28 Oct Music and Your Early Reader 

Teaching your child how to read and preparing them for school can be a daunting task. You want to be sure they are grasping all the necessary skills an early reader needs. One of the best ways to start is with music! See below for all the amazing pre-literacy skills basic music and songs can teach your child.

Pre-Literacy Skills and Music:

Music develops phonemic awareness!

• • This simply means “an awareness of individual speech sounds.”
  • Repetitive chants, rhymes, and songs lay the foundation for phonemic awareness and vocabulary expansion as children internalize the tone, rhythm and structure of language.

Using music in early childhood can lead to increased phonological awareness!

• • • This simply means “it improves the ability to recognize, discriminate, and manipulate the sounds of one’s language”
    • Both phonemic and phonological awareness are essential for early speech and early literacy development. 

Singing music improves vocabulary!

• • Songs teach new words and promote the underlying language skills that are helpful in vocabulary learning.

Music fosters essential pre-literacy skills such as auditory discrimination and comprehension!

Singing music together can promote back and forth conversations and self-regulation skills!

• • Examples: Singing the song “If You’re Happy & You Know It”. The leader sings “If you’re happy & you know it, clap your hands!” and the child responds with clapping. By clapping they are responding and saying “Yes, I am happy!”.

Music helps develop listening skills, which are essential to learning!

• • Many songs require children to follow directions and hand motions.
  • Children increase their listening skills and ability to discern subtle differences in tone, pitch, and tempo when they listen attentively to musical narratives and engage in call-and-response activities. This not only enhances phonological processing, but also promotes active engagement with storytelling.

Integrating music into your reading time will only set your child up for success in the future. Our library storytimes often use music as well! You can find our storytime schedule here.

Resources:

Gail Innis, M. S. U. E. (2023, February 23). Music in early childhood has a direct link to reading readiness. MSU Extension. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/music_in_early_childhood_has_a_direct_link_to_reading_readiness

Hallma. (2024, April 12). Early literacy- what do music and art have to do with it?. Literacy from the Start. https://blogs.iu.edu/earlyliteracy/2024/04/12/early-literacy-what-do-music-and-art-have-to-do-with-it/

Kells, D. (n.d.). The impact of music on language & early literacy. Kindermusik.

Rowe, M. L., Kirby, A. L., Dahbi, M., & Luk, G. (2022). Promoting language and literacy skills through music in early childhood classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 76(4), 487–496. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2155
Written by Abby R., Youth Services Library Assistant