Susanna Zaraysky is a language expert. She speaks seven languages (English, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Serbo-Croatian) with excellent accents. She has also studied Hungarian, Hebrew, and Arabic.

After teaching English in Argentina, Bosnia, and the United States, she realized how to make foreign language learning fun and easy through listening exercises and music. You can learn more at her website or check out her book, Language is Music. She writes below about how you can use music to learn new languages.

Why learn foreign languages?

Flex those brain muscles

Use Music!

Turn up the music and turn on the language-learning!

Music is a powerful tool for both engaging and energizing children as well as encouraging development. But how can music help your child? I spoke to two experts to find out how you can harness the power of music in your own home.

Joe Rothstein is a speech pathologist who works with many special needs children.

He uses various intervention techniques to connect with kids, including PECS and PROMPT, but he is also a musician, so of course it makes sense that he would try music as a means to encourage language development and create a CD with that in mind, Power Tunes.

And guess what? It works!

Obviously Joe isn’t the first to stumble onto this truth. Michele Valeri, a professional children’s performer, has also been using music as a means to encourage little ones, toddlers and infants, to move in and think about the world around them. Her CD, Little Ditties for Itty Bitties, focuses on just that.

You may be wondering: “Why is music so powerful?” I asked my two experts, and here’s what they had to say:

• Music makes us happy.

  As Michele points out: “Music produces joy. When children are happy they take in the world on a deeper level. They learn more from every experience when they are joyful.”

• Music motivates all children, no matter what their level of ability.
  

  Joe says that after working with many children over the years, he noticed that “music has a way of motivating and including all children, regardless of developmental levels or disabilities. Some children are able to participate by singing or playing instruments, and some participate by dancing or attentively listening.”

• Music is expressive.

  Michele says that “the rise and fall of the human voice in a song is more expressive because the music raises the expressiveness of the words and helps children to develop expressive speech.”

I also wanted to know how I could use music at home to encourage my child’s development. Joe and Michele had a lot to say on this topic, too:

• Use music to make believe.

  Joe says that “playing make believe is a wonderful way to teach skills because it encourages children to actively think about concepts and look at them from different perspectives.” So dress up and pretend to be firemen or princesses; pretend to make a meal or wash the dishes; make believe your couch is a boat and you’re sailors. By adding a song to the mix, you just solidify this experience. As Joe says, “children learn best when a variety of teaching modalities are used.”

• Move to the beat.

  Michele says that we should find music with a good beat. Kids can learn to move and stomp to the beat, and this can actually help them with their speech acquisition, too. “The term steady beat refers to musical pulse,” says Michele. “Steady beat in music helps children to develop speech, both understanding speech and producing speech.”

Michele singing with some itty bitties.

• Sing to grab your child’s attention.

  Some kids may be delayed or have disabilities interfering with their learning processes; other kids may be too busy to stop and listen. Either way, “the fact is that when speech doesn’t reach them, music does.” Michele has seen this first hand and insists that “speaking doesn’t hold the attention of our youngest learners the way singing does.”

• Use music to enhance memory.

  Quick, which letter comes after “C”? Did you say “D”? Of course you did! Why? Because you remember your ABC song. Joe points out that “music is an especially powerful tool in helping children remember concepts. For example, children can memorize all 26 letters of the alphabet in sequence by learning the alphabet song. The rhythmic and melodic components of the song provide a vessel for remembering the information.”

• Keep things meaningful.

  Joe points out that it’s important to keep songs both developmentally appropriate and meaningful. Sing about things that your kids will understand or that are important to them. “When I am working with a child I think about what is developmentally appropriate, what is functional and meaningful for the child, and how I can present the skills in a way that makes it easy to learn.”

• Keep it catchy!

  Pop music is catchy for a reason: it makes us listen and pay attention. Make sure the songs you sing “follow predictable patterns, making them easy to
  learn.” Joe says that melodies should also be “catchy and easy to sing, making
  them accessible to both adults and children.”

