Plato (2003) describes music is a moral law.

It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind,

and life to everything and without music, life would be an error. The elements of music are
composed of pitch, rhythm, dynamics and texture (Mousik et al., 2015). Music can be
performed with a vast range of instruments. Music is a sound that we enjoy hearing. Music
has various beneficial aspects and one of them is promoting the holistic development of
children.

Owing to its diverse advantageous aspects, music education has thus been introduced in the
NCF primary to enhance the evolution of children. Musical participation allows children to
actively express themselves through playing instruments and singing activities, individually
and in small or large groups. It provides opportunities for the students to experiment with
their voices in order to discover the varieties and qualities of sounds. It also provides
opportunities for the development of lifelong leadership skills and fosters verbal and non-
verbal communication. Thus, music has the ability to improve pupils’ learning, confidence,
health and social development.

The creative aspect of the music develops personal exploration and creativity of the child.
They can express their feelings, moods and ideas through sound creations which are essential
for children to develop a basic understanding of music. Creative activities, such as building
musical instruments from scrap materials, help children to use and develop critical and
divergent thinking skills. They may also increase their understanding of the language of
music. Through their explorations children discover and overcome the difficulty of
representing music precisely.

Listening to various styles of music influences the behaviour of children to better focus and
realise that music can convey images, feelings and ideas. It guides students to an awareness
of the characteristics of style and encourages them to talk about their reactions to pieces of
music. Children can respond to music in ways other than discussion, such as clapping, using
an instrument to represent the beats or pitch or mainly convey the mood that the music make
them feel, which can prove to be more interesting to them. Music is therefore a beneficial
medium to help children perform and share their emotions.

Through exploration of diverse musical cultures, children learn to appreciate and develop
awareness of music’s therapeutic, recreational and aesthetic traits. In addition to this, music
nurtures the imagination and creative spirit, and offers children a non-verbal means to express
and discover their skills. In this sense, music can be valued as an avenue to build a noble
character of children by helping them to express their joys and fears, and to acquire deeper
insight into their thoughts and feelings.

Music promotes effort and self-discipline amongst children since they understand the
connection between practice and the quality of performance, then self-discipline becomes
self-reinforcing. Consequently, with improving quality of performance comes enhanced self-
esteem in them. Music not only foster the mental development and behaviour of the child but
also helps the child in maintaining correct postures, learns basic breathing techniques and
enhances his verbal articulation to songs. In this optic, the behavioural changes that music
brings about in a child influence his character building as a whole.

Music is formed and integrated within an individual’s self as specific images. Projections of
these images help a young person to shape certain characters. Children sometimes have a
tendency to choose types of music that are consistent to the characters. Music preference
reflects values of the individual. Basically, music is internalised within individual-self and
has become a determinant variable of building a personality. The more gentle the
personalities, the more gently the music they would enjoy. In other words, lively individuals
love mild and easy music, serious individuals prefer classical, intelligent individuals like to
use techniques, while simple individuals plainly enjoy percussion (Khan, 2002).

Music has enormous potential to build the foundation of positive character. The frequency of
music exposure to a child determines its impact on the child’s character. Children who
frequently listen to rough music tend to have violent personality. On the other hand, children
who consistently listen to soft music would have softer personality and develop qualities such
as gentleness and courageousness. Soft music brings out softness and tenderness and the soul
will become soft and tender as well. On the other hand, rough music damages the soul,
increase aggressiveness, and trigger sadism. In relation to the process of character building,
good quality music helps soften the emotions which are the basic of character building.

Music forms an integral part of a child’s education, not only because it enhances other areas
of learning but also because it deepens the child’s sense of humanity, teaching him/her to be
more sensitive and to better recognise beauty. Learning music allows the child to develop
healthy behavioural aptitudes and to build a positive character. Finally, music allows an
individual to appreciate more fully the world that he lives in.

(716 words)
References
1. Music, G., 2016. Nurturing natures: Attachment and children's emotional, sociocultural and brain
development. Routledge.

2. Gjerdingen, R.O., Khan, R.M., Mathys, M., Pirkner, C.D., Rice, P.W. and Sulzer, T.R., Mood
Logic Inc, 2003. Method for creating a database for comparing music. U.S. Patent 6,539,395.

3. Gooch, S., 1978. PLATO Music Systems.

4. Rachmawati, Y., 2010. The Role of Music in Character Building. International Journal of

Learning, 17(9).

5. Plato, K. and DeNora, T., 2003. Music and informal learning in everyday life. Music Education
Research, 7(3), pp.289-304.