Songs Without Words
If you've been singing through the Maracas collection this semester, you've probably noticed that some of the songs don't have any words. Bim Bam. Cloud Song. Doodle. Dee Da Dum. Tsakonikos. Wiggle. William Tell's Ride. Su La Li. Just melody and rhythm sung on vocables.
Those aren't songs that lost their words somewhere along the way. They were written that way on purpose. Our teachers have likely mentioned this in class.
Your baby's brain is doing something remarkable right now. It's learning to process language, pitch, and rhythm. Three fundamental things that happen in different parts of the brain. Music is an activity that can combine all three to work together at the same time. That's why we refer to music as a whole brain activity.
That coordination is hard work for a developing brain. When a song has words, your child has to process language on top of everything else — pitch, rhythm, melody, the social experience of being in a room full of people making sound together. That's a lot to process.
When you take the words away, you give the brain room. A child can focus on the pure experience that music offers, without the added demand of processing language. Less cognitive overload and more space to absorb what music actually is.
So when you're singing through the song collection in the car, make a note that your toddler might have an easier time grabbing on to a song without words than one with words.
