Music for Young Children – Beaumont

03/04/2013

Last week at our Mom & Baby session in Beaumont we had a presentation by Shelley McKone about the Music for Young Children program. After this presentation, I cannot wait until my little girl is old enough for piano lessons!

The program is run by Shelley at her home studio in Beaumont, AB. She brought along a young talented student named Zoe. Zoe is 5 years old and has been in piano lessons for 22 weeks. She played a bridge mix for us and a song she wrote herself called “Bunny Lullaby”!

When I asked Zoe what her favorite song is she responded “Bridge Mix because I get to play different bridges and it’s funny”!

The babies in class all went silent at the same time to listen to Zoe play for them; it is amazing how music is built into us all starting from infancy.

This brings me to a story Shelley shared with us that I now want to share with you:

Senator Gabriel Giffords’ recovery after bullet wound to the brain.

A deranged gunman shot Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the head and opened fire on dozens of others. Six people were killed that day, including a 9-year-old girl born on 9/11 and a federal judge. But if there is any hopeful news in the wake of the bloody tragedy, it may be the impressive recovery of Congresswoman Giffords. To mark the anniversary, Discovery News re-ran this article, which examines how music has played a role in helping Giffords heal.

Among the devastating consequences of her brain injury from a gunshot wound, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords lost the ability to talk. But with help from music-based therapy, according to an ABC News segment that aired this January, Giffords has rediscovered her voice and, it seems, her spirit.

Researchers have documented a consistent pattern. When given a rhythm to walk to, people with Parkinson’s disease, strokes and other forms of neurological damage are able to regain a symmetrical stride and a sense of balance. Each beat serves as an auditory cue that the brain uses to anticipate timing and regulate footfalls.

In the last decade, researchers have also begun to demonstrate ways that music-based therapies can help with speech recovery. In particular, a type of treatment called melodic intonation therapy has shown the greatest promise, Rasar said. Using a combination of rhythm, pitch, vision and hearing, the brain manages to sing words that it can’t say.

For Giffords, therapy started with songs like “Happy Birthday,” said Maegan Morrow, the Congresswoman’s music therapist at TIRRMemorialHermannRehabilitationHospital in Houston. At first, Giffords would simply sing the word “you” after Morrow sang, “Happy Birthday to…”

Over time, Giffords learned to repeat ordinary phrases in a sing-songy voice. A song would gradually become a chant and finally a spoken phrase with the natural rhythm of speech.

Scientists are still working out the details of how this kind of therapy works. But one likely explanation is that music is represented in many areas of the brain, while just two brain regions process language. Music also tends to dig deeper, more well-worn pathways between neurons.

So, in patients like Giffords — who suffered left-hemisphere brain damage that knocked out her Broca’s area, a major language center — often, at least some musical areas remain intact. Through music, then, patients can reach into their stored knowledge about words and use songs to create new connections for speech.

One way to understand how this might work is to imagine that someone has challenged you to speak the lyrics of a song you haven’t heard in 10 years. You probably can’t do it. But if that song suddenly came on the radio, you’d likely be able to belt out every word.

“One theory is that music is able to short-circuit the damaged area through repetition,” Rasar said. “It creates a new pathway in and people can then use that pathway out.”

For Giffords, who spent months in the hospital and has faced a long haul toward recovery, music may have primed her to do the hard work she needed to do, Morrow said. The Congresswoman came in with a great love for all kinds of music, she added, from show tunes to pop rock, which probably helped her progress and she relearned how to talk and walk.

“Music is an automatic motivator,” Morrow said. “It is the easiest way to get you in a good mood, to bring you out of the situation you’re in and bring you to a new place.”

Click here to read the whole story.

Visit YouTube for Senator Gabby Gifford’s speech recovery through music after being shot in the head. Start at about 2:30 if you do not want to watch the whole report.

For more information on Music for Young Children or to contact Shelley McKone, check out her website:  www.myc.com/teacher/smckone or Facebook page.

I would love to hear your feedback and stories: kori@mommyconnections.ca