Finally—Have fun! Remember, the more enjoyment your children have in the learning process, the more they’ll grow!

Meredith Pizzi is a board certified music therapist in Massachusetts. She has years of experience working with young children and using music to enhance development, social skills, and just plain have fun. In this article she discusses how to keep kids entertained over the long winter months with music!

New England winters aren’t easy for anyone! I really do enjoy the seasons and I don’t know what I’d do if the climate were the same 365 days a year, but I can’t say that I enjoy these short days with little sunshine and I really miss being able to walk down the street without losing all feeling in my fingertips!

And if this is how we feel as adults, imagine what it’s like being kept away from your favorite park or playground for these months. Not to mention having to bundle up in multiple layers of uncomfortable heavy clothes! (Honestly, I had my two girls in 4 hats on Saturday when we had to go on a walk in Boston! Four hats! We counted putting them on and taking them off each time!)

So what can you do to break things up at home or when you’re out?

How can you use music to burn some of that energy that is trapped inside during these months?

A Good Old-Fashioned Lap Ride

Dance Party Time

Strike up the Band!

Whatever you do this winter, remember that kids (and adults) need lots of opportunities to be physically active. Music provides both energy and structure and is a great way for kids and adults to be engaged in something fun and physical together. Try making some music at home this week to break up the winter chill and send us an email or comment to let us know how it goes!

By Meredith R. Pizzi, MT-BC
Board Certified Music Therapist
Roman Music Therapy Services
www.romanmusictherapy.com

Ever wonder how professional musicians record music in the studio? Debbie Cavalier has just created a really neat post describing how she and her band put a song together.

You can listen (and download) the full song, So, So Happy, and then listen to each individual track and see how each instrument is recorded separately. This is a great learning experience for kids since they can really hear how each instrument plays its own role yet comes together with the other instruments to create a whole song. Very neat!

Check out In the Recording Studio with Debbie and Friends.

Steve Blunt is an award-winning kids’ musician from New Hampshire. A former middle-school English teacher, Steve now works as a music teacher and performer. His music gets kids up and dancing and he always encourages the adults to sing along. In this article he discusses the importance of music in the classroom. Music is both fun AND educational!

Years ago I was a middle-school English teacher, striving to inspire young people to love literature and express themselves with clarity and creativity. Now I’m a children’s musician—but my mission hasn’t changed all that much!

I like to say that my job is part-time teaching, part-time performing, and full-time fun… sharing music with kids and families. Just about every day, I spend a while singing, dancing, clapping hands, and jumping around with little kids who are a constant reminder that life is good. Not a bad gig!

Now that I’ve been doing this for a few years, I’ve come to realize that music is fun… and so much more. Especially when it comes to children’s verbal skills! I’m always amazed by how quickly young children pick up the words to songs—much faster than we adults.

Children have a tremendous capacity to absorb oral language—which we tend to lose as we get older and focus more on the written word. And yet so much of what happens while children are listening, singing, and moving along to music is preparing them to become readers, writers, and all-around language learners: Babies and toddlers who barely speak may sign the words to “The More We Get Together;” Little ones who perform the movements to “If You’re Happy and You Know It” are acquiring the ability to think in sequences (like sentences): Preschoolers who sing along to (and have an uncanny ability to predict) a rhyming refrain (“You Are My Sunshine”) are acquiring phonetic awareness; And kindergarten/elementary children who listen deeply to a “ballad”—any song that tells a good story, “Puff the Magic Dragon,” for instance—are internalizing the narrative arc that will propel them through readings of stories and chapter books.

If we value literacy—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—then we should acknowledge that age-appropriate musical activity lays a foundation for subsequent language development.

There are plenty of folks smarter than I who know a lot more about the role of music in language development… these are just some of my observations as a former classroom teacher who tries to pay attention while making music with kids and families.

