Ar

emusi
ciansbet
terl
anguagel
ear
ner
s?

Chil
drenwholear
nmusicfr
om ay
oungagef
indi
teasi
ert
olear
nlanguagesev
eni
n
adul
thood,
resear
chhasf
ound.

Today '
seconomicenvironmentdemandst hatourchildr enbecomet heverybestthey
canbe.Al otofdemandsar eplaceduponusaspar ent s, andwhet herwelikeitornot,
weneedt ohel
pourchi l
dr ennav i
gatet heirwayintoday 'sfast-
pacedwor ldandbui l
d
theirskil
lsforthefutur e.Butnotal lmet hods,from f l
ashcardst obabysi gning,
actuall
yboostachi l
d'si nt
ell
igence,languageski l
lsorot herabi l
it
iesforsuccess.
Reading thr
ough manyr esearch papersf rom peer -
r ev i
ewed scienti
fi
cj ournal
s,I
discoveredt
hatmusictr ainingistheonl yprovenmet hodt oboostt heful
lintel
lect
ual,
l
inguisti
candemot i
onal capacityofachi ld.

Thankful
l
y,forthesakeofthestressl ev
elsofpar entsandchi l
dren,forthewhol
e-
brai
nboost,thereisnoneedt oemul ateTigerMot herAmyChuawhopushedher
chil
drent
oplayclassi
cali
nstr
umentsf orseveralhoursaday ,of
tenprompt i
ngt
earf
ul
tantr
umsf r
om herdaughters.Accordingtot hest udi
es,justonehouraweekof
l
earningmusicisenoughforthefullbrai
nbenef it
st otakeplace–i ncludi
nganall
-
roundboostinl
anguageskil
l
sandasi gnifi
cantincreaseinI
Q.

Inmybi rthcountry,Finl
and,theaverageper sonspeakst hr
eet ofivelanguages–
afterall
,no oneunder st
andsourobscur enat ivetongue.ButFi nl
and'speculi
ar
custom ofear l
ymusi ct r
aini
ngwher eevenbabi esandt oddlerslearncoremusi c
skill
sthr
oughsongsandgames,mayal soinfluencethefluencyoff or
eign-
language
speakingFinns.Asmusi ctrai
ningboostsal lthelanguage-rel
atednetworksi nthe
brain,wewouldexpecti tt
obebenef i
ciali
nt heacquisit
ionoff or
eignlanguages,and
thi
si swhatthestudieshavefound.

Whenchi l
drenstartst udyingmusi cbefor etheageofsev en,t heydev el
opbi gger
vocabulari
es,abet t
ersenseofgr ammarandahi gherv erbalI Q.Theseadv antages
benefi
tbot hthedev elopmentoft hei
rmot hertongueandt hel earningoff orei
gn
l
anguages.Dur ingthesecr ucialyear
s,thebrainisatitssensiti
v edev elopmentphase,
with95% oft hebr ain'
sgr owt hoccurri
ngnow.Musi ct r
ainingst arteddur ingt hi
s
peri
odal soboost sthebr ain'sabil
it
ytopr ocesssubt l
edi f
ferencesbet weensounds
andassi stinthepr onunciat i
onoflanguages–andt hisgi f
tl astsf orl i
fe,asi thas
beenfoundt hatadul t
swhohadmusi caltrai
ninginchildhoodst i
llretainthisabi l
i
tyto
l
earnf orei
gnlanguagesqui ckerandmor eef fi
ci
entlythanadul tswhodi dnothav e
earl
ychildhoodmusi ctrai
ning.

Humansf i
rststartedcreatingmusi c500,
000y earsago,y etspeechandl anguage
wasonl ydev eloped200, 000y earsago.Evoluti
onaryev i
dence,asi nt
er pret
edby
l
eadingr esearcherssuchasRobi nDunbarfrom Oxf ordUni v
er si
ty,indicatesthat
speechasaf orm ofcommuni cati
onhasevol
vedf rom ouroriginaldev el
opmentand
useofmusi c.Thi sexplainswhyourmusi candl anguageneur alnetwor kshav e
si
gnifi
cantov erl
ap,andwhychi ldr
enwholearnmusi cbecomebet teratlearningthe
grammar ,vocabularyandpr onunci
ati
onofanylanguage.

