Music in general offers many benefits to children, even more so when they are smaller. It helps them to develop skills that will help them in every aspect of their life when they grow older.
We are often not aware of the activities that can benefit our kids or how small things, like choosing a music camp for them to go to in summer, can change a lot for them. When they are young, children are aware of everything surrounding them. They are capable of following rhythm with ease. Music helps them to coordinate and improve their skills, as through music, there is a whole host of games that they can play, which serve several purposes.
Even if they are young, children can play with sounds, and this helps them to develop their musical sensitivity. They learn to follow rhythm, with their bodies, with instruments or with other objects; they feel the music as a way to express their emotions.
Music also helps to improve expression and oral comprehension. It often helps children with speaking problems to pronounce words that they cannot say by singing.
As well as helping oral expression, music encourages the children’s creativity and imagination. They learn to express their feelings through music.
Musical initiation takes place in groups such that the child can develops their communication and socialisation skills. There are specialist music schools, for example the Escuela de Nuevas Músicas (School of New Music) or Escuela de Música Creativa (Creative Music School), which run beginners music courses for children during summer, offering them the chance to carry on throughout the year if they have enjoyed it.
An early education in music, between 2 and 5 years old, helps kids to discover and develop their musical and expressive abilities. If they continue their interest in music later in life, they can choose a musical instrument, based on their preferences and talents.
Musical initiation serves to introduce the child to rhythm and sounds through games and to develop hearing skills, so that when they are ready, they can choose the instrument that best suits their skills.
Learning to play a musical instrument has many benefits for children.
It may seem obvious but to play an instrument, you first have to make sure you sound good, whether playing a key, blowing or rubbing the strings…and this in itself is a big job. At this stage, children are developing their motor skills. As they practise more and more with their instrument, they will improve their ability, as the exercises they do will get more and more complicated and they will have to read scores at the same time or even memorise them. This will improve their memory, concentration and attention span.
Music is written in its own language and to play an instrument, children need to learn this language, with its names, sounds, forms, duration...this will teach them skills that they can put into practise when they learn other languages.
Playing an instrument means working with different aspects or elements in your mind at the same time. For example, playing and reading the score at the same time, as well as listening to the teacher's instructions or paying attention to your classmates when playing as a group. This will help them to think naturally and do these things quickly.
To play an instrument, you have to listen yourself, to work out whether you are playing well and to be able to correct your errors. This can be transferred to daily life in that reflecting on and analysing your daily actions will also will have a positive impact on your life.
There are summer camps, such as Encuentro Orquestal Sinfónico, led by the Talia Group or San Simón de Fiddle which are aimed at children who can already play an instrument and want to continue learning new techniques or playing with other musicians during summer. This can be a good option for children who are passionate about their instrument and want to continue developing their ability during the summer.
Another aspect that is fundamental is the learning in values that learning an instrument encourages. Learning and knowing how to play an instrument requires effort, patience and perseverance, values that your children can acquire from young and can put into practise in all the other aspects of their life.
If you still haven't chosen a summer camp for this summer, you can have a look at what musical camps there are on SoloCampamentos.