Sometimes when I visit a classroom, a teacher will say that a particular child who normally doesn’t respond to story time—or perhaps other school activities—really comes alive during music sessions. For some kids, music is the most effective mode to spark enthusiasm and access verbal learning—which is basic to schooling. And some children who are most excited about music seem to be the brightest and most engaged overall. (Disclaimer: I’m not an early childhood expert and I only see groups of children during one small part of their day together. I’m certain there are highly intelligent kids who aren’t especially motivated by music but become very active learners when given the opportunity to build with blocks, mold with clay, play with toy dinosaurs, etc.)

So what’s my point? Maybe I’m just looking for a little respect—for children’s music and those of us fortunate enough to keep busy doing it. Parents and teachers, take note: Singing along and doing hand motions isn’t just this cute, entertaining thing that is nice for children to do… but ultimately irrelevant. If we value literacy—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—then we should acknowledge that age-appropriate musical activity lays a foundation for subsequent language development. Sometimes I tell audiences: “It’s a scientific fact: Music participation makes children smarter and everybody happier. The kids will be more likely to join in if we adults do the same.”

Parents, singing with your kids—at home or the next Steve Blunt concert you attend—just might be as valuable as telling a story or reading a book at bedtime!

Meredith Pizzi is a board certified music therapist in Massachusetts. She has years of experience working with young children and using music to enhance development, social skills, and just plain have fun. In this article she discusses how difficult it can be to engage babies at first and insists that you just have to keep trying until they get it!

Photo by yanickahachez.

“Your baby isn’t bored! Your baby is totally confused!”

I said it again this month at the Melrose Public Library program during a music therapy session. I love looking out at all the babies and toddlers who came unsuspectingly. I begin to play my guitar and they just stare at me.

It’s partially a look of panic: “Who are you?”

And partially a look of disbelief: “You want me to do what?”

It is also a look of intrigue and confusion. But I do know, and I’m sure of this based on my five years of music therapy experience, that these looks are not looks of boredom!

I have to admit that it did take me a long time to come to this realization. I used to think it was just me and that I was boring them to death.

I remember my very first session with preschoolers for my music therapy internship. The students were brought down to the music room for thirty minutes. I started with the hello song I had prepared. I was petrified when I realized that they were all staring back at me with that deer in the headlights look.

I assure you, as adults we will tire of a song much more quickly than our babies will. But our babies are not bored!

I sang the song two times and then, because they obviously didn’t like that one, I quickly transitioned to another song.

The second song was received with those same empty stares. As was the third, and the fourth, and the fifth, the sixth, seventh, eighth and even the ninth. That’s right! I sang nine songs in that first thirty-minute music therapy session!

No wonder they were confused. I never gave them a chance to catch up with me!

It took me years of experience and learning about early childhood development and music, but now I know that if I’m still getting that deer in the headlights look, I need to do the song again, and again, and again, until the young children who are participating in my music groups are no longer in panic mode. Once their facial expressions relax and they begin to look at me with the expression that says, “Oh, okay… tell me more,” then I know we are ready for more music making.

I assure you, as adults we will tire of a song much more quickly than our babies will. But our babies are not bored!

So the next time you start singing a new song with your baby, sing it again and again and again until they start to get it. Never do what I once did and run through nine songs in thirty minutes! Instead, give your child a chance to really soak it all up and experience the music. And then when you are bored, sing it three more times!

By Meredith R. Pizzi, MT-BC
Board Certified Music Therapist
Roman Music Therapy Services
www.romanmusictherapy.com

Have you been thinking about getting your child music lessons but you’re not sure how to fit it into your busy schedule? Wouldn’t it be great if someone would just come out to your house and sit down with your kids for an hour or so and teach them to play fun music?

I just found out about a great program that will do just that for families living in the Greater Boston and Metro West areas: Jammin’ with You. Jammin’ with You will send trained professionals (who just happen to be great with kids and teens) out to your house to work with your kids—on your time!

