Little Folksters Logo

Research Tells Us

NEW: The More We Get Together
Sing With Me: The Program
Sing With Me: Song Titles
Sing With Me: Reviews
Sing With Me: Examples
Travel Totes
Ordering
Message from Gari Stein
Music and Parenting: Somewhat Like A Symphony
Calendar Events
Research Tells Us
What? Me, Teach Dance?
Sing With Me Music & Movement Classes
Workshop Handouts
Professional Development
Interactive Concerts
Children and Music
Michigan Reads! Guide
Links
Home


Music & Motion KinderConcerts
Ann Arbor Symphony





Mothers are Musical Mentors

Sandra E. Trehub, University of Toronto

"Maternal singing may provide benefits for the singer as well as the listener...the privacy of the interaction may make it possible for a mother to say or sing what she could not express in other contexts...releasing of pent up feelings may increase mother's feelings of closeness...soothing singing likely calms mother as well as infants-playful singing likely rouses them both. In this way, maternal singing can regulate maternal as well as infant emotions."

"Deliberate planned performances are unlikely to have emotional richness of spontaneous performances, which are motivated by sensitivity to infant's changing needs."

"Recorded materials designed to attract the adults who buy them are no match for maternal performances...recordings lack the familiar voice and emotive qualities that are so engaging to the listening infant and they are not tailored to the preferences of individual infants...parent-centered programs can connect parents with other parents, encourage playful interactions and provide a repertoire of enjoyable musical activities."

"...every known culture has songs for infants and that singing to infant appears to be a normal part of everyday caretaking activities...it seems mothers perform in a distinctive way when their baby is the audience-songs are higher, slower...the most salient feature is the loving tone." (Trehub and Trainor)

"...suggesting mothers sing to their babies the way they do in order to communicate with them emotionally...the way mothers sing to them does indeed matter to babies...the more loving the singer’s tone of voice, the longer infants chose to listen to her song...they chose to listen longer to the higher pitched versions...listening to lullabies, the infants tended to look down at their hands, listening to play songs, they tended to focus their attention outward...mothers not only produce emotional singing for babies, but babies respond to the messages their mothers send them through song." (Trainor)

"...research has helped us understand how mothers produce emotional singing that is exquisitely tuned to the needs of their babies and how infants respond to this singing, forming closer bonds to their mothers...along with touching and rocking, singing helps caregivers co-regulate infants' states, and likely contributes to infants' increasing ability to regulate their own states." (Trainor)





Research and Articles:

When They're Very Young   By Keith Powers
Teaching Music Journal. January 2012
NAfME/National Association for Music Education
"In kindergarten and beyond, students gradually develop their musical skills. But music aptitude develops much earlier-and teachers can begin to foster it in preschool."

Too much, too soon

Music and Parenting ~ Somewhat Like A Symphony

Restricting Children's Play May Harm Them

Overpressured, too many kids show signs of grown-up illness

Developmental Milestones of Early Literacy

Early Brain Development Research Review and Update

Movement

Developmental Concepts Enhanced through Music and Movement For 3-year-olds thru Pre-K

Music as Valuable Tool & What's in it For the Parent

Studies Tell Us

Research Findings & Quotes from Journal of Zero to Three - The Music Lives of Babies and Families

Mothers are Musical Mentors

Musically Speaking, Did You Know?




Sing With Me Logo

RoseyRaeNate productions ©
A Music & Movement Curriculum for Early Childhood
205 Pineridge St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103
ph: (734) 741-1510
fax: (734) 741-1510
e-mail --- click here