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Should mothers-to-be place earphones on their bellies and play Mozart? Prof: Music’s
effects on kids
often misunderstoodBy Brett Alexander-Estes
Star-Bulletin"'Aahhrrgg --- turn it off!' would be the likely fetal reaction," said Dr. John Feierabend, a world-renowned expert in early childhood learning who held a workshop this week in Honolulu.
"(Such efforts are) very unnatural," Feierabend told about 30 participants at his "First Steps In Music," workshop at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
If the developing fetus needed noises to be amplified, Feierabend said, a woman's mouth would swell to megaphone size during pregnancy.
Feierabend is a visiting professor from The Hartt School of the University of Hartford, and directs numerous music training programs in Connecticut and around the United States. In 1991 Feierabend was the first American to win the LEGO prize, an international award recognizing outstanding contributions to the quality of children's lives.
"First Steps In Music" aims to teach parents and educators how to use music and movement to complement children's development from birth through age eight.
"We've done research where we've asked mothers in the last trimester to sing a couple of songs over and over," Feierabend said. "And when the baby is born, (to) sing any number of songs and see if these particular songs have a calming effect. One hundred percent say, 'These songs calm my baby.'"
While Feierabend believes that early musical exposure provides many physical and psychological benefits, he challenges current popular assumptions that music alone boosts intelligence.
When one researcher found that keyboard lessons correlated with a slight increase in scores on the spatial section of an I.Q. test, Feierabend said, "the media just took it and said, 'Oh, music makes you smarter.'
"It is not the sound of music that is doing this. You are teaching a spatial task on the keyboard. So it is the keyboard that is developing the spatial understanding."
In addition to teaching, Feierabend collects poetry and songs from around the world, especially from vanishing cultures.
"During the last century (America) went from a society of music makers to a society of music consumers," he said. "People used to sing to their kids. Now they buy tapes."
Feierabend said people in their 80's easily remember games and songs they learned in their parents' laps. Today's 40-year-olds, he said, "don't know nuthin'."
In over 50 books and articles, including "Music for Little People", Feierabend has compiled the poetry and music of the past, and has made them part of the "First Steps In Music" curriculum.
Feierabend presents the week-long "First Steps" workshop at nine different campuses during the summer and a day-long version about 30 times during the school year. In each location, he compiles as much musical folklore as he can and then develops it into a curriculum that reflects the area's specific heritage.
"Music and movement in most cultures is a vehicle for community spirit," Feierabend said. "I want to teach the children the songs that came from (their) ancestors."