Children can learn to play a number of different instruments, including piano, guitar, bass, drums, saxophone, clarinet, flute, violin, or voice. Whether your child is a beginner or is already taking lessons at school and wants to refine their skills, the Jammin’ with You teachers can help them right along.

I was really excited to see that Jammin’ with You also offers Music Therapy services. As the parent of a special needs child I can attest to the wonderful results to be gained through professional music therapy. In fact, I’ve written an article explaining the benefits of music therapy.

Jammin’ with You also offers weekly group lessons for 3, 4 and 5 year olds through the Creative Movement and Arts Center in Needham. And it looks like they are planning a future kids’ choir program, too! How exciting! You can learn more about all their programs and pricing here.

For a first hand look at some amazing students from Jammin’ with You, check out their YouTube Channel. Here is my favorite video of cutie-pie kindergartener Mark playing piano:

This is an article written by Debbie Cavalier of Debbie and Friends. It’s a great introduction to percussion instruments and full of fun drumming ideas. You can visit Debbie’s website to learn more about her songs: www.DebbieAndFriends.net

Drums are at the heart of any musical groove. They’re fun and expressive, and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They provide a driving beat that can make us want to dance and move.

Drums are percussion instruments; they are played by being shaken or hit.

Following are some ideas to make drums from simple household items, and use them to make music, play games, and communicate.

Make Your Own Drum

Drum Games and Activities

I hope these activities inspire even more music-making ideas to share with all the different drummers in your family.

I have a confession to make: I’m an adult who loves kids’ music. Sometimes I listen to my son’s CDs while he’s at school. Sometimes I sing along in the car—even when my son isn’t with me.

I like all of it, really. I love Raffi and The Wiggles; Sesame Street and Disney (though I do draw the line at Barney—I just can’t go that far). Part of it is that these songs remind me of my childhood, but part of it is that they are just plain catchy and fun.

But I have noticed that there are some CDs that I gravitate to more, CDs that do a wonderful job of bridging the gap between children and adult music tastes. I’ve collected here a list of my five favorite kids’ CDs for grownups:

1. Recess Monkey: Field Trip

Recess Monkey is a great band from Seattle that sings with a sort of pop/emo sound. For some reason they remind me of a cross between Weezer and The Beatles, though I’m not quite sure why.

Their new CD, Field Trip, is due for release on June 9th and I had the chance to preview it this week. All I can say is that I’ve been singing Marshmallow Farm and The Teens ever since. I was so impressed with this CD that I ordered their other four CDs, too, all of which have recieved rave reviews.

This is definitely a band to check out for all the 30-something moms out there who like alternative sounds! And be sure to watch their new video for Marshmallow Farm. (But you’ve been warned—it’s very catchy!)

2. Justin Roberts: Meltdown!

We saw Justin Roberts perform in Arlington last year at the Regent Theatre and I’ve been hooked ever since. Justin plays with a pop-rock sound similar to R.E.M. that is very upbeat and great to sing along to. His lyrics are witty and full of surprises and inside jokes meant for the grownups who are listening.

Although I love all of Justin Roberts’ albums, this is probably my favorite because of the title song, Meltdown!, which just captures life with a toddler so well. I Chalk and My Brother Did It are also great tunes.

You can listen to samples from this CD by clicking on the image above.

3. Gustafer Yellowgold’s Mellow Fever

I’m a huge fan of both The Flaming Lips and Radio Head, and Gustafer Yellowgold reminds me of both. Mellow Fever is just that: A very mellow set of songs that all tell the story of Gustafer, a hot-blooded creature who originated from the sun.

In the same style of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, each song tells you a little bit more about Gustafer’s adventures and his side kicks, so by the end of the CD you have a complete tale. You can also check out the DVD with its simply-animated cartoons that accompany the story songs and solidify the themes of friendship and acceptance.

