Music and the Young Mind: Enhancing Brain Development and Engaging Learning

by Maureen Harris

Overview

Maureen Harris has written an early childhood music program that is easily incorporated into the classroom routine. Written for the early childhood educator-experienced or trainee, musician or nonmusician_this book describes a music-enriched environment for teaching the whole child. Now educators can put research into practice and benefit from the wealth of knowledge and research acquired over the centuries on the power of music. With easy-to-follow lesson plans, sing-along CDs (sung in a suitable pitch for the young child), and supporting literature, educators can gain musical confidence as they explore research on child development, learn how to create a music-enriched environment and build musical confidence, see a curriculum time-frame, and follow lesson plans with ideas for further musical creativity and exploration. In addition, the multicultural section shows how to set up an early childhood music setting that maximizes the benefits of a variety of cultural values and practices. As you read this book you will begin to see music as a biological human need, an incredible vehicle for enhancing intelligence, and a means to connecting and uniting people around the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781607090632
Publisher:	R&L Education
Publication date:	04/16/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	150
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Maureen Harris, an educator and music professional has dedicated 20 years to the education of the young child, earned a Masters of Education at University of Windsor, and studied early childhood music with E. Gordon at Michigan State University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Foreword
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 What the Experts Say
Chapter 4 Brain Research and How Children Learn
Chapter 5 The Power of Music
Chapter 6 Biology and Music?Tapping the Global Rhythm
Chapter 7 Healing
Chapter 8 Gifted Children
Chapter 9 The Musically Enlightened Educator
Chapter 10 Teacher Training
Chapter 11 Appropriate Curricula
Chapter 12 Learning through Music
Chapter 13 Multicultural Integration
Chapter 14 Step-by-Step Curriculum Development
Chapter 15 A Year's Music Curriculum
Chapter 16 Lesson Plans of Basic Concepts
Chapter 17 Resource Guide
Chapter 18 Getting Started
Chapter 19 Let's Get Started
Chapter 20 Tomorrow's World
Chapter 21 Tomorrow's World

Editorial Reviews

Harris provides a summary of the latest research in child development, music development, brain research and the biology of music making.... It is a truly fascinating and thought provoking book which is also very practical in terms of addressing how the teacher can meet a child's needs at developmentally appropriate levels.

Special Educatonal Needs Magazine

I highly recommend this exciting new resource! Music and the Young Mind is an excellent, well-researched, and clearly presented guide for educators and students wishing to become music teachers. This is an excellent title for an elementary music education text, where the focus is on cognitive engagement and the intellectual development of the child. I read with pleasure every page, which encouraged me to reflect on my own practice as a postsecondary music educator. Music and the Young Mindis a must-read for all teachers (generalists and specialists) and music students wishing to become music teachers. This resource connects research to practice in a logical and meaningful way. It will also be a wonderful, comprehensive resource for collegemusic education classes where the focus is on early childhood..

Jonathan G. Bayley

This welcome resource combines a thorough review of research with practical and wide-ranging strategies for bringing music to young children. Maureen Harris provides a healthy attention to the European musical canon together with the rich array of global musics as a means of helping children and their teachers discover joy and aesthetic engagement through authentic experiences of the processes of music making.

David Buley

A gem of a book. Harris draws upon a wealth of experience to provide readers with a useful combination of scholarly research, professional insight, and nuts-and-bolts classroom strategies.

Sandi Curtis

Harris gives school administrators and classroom teachers a heads-up that music is far from simply trivial fun and games with preschoolers; rather, it's essential for their emotional and intellectual development. She also provides resources and practical techniques for teachers to enjoy music making with their students.

Nancy W. Carle

What I liked most about this book was its comprehensiveness when speaking of early childhood education and the role that music plays in those early years. Harris brings creativity and knowledge together in a format that is easily utilized by early childhood educators in their own classrooms. Wonderful and imaginative musical ideas.

Bernadette Berthelotte

Harris provides a summary of the latest research in child development, music development, brain research and the biology of music making.... It is a truly fascinating and thought provoking book which is also very practical in terms of addressing how the teacher can meet a child's needs at developmentally appropriate levels.

June 2010 Special Educatonal Needs Magazine