Taking your children to listen to a local symphony or other musical events is an exciting way to experience music. Concerts are incredibly uplifting and an energizing experience that can take you on an emotional journey as well as providing a learning opportunity. Supporting local symphonies can help you to appreciate all the work that goes into their performance, develops your auditory experience, and allows you to connect with the audience.
A couple of years ago, there was a study released at UC Berkeley surveying more than 2,500 people in the United States and China regarding their emotions to thousands of songs from various genres. They mapped thirteen key emotions across an audio map and across multiple cultures responding to the music. “Music is a universal language, but we don’t always pay enough attention to what it’s saying and how it’s being understood,” said Alan Cowen, UC Berkeley doctoral student in neuroscience.
Children are even more impacted by music as their brain is still being developed. USC’s Brain and Creativity Institute (BCI) completed a five year study that focused on the impact of music on children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. This study showed how much music instruction matured the brain’s auditory pathway and efficiency – basically the children were far more accurate in processing sound and therefore their development of language and reading accelerated. There have been many studies of pregnant women playing music to their fetuses, but also many un-noticed studies on how toddlers are impacted with their social skills and emotion management. Even playing an instrument impacts all of the brain as well as physical abilities, as this TedEd video demonstrates.
Example of Community and Youth Development: Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras
Chicago’s Youth Symphony has been phenomenal in prioritizing music in its youth’s development and community involvement. Chicago is known for its amazing music industry and very diverse and rich culture.
Vlada’s Seeds of Life wants to support the community and to encourage our youth to participate in activities such as the symphony. VSL baked cookies to help raise money to support the Temecula Youth Symphony. By doing this, VSL wants to encourage others to support their local symphonies and musical groups. This will help our children develop, boost our community’s energy, and unite people in a love of music. Music has been used to help people heal during difficult times, such as grief and depression. Music therapy has been used to stimulate the parts of our brain to relax, re-energize, meditate, and more. Children should be encouraged to participate in musical activities. It can enhance their brain development, help them learn how to express their emotions, boost their energy through a positive experience and develop learning skills in general. Go to your local recreational organizations and find how you can participate or support this movement.
Inland Empire, California Ideas
Some of the local spots in the Inland Empire have beautiful opportunities for participating and watching shows. Here’s a sample list.
- https://www.temeculaconservatory.com/
- https://sdys.org/
- https://www.scysomusic.org/
- https://temeculavalleysymphony.org/auditions-temecula-valley-youth-symphony/
- Murrieta Recreational Classes for Young Kids
- Musical Theater in Temecula for Youth
- Temecula Recreational Classes for Young Kids
More Resources
Here are more resources if you are interested in reading more about music’s impact on our development and especially on our children’s.
- A Book about our Brain on Music
- A Book about Humans as a Musical Species
- Dana Foundation’s Why Do We Love Music
- A study from Northwestern EDU on music’s impact on disadvantaged children
- Bright Horizon’s Benefits of Music on Children’s Development
- Different Age Group Impacts
- Symphony and Stories
Learn more about Vlada’s Seeds of Life activities and how we are helping to promote community involvement, reconnect families, and more. https://www.facebook.com/CookingandKids/