My favorite songs on this CD have to be Panther Stamps Pants, a sad story of a lost pair of favorite pants, and Green Heart, a song that shows us the importance of others and the tyrany of selfishness. I just love how this CD can combine the silly and the significant!

You can listen to samples from this CD by clicking on the image above.

4. Ben Rudnick & Friends: A Frog Named Sam

Do you like traditional sounds, American folk, and blue grass? (I do!) Then you’ll definitely want to check out the newest album from Ben Rudnick and Friends. A Frog Named Sam is a balanced collection of old and new song styles, from the traditional Erie Canal to the light-hearted Drink It Up.

But the crown jewel of this CD has to be the title song, A Frog Named Sam. The story of a frog who moves to the city to pursue his dreams of performing music is just silly enough to be a kids’ song, while the guitar and vocals are complex enough to appeal to adult ears. And you don’t want to miss their video for A Frog Named Sam. It’s fantastic!

You can listen to samples from this CD by clicking on the image above.

5. The Brian Waite Band: 20,000 Volts Under the Sea

If you’re looking for a kid’s CD that rocks (and harnesses the power of the electric guitar), then the Brian Waite Band is for you. 20,000 Volts Under the Sea, as the name implies, follows an ocean theme and relies on sampling many different styles of music, from disco to regae, but in the end, it’s the old-school rock-and-roll sound that predominates on this CD.

Songs like Off to Atlantis City and The Electric Eel Guitar are great fun to listen to on your own—but also just as much fun to share with your kids! Don’t you just love how kids don’t care how bad a dancer you are?

You can listen to samples from this CD by clicking on the image above.

Photo by My Aim is True

You know that learning a second language is a great way to boost your kid’s brain power. Educational studies have consistently shown us that kids who are regularly exposed to a foreign language…

• have better general reading and comprehension skills;
• appreciate diversity and cultural differences;
• have increased creativity and problem-solving skills;
• and have a better grasp of their native language and vocabulary.

But how do you begin teaching a young child a foreign language, especially if you can’t speak it yourself? A really wonderful (and easy) way to introduce a second language to your child is through music. Little kids absolutely love music and kids six and under tend to learn languages faster and easier than adults, especially if given the chance to do so in a fun and stress-free environment.

Here are Five ways music works in teaching children a foreign language:

1. Music is Fun
   Kids learn better when they are having fun. Learning a new language can be stressful, but if you incorporate the learning into fun activities throughout the day, your kids won’t even notice that they are acquiring a second language! Music is one great way to do this, but also try watching familiar films in different languages (Disney DVDs often come with this option), eating food from the region, or celebrating foreign holidays.
2. Music is a Memory Booster
   It’s easier to remember things when they rhyme or have a predictive pattern, like most songs do. Also, as you hear a song over and over you’re better able to sing along. At first your child will just mimic the foreign words without really understanding them, but the understanding will come. If you think about it, that’s how they learned to speak their first language, too!
3. Music Engages the Whole Brain
   When you combine music and rhyme (right-brain learning) with language and syntax (left-brain learning) your child is using their entire brain. Also, music has a rhythm and invovles movement. Encourage your child to dance with the songs because when learning is paired with movement it involves more brain power and the information is better retained.
4. Music Can be a Game
   When learning to decipher the meaning in a song that includes both their native language and a foreign language, kids are essentially engaging in a puzzle game. For example, in the Spanglish Wrangler song Emociones, you’ll hear lines like “When I’m triste I’ll cry” or “I like to dance when I’m feliz.” The puzzle-solver figures that triste must mean sad and feliz means happy. Also, if kids learn a simple nursery rhyme song in both their native language and a foreign language (like Raffi’s Tete, Epaules-Head & Shoulders in both French and English), they can compare the two and figure out the meanings of the words.
5. Music is Accessible
   Music is also a great way to bring language to a child with a learning disability or speech delay. Constant repetition, memory enhancers, and simple beats help kids follow the words. Syllables are usually separated and puncuated by the beats in the song which can aid in pronunciation. Kids also have an inborn natural desire to sing along with a familiar song. Even if this just means that your child hums or vocalizes whithout actually saying any words, it’s still a start and it’s getting them to understand that language is spoken and social.

