Do you remember coming across a person in life who does not love music? The power of music is so intense that succumbing to its sweetness seems to be the most spontaneous reaction of individuals! When it comes to the role of music in human lives, the aspect of relaxation or entertainment is just the tip of the iceberg.
Music can have far reaching consequences on the human psyche as well as the brain. In fact, it would make perfect sense to use the two terms ‘music’ and ‘positivity’, synonymously.
Miracles of Music Start Manifesting Prior to Birth
A child unknowingly witnesses the magic of music, right from the moment of birth. Rather, human beings get to experience the power of music from the fetal stages. He/she picks up musical vowel sounds through the fluids of the mother’s womb, and can imitate the rhythm in the form of babbling and cooing, much before they learn how to utter words! Can anything work better than soft lullabies for calming them down and reinforcing the feelings of deep love and comfort?
Music is the most Powerful Trigger for Your Memory
Why do you think that those lines of enrapturing songs remain etched in your memory for years, while you forget the movie dialogues uttered by your favorite celeb in a couple of days? The basic truth is that nothing on earth can possibly stimulate your memory as much as mesmerizing music.
See if you can recall the colorful memories of those fun-filled nursery days – when your class teacher used lots of lovely jingles and tunes, in order to familiarize you with the alphabet, numbers, new names, and rhymes? Music has always been one of the best ways of triggering your memory and helping you to grasp a new concept or language.
Music Simplifies the Complexities of Language Learning
The process of learning a language is quite complex, which involves a number of stages and levels. The method of learning can be formal or informal, depending on the choice of the learner. When it comes to learning a language, one particular individual might be satisfied only with the ability to speak that language, while another individual might want to learn how to write it.
One of the most fundamental steps of language learning is making a distinction between adjacent words. Music is known to assist your brain in quicker and more effective processing of new information.
Capitalizing on Your Stock of Words with more Music
Did you know that your exposure to a greater number of songs and their awesome lyrics can immensely enrich your vocabulary? Be it your own language or some other, songs incessantly contribute to your stock of words. If you have a flair for writing, you would be basking in the glow of wonderful results in no time! You might even find yourself attempting to pen down your unfathomable emotions in the form of beautiful lyrics! Apart from this, music provides your linguistic skills with an impetus by helping you in articulating words and developing a proper accent.
Giving the Conventional Rules a Creative Twist with Music
The notions of lyricists and seasoned musicians regarding the appropriate usage of language are refreshingly different, and in a way intriguing! On account of their overwhelming creativity, they cannot afford to be too rigid with spelling, grammar, or even the pronunciation of the words which feature in their melodious masterpieces.
You simply cannot imagine the degree of help offered by music, in the sphere of language acquisition! It is already a widely acclaimed fact that music can turn any receptive individual into a highly evolved listener. In addition, a marvelous listening power is undoubtedly one of the essential requirements for language learning.
Trust Music for Escorting You to Unknown Linguistic Territory
If you wish to introduce yourself to a new language, it would be an excellent idea to get hold of some musical pieces in the language that appeals to you the most. If you have an affinity for the tunes, you would be automatically inclined to listen to the pieces every now and then, even without being able to figure out the underlying meaning of the lyrics! And very soon, that feeling of impatience is bound to creep in – you will hardly be able to wait to learn the language, simply for the sake of delving deeper into the essence of the lyrics. Isn’t it an amazing way of getting started with a foreign language?
An Inseparable Bond Unites Language with Music
Ideally, a music therapist and a language instructor should work in collaboration with each other since they both deal with multiple common aspects such as intensity, tempo, pitch, intonation, and rhythm. Learning to sing or play an instrument, leads to the formation of fresh intercellular connections in the brain which act as effective carriers of communication such as speech, comprehension, and reading of a language.
This is the reason why children who learn music, outshine their peers in language classes. Even children affected by dyslexia or other language disorders, respond well to music training. They can easily distinguish between the background score and the sentences being spoken to them.
Featured Image: Image Credit
People are more likely to focus and pay attention when soft music is playing in the background.
— Fact (@Fact) May 9, 2016
European Parliament commemorating #EuropeDay #9May with music, the universal language pic.twitter.com/jnkxTSwuJ6
— EPP Group (@EPPGroup) May 9, 2016
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Music may help babies learn language skills
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They found the musical group showed more brain activity in regions involved with detecting patterns, an important skill when it comes to learning language. Via ABC
The link between rhythm and speech
Music and language have many things in common. One obvious commonality is that both have rhythm. Just take a look at this video of a skilled drummer processing the rhythm of speech and transferring it into an intriguing solo!
Previously, scientists have shown that the processing of music and language relies on partly overlapping neural resources. Therefore, the same neural mechanisms that are active when an individual processes the rhythm of music, or the beat, are active when we process the rhythm of speech. Via Sync Project
An Introduction to the Links Between Music & Language
In western culture, old English folk tales, or Cante-Fables as they are known, are, as their name suggests, stories half spoken and half sung. At a point in history the Cante-Fables split to become what we know now as folk songs and folk tales – a parallel to what some theorise to be how language and music developed. Similarly, the Portuguese call their national song, Fado,‘Poemas Cantadas’, or, sung poems. There are also remarkable examples of cultures for whom words and music are both one and the same, such as the U’wa culture of Columbia that to this day communicate and transfer the knowledge and history of their culture solely through song. Via Sorana