individual stamp on what they are good at.# .nvolvement in the arts also helps broaden children's abilities in other ways. *rawing, for e-ample, can address emotional development, 9lass says. #3hat does a happy face loo li e? ! mad face? 1hildren can draw and describe it. 5his is an important way for them to understand what ma es them happy, sad or afraid.# !cting can help children learn about self,control, empathy or even bullying. #.t is a way to problem solve, to learn to deal with frustrations, conflict resolving and social situations,# 9lass notes. *rama and storytelling are good ways to help increase a child's vocabulary, she says. #! <,year, old can get up and act li e an animal; other ids can describe what they see. !nd a child who is performing must remember what step comes first. .t enhances mental organi0ation.# Music earned particular bu00 after researchers identified the #Mo0art +ffect# more than %= years ago and suggested that listening to %= minutes of Mo0art before a spatial s ills test improved performance. 3hile the actual relationship between music and .> remains unclear, music and movement instructor $atty ?eitlin feels that music can enhance cognitive s ills. ?eitlin is also a recording artist and the author of A Song is a Rainbow, a te-tboo for preschool and indergarten teachers. #5he more you use language , tal ing or singing , the richer the brain connections are. 5he long, drawn,out vowels of singing nourish brain development,# she says. Music also serves as a language and learning vehicle for preverbal children, ?eitlin says. #Music can connect a child to language,# she notes. #1hildren respond naturally to music; they can move to it, create their own verses and learn more easily in that mode.# Music, as well as the visual arts, drama and dance, give us insight into the way a child's mind wor s, 9lass says. #5hey show us what ids understand. 3e should build upon those as another form of literacy.

Children and Drama

A Creativity Institute Guest Column

Drama - The Most Important Subject? By Marilynn McLachlan

So, you've got a child at school, and they know how to read and write well. Perhaps they do very well academically. This is, of course, very important, but how well does your child communicate orally? Are they a confident, clear speaker? hances are, that within the school system, your child spends the ma!ority of time focused on writing and reading skills, while not so much time on oratory ones. "f you look ob!ectively at your own life for a single day, you will notice that most of your interactions with other people re#uire you to know how to speak and listen well. $ood oral communicators find it easier to make friends and will find it easier in the long term to find and hold good !obs. $ood oratory skills are only one of the benefits that learning drama gives your child. %ere are some more& ' "n learning drama, your child is learning a wide range of appropriate (and inappropriate) ways of communicating. They learn to pro!ect their voice and to speak words clearly. ' *our child learns those subtle cues that we all give away when we are interacting with someone else. "t may mean a mannerism, or understanding that someone is angry even when they say they are not but their lips are tightened in a line, arms are folded across the chest. ' "n learning drama, your child is learning that important #uality of empathy. "t allows, if only briefly, for the actor to e+perience how someone else thinks and acts. ' *our child learns how to act, obviously. This may seem a weird thing who but actors need to act? ,e do. ,e do it every single day. ,e put on a smile at the checkout lady when we really feel like crap. ,e go to a !ob interview, terribly nervous and yet hide our nerves (that is act). ' -rama works to promote your child's imagination. "magination is one of life's essential ingredients. Take for e+ample, the teenager who has !ust been 'dumped' by their boyfriend. "n amongst the tears and heartache, imagination (if it has been allowed to develop) begins to take hold. The 'minds eye' starts working, and the teen can begin to see other possibilities a new boyfriend, or how staying single could actually be a good thing. "t starts as a seed and grows until what was imagined becomes reality.

' "magination gives life e+citement it keeps things interesting. .ven our top scientists need an imagination. "n order to find a cure for cancer, for e+ample, the scientist must first be able to imagine a cure. ' -rama, by its very nature re#uires that the child be put into circumstances physically, mentally and emotionally that are outside their understanding of how things should be. This helps them to grow as a person. So, you can see that by encouraging drama both at school and in the home, you are giving your child some enormous personal benefits that will stay with them long into adulthood. Marilynn McLachlan Author: "The New Parent Code: 12 Vital Clues to Achieving Modern Fa ily !anity"" Penguin #oo$s" 2%%&' To learn ore a(out encouraging creativity )and a whole lot ore* in +,-. ho e" visit her site htt/:00www' arilynn clachlan'co ' !ign u/ 1or her 1ree e2ine and ta$e the 32% dress4u/ (o5 challenge' Article Source& http&//.0ineArticles.com/