Why Use Songs for Learning?

Many brain researchers agree, music enhances academic and social skills (Dowling, 1993; Hanshumaker, 1980; Hurwitz, Wolff, Bortnick, and Kokas, 1975, and Lamb and Gregory, 1993) and can be used as a carrier of words and a primer for the brain (Jensen, 1998).  Songs should be incorporated into children’s daily learning routines.

• Develop listening skills.
• Provide numerous language experiences.
• Emphasize rhyme or rhythmic patterns.
• Recall and sequence events.
• Assist in learning phonemic awareness.
• Connect to other learning.
• Develop phonological and word awareness.
• Provide opportunities for oral language development, a strong and critical link to reading comprehension (Clay, 1972; Wilson and Cleland 1985).

Nancy Jo Mannix writes all the Songs of the Month for www.newteachernews.com and is the author of Tune Into Shared Reading: Enhancing Comprehension with Favorite Stories and Familiar Melodies, 2001. For further information on the references cited, please contact her at nmannix@aol.com.