“The Right Age To Introduce Music To Children Is Before The Birth Itself,” Aditi Shah

Babies move to the beats of music and most toddlers even identify rhythm much before they learn to walk and talk. We all agree that music touches our souls, but did you know that music helps you bond better with your toddler? 

Aditi Shah, founder, and owner of Musical Bonding specialises in delivering Effective Music Curriculums for early ears and she tells us how music can help you nurture the bond with your child. 

BabyChakra asked Aditi how and why music is important for the development of toddlers and here’s what she has to say:

“We all agree and know that a child develops at the fastest pace in the first five years of life. Did you know that music is the only tool of teaching that stimulates both the right and left sides of the brain? Music helps with emotions and numbers. 

Music helps with moods and words. If you don’t believe me try it. But try it consistently. To truly take advantage of music in your child’s development, you have to repeatedly expose the child in a structured manner using properly curated content. That’s exactly what we do in our sessions. 

Our music is very rich and curation is very strong based on years of experience. So how important is music for toddlers? I would say it’s as important as brushing teeth every day and just like brushing habit takes time to develop in a toddler so does building attention space and focus. Music helps, try it.”

What is Musical Bonding all about?

“As the name suggests, Musical Bonding is about parents bonding with children through music. Our goal is to develop attention span in children while inculcating a love for music through meaningful context. In our sessions, children also build on vocabulary (language development) while getting other benefits like physical, social, and emotional development in a mixed-age group environment.”

At what age can one enrol a child for Musical Bonding?

“Language development starts in the womb much before the child learns to talk. As long as a child can hear, they benefit from our class. So, I would like to enrol a child as soon as they develop the ability to hear. We have even entertained a child as young as 5 days old who came to the class as a sibling. However, to make it easier on parents, we officially enrol children from 6 months to 5 years of age.”

How many times a week does a child need to attend these musical bonding sessions?

“The child needs to attend the classes only once a week. We work in 10-week cycles. In any particular ten-week cycle, we work with 30 to 35 songs. Over ten weeks, no matter what the age of the child, they will know more than 25 songs.”

What kind of music are kids exposed to at these sessions?

“Our songs are based on folk tunes from around the world. We expose children not only to a huge quantity of music but also to a huge variety. A child can enrol with us for up to three years without repeating a song. We have an exclusive relationship with a US-based company called The Music Class. Music used in Musical Bonding classes is sourced from them.”

What is the right age to introduce music to kids?

“The right age to introduce music to children is before the birth itself. However, what is more, important is to introduce children to the right kind of music to develop the ears with musical spectrum. Like we introduce children to a variety of food slowly as they grow, we need to use the same philosophy when it comes to music.”

“If a child is introduced to peppy numbers and complicated beats too early, they sure will groove to it but it won’t support their language and emotional development like age-appropriate music from Musical Bonding will.”

Listening is one of the senses that plays a very important role during the first five years of a child’s life and it is very important in a child’s development.