Thebenef
it
sarenotj
ustf
ort
hoseofuswhosemothert
onguesar
eobscur
e.Ev
enf
or
Engl
i
shspeakers,t
herei
sagr owi
nginter
esti
nt headvant
agesthatcomewi
th
l
earni
ng f
oreign languages.Ther e ar
e many l
anguages thatcan benefitus in
i
mmenseway s,
from culturet
ot r
ade–Chinese,
Russian,Arabic,Fr
enchandSpanish
t
onamebutaf ew–andwhatbet t
erwaytoensureyourchildcanpi ckupal
lthese
l
anguagesthanbyt eachingthem themasterl
anguaget hattranscendsal
lothers:
music.

Musi ct r
ainingplaysakeyr oleint hedev el
opmentofaf orei
gnlanguageini ts
grammar ,coll
oquial
ismsandv ocabulary.Oner ecentstudyfoundthatwhenchildren
agedni neandunderwer etaughtmusi cforjustonehouraweek, r
esearchconcl
uded
thatt heyexhi bi
tedahigherabil
it
ytolearnbot hthegrammarandt hepronunci
ati
onof
foreign languages,compar ed tothei rclassmat es who had lear
ned a diff
erent
extracur r
icularacti
vi
ty.

Finnishchi l
drenar ecommonl ymusi cal l
yt r
ainedfrom ay oungage( upunt i
ltheage
ofsev en)wi t
ht heplayfulMusiikkil
ei kkikoulumethod,butt heyonl yst artschoolat
agesev enandst ar
tlanguagelearningatni neorolder.Despitethi
s" l
at eexposur e"to
ever yt
hingexcl udingmusi cskills,t heycommonl yendupspeaki ngt hreet ofive
foreignl anguages.AnyEngl ish-speaki ngper sonwhohasev ervi
si tedFi nlandcan
attestt ot he factt hatnearlyev eryFi nnish per
son speaksEngl ish wi thoutany
problems.Mycont enti
onasanav erageFi nnwhospeaksf ourlanguagesi sthat
speaki nglanguagesi sf un–ital l
owsy out oengagewi t
hdi ffer
entcul turesf rom an
i
nsi der'
spoi ntofv i
ew.

TakeKenSt r
ingf
ellow,theAmericansi nger-
songwr i
terknownf orhi sworki nthe
PosiesandREM, asanexampl eoft heimpactofmusi cont heabi li
tytolear
nf orei
gn
l
anguages.Teny earsago,welli
nt ohist hi
rt
ies,hemar ri
edaFr enchwomanand
subsequentlypickedupawhol enew languagef rom scratch.Recor dingwithhimi n
Paris,atfir
stIwasamazedathow hehadl earnedi tsowel lwi thoutanypr i
or
background,compar edwit
hmy12y earsspentst udyingFr enchatschool ;butthe
researchexplainsit.Asamusi cianwhomademusi cf rom t oddlerhood,hewoul d
have signi
ficantl
y boosted hi
s br ai
n's capacit
yf ort he sy ntax,semant ics and
pronunciat
ionoflear ni
nganynewl anguageinadulthood.

Wemustnotf orgetthatourchi
ldrenoftenl
ear
nt hemostwhent heyareengagingin
fr
eeplayanddiscoveri
ngthewor l
dforthemsel
ves.Thecombinationofabitofmusic
tr
aini
ngandal otoffreeplaycert
ainl
yhasnothar medtheFinns,whoi ntheOECD's
Pisatestsar
eamongt hetopstudentsinthewor l
dnotjustintheirl
anguageskil
l
s,
butinthei
rabi
li
ti
esinmat hemati
cs,li
ter
acyandscience.

Thef ut
ureanditseconomi cdemandsmaybeuncer t
ain,andther
emaybeal otof
pressur
eonuspar ent
s, butonethingiscer
tai
n:inorderforourchi
ldr
entothri
ve,we
neednotimposethispressureonthem.Thebr ai
ntakescareofitsowndevelopment
,
withali
ttl
ebitofmusi
candal otoflov
eandf r
eeplay.