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The Sound of Music
Your Preteen Can Benefit
By Teri Brown
Our world is full of exciting and diverse opportunities. As parents, we want to offer our children the best of everything, and that includes an appreciation for and knowledge of a wide variety of music. Exposing your preteen to music can be a hit-and-miss proposition. Their tastes can seem etched in stone, but exposure to different types of music can, over time, result in a higher degree of appreciation.
Laura Vincent, a musician and private lesson instructor, believes that parents can foster their child's interest in music by being interested themselves and by taking the child to hear age-appropriate live music in concerts or recital and by exposing the child to different kinds of music through recordings, movies and TV.
"Exposure to different kinds of instruments will sometimes spark an interest in a particular instrument by the child," says Vincent. "I find when the child has a strong leaning toward a specific instrument that this is a good predictor of early success for the child."
Vincent believes that when a preteen takes the time to master a particular musical instrument, they learn the pleasure of creating sound, increase their physical dexterity and gain the ability to juggle many physical and mental tasks simultaneously.
Sandy Fleming's daughter has been passionate about music for quite some time. Fleming, the mother of three from Niles, Mich., believes that music has given her daughter a strong sense of self. "Music has built her self-confidence over the years and I think her self-esteem," says Fleming. "She identifies herself as a musician now, and that's a big step forward. She also realizes that her music brings joy to others and feels really good about that."
Fleming's daughter plays many instruments including piano, guitar and the flute. Though her daughter doesn't plan on pursuing music as a career, Fleming knows it has enriched her life.