Music

Music and singing are indispensable in a Waldorf school.

by Rubens Salles

The importance of music in education has been recognized since time immemorial. Music-centered education was the object of deep reflection on the part of Plato, who considered that the harmony and predisposition of the soul are determined by aesthetic feelings, as we see in this excerpt from his dialogue with Glaucon.

“Is it, Glauco, that education through music is very efficient mainly because rhythm and harmony penetrate the depths of the soul and touch it with great force and, bringing elegance to it, also lend it an elegant posture, if it is well educated? And if not, will the opposite happen? On the other hand, wouldn't it also be because the person, educated in music as he should, would perceive with more acuity the defects that there are in works of art that are not well worked and in the beings of nature and, rightly, unhappy with this, would praise what is beautiful and, welcoming him with joy in his soul, would he nourish himself and become a noble and good man? From childhood, however, he would censure and hate vices, even before he was able to understand why, and when reason came, it would usually be the one who was educated in music who would welcome him, because he would recognize the affinity between them. ?"(1)

In the Kindergarten of Waldorf schools, students experience songs and kântele, first listening to it during stories and songs and then playing it. The kantele is a stringed instrument typical of the region of Lithuania and Finland and is played in the major pentatonic scale (C D D Mi Sol La), which is considered to be the first scale known to man, the primordial scale. When the child is born, and for the first seven years of his life, he is on this scale as well.

“More delicate than the wind when it brushes the branches of the trees! As gentle as a breeze that caresses the waters of a peaceful lake. A sound so soft, so sweet, it makes you feel involved, snuggled, protected, nestled in the arms of a caring mother. You can get closer to his feeling if you can feel a gentle and very, very loving caressing on his face. A caress from someone who is not in a hurry or commitment. Someone who is there, whole, present. Who has the only desire to envelop you in a love nest! If you can imagine these things, then you can start to get an idea of what kantele sounds like.” Flavia Betti

When they move to the 1st year, the children continue to sing and start playing the recorder, which accompanies them throughout Elementary School.

In the 3rd year, the violin, an instrument whose characteristics feed the soul needs of the 9-year-old child, is part of the curriculum. In the following years, those who want to continue with the violin in optional lessons.

From the 5th year onwards, many schools have a small orchestra, where students can join playing the instrument with which they have the most affinity. This activity is usually optional. Singing, like poetry, is an almost everyday activity in the rhythmic part of the class, in elementary school.

Music has been part of the soul of Waldorf Pedagogy since the creation of its first school, and interestingly, today, the importance of music for education is being scientifically proven. Recently neuroscientists have made great strides in understanding how our brains work by monitoring them in real time with instruments such as FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and PET (Positonic Emission Tomography) scanning. One of the most surprising discoveries was that playing a musical instrument involves virtually all areas of the brain at the same time, simultaneously processing different information in intricate, interrelated and surprisingly fast sequences, mainly in the visual, auditory and motor cortices, increasing the activity in the corpus callosum, which is the bridge between the two cerebral hemispheres. They even found that the corpus callosum is more developed in professional musicians.

Studies have also shown that young children who underwent 14 months of musical training exhibited structural(2) and functional(3) changes compared to those who did not. Together, these studies have proven that learning to play a musical instrument not only increases the volume of gray matter in various brain regions, but can also strengthen the long-range connections between them. Other research has shown that playing a musical instrument also improves memory, reasoning and language skills related to literacy.(4)

It is not known, so far, of any other human activity that requires our brain to act in so many areas simultaneously. Music training has even been found to facilitate the rehabilitation of patients recovering from strokes and other forms of brain damage, and some researchers have also argued that it may increase speech processing and learning in children with dyslexia and other speech disabilities. language.

Musical training includes working on the senses of sight, hearing and touch, as well as fine movement, all wrapped up in an emotional connection. Its benefits seem to persist for many years, or decades, which shows that learning to play a musical instrument in childhood is extremely beneficial, and that education cannot do without music as an element of support for the integral development of the child.

Bibliography

1. PLATO. Plato's Republic. 2005, p. 109.
2. HYDE Krista L, LERCH Jason, NORTON Andrea, FORGEARD Marie, WINNER Ellen, EVANS Alan C., SCHLAUGC Gottfried. The Effects of Musical Training on Structural Brain Development: McGill University, Montreal – Canada and others 2009
3. SCHLAUG Gottfried, NORTON Andrea, OVERY Katie, WINNER Ellen. Effects of Music Training on the Child's Brain and Cognitive Development: Department of Neurology, Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, and Department of Psychology, Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts USA 2005
4. GORDON Reyna L., FEHD Hilda M., MCCANLISS Bruce D. Does Music Training Enhance Literacy Skills? A Meta-Analysis: National Center for Biotechnology Information, US National Library of Medicine – Rockville Pike, Bethesda USA 2015
5. BETTI Flávia, Cantarola – Ed. Cântaro, 2013.

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