A Passion for Music

Since I was very young, my grandmother, Josefina, took me to church.  At church I learned many beautiful hymns and ‘coritos’ which I would quickly memorize and remember to this day.  When I was given a hymn book, I began to associate the memorized hymn verses with the text in the hymnal. The church goers were impressed that I could ‘read’ at such a young age.  There was surely some divine inspiration in my upbringing, but the music - guitars, tambourines and hymns with rhyming words - played a huge role in my early linguistic development and ability to sight read.  I truly believe that music has a way of imprinting itself in the brain if it is joyous or meaningful.

In an article titled, Engaging Auditory Modalities through the Use of Music in Information Literacy Instruction1, Katherine Kimball and Lisa O’Connor cite several findings that make music a positive force in any classroom.  Kimball and O’Connor note that human beings are inherently musical because they are first impacted by the stimuli of the rhythm of their mother’s heart beat and other sounds, such as music, which stimulate fetal response.  In addition, these columnists note that ‘Memory appears to be enhanced by music because it involves the whole brain; when engaged with a song, the left brain (which handles language, logic, mathematics, etc.) processes the lyrics, while the right brain (which handles rhythm, rhyme, pictures, emotions, etc.) processes the music.

The use of music for instruction, whether in the classroom or at home, is supported by many other studies.  The music and chants found in The Q4 Multiplication songs and mnemonic chants, Bubbles A & B, Burbujas A & B and Estas sí Vol. 5 English and Spanish, will likely have the same effect on your children or students as the music I listened to as a child had on me.  

Thank you for visiting the Children Songs website! Please share with your contacts who have young children learning foundational skills and concepts, or who want to learn English or Spanish the fun way.

1Source: INFORMATION LITERACY AND INSTRUCTION 316 | Reference & User Services Quarterly Volume 49, issue 4; Lisa O’ Connor, Editor

That’s me in the plaid dress with my grandmother, also in plaid, standing right behind me!