Our Favorite Music for Teaching Language!

The Spanglish Wrangler: Spanglish Sing-Along

The Spanglish Wrangler is definitely our son’s favorite language CD. The songs are fun and up-beat and easy to sing along to. Will Thomas includes both English and Spanish words so the songs are easy to understand even if you don’t know any Spanish—and you’ll be amazed at how fast your kids are able to pick up Spanish vocabulary!

Ivan’s favorite song is probably Desayuno Boogie, most likely because it’s about food, and he also loves Bear’s Picnic, which tells a silly story about a family that meets a bear during a picnic, but also manages to conjugate a bunch of Spanish verbs in the process. Did you ever think you’d hear of a song that makes learning conjugations fun?! I wish they had thought of that when I was trudging through my Latin class!

Click on the CD image above to hear samples of these songs!

Mister Felipe: Cruzando el Border

Mister Felipe offers another great Spanish-English CD that Ivan loves. One of the cool things about this CD is that Mister Felipe samples all sorts of different traditional song styles, like Merengue and Mambo, Bolero and Ranchera. It’s really fun to hear the different musical styles and see how they change the mood of the songs. Mister Felipe also includes lots of kids’ voices on his songs, which children find irrisistable, and hearing kids speak in both English and Spanish makes the language seem much more accsssible. Mister Felipe is also very good at introducing Spanish vocabulary in one song then using it again in another so that you really feel like you are using what you have learned.

Ivan’s favorite song on this CD is The Calendario Mambo because he loves hearing the kids say “Cha-cha-cha!” He also loves Me Gustan Los Animales (I Like Animals) because, like a good game, you hear the Spanish name for the animal then the sound it makes and you have to figure out what animal they are singing about. Very fun!

Click on the CD image above to hear samples of these songs!

Putumayo Kids Presents European Playground

If you’re looking for a collection of songs in many different languages, European Playground is a great place to start. This CD includes songs from Finland, France, Denmark, Greece, Scotland, Germany, and many more European countries. You’ll hear both English and the foreign language in many of these songs, but what we like most about this CD is that these artists are popular bands in their homeland who produce very modern music. Want to hear Greek or Dutch ska (Den Kanei Krio or Stop Den Lille Kaenguru)? Sweedish or French rock (Trampolin or En Voici, En Voila)? Look no further!

If you’re not sure which language your child will want to learn, this collection is a great way to introduce them to many different sounds. Our son loves the Spanish songs on this CD, so that’s the language we’ve decided to pursue.

You can preorder European Playground on Amazon. The CD will be released on May 19, 2009.

Raffi

We sometimes forget that Raffi has produced some lovely songs in French (he is from Canada, after all). And, a lot of these songs include both French and English and are a great way to introduce French to your child.

You may already have some of these songs in your CD collection, but if not, we’ve compiled our favorite Raffi songs sung in French and linked to samples on Amazon (just click on the image to the right). These days it’s easy to just buy the songs you want and create your own CD!

Knock Knock English: Super Simple Songs

Knock Knock English is a group that has developed some very simple and easy-to-learn songs designed to teach kids English as a second language. They use lots of repetition, simple vocabulary, and accessible concepts (like body parts or colors) to teach new words and grammar.

This is a great idea for young (or even not-so-young) kids trying to learn English, but also for young kids who are native English speakers but aren’t yet verbal. Try this CD with babies, young toddlers, or kids with speech delays and use it to help teach them the basics of language through songs.

Super Simple Songs is available at CD Baby or through their website: www.supersimplesongs.com.

You can’t ever introduce too much music to a kid, so play around with these songs and see which ones grab your child. When you see a response, go with it!