Your Child's Musical Development

(Information from BBC Parents' Music Room)

Birth to 18 months (Kindermusik Village Classes)

From conception to eighteen months, your baby is developing rapidly and his response to musical activity will not only be rewarding but highly beneficial to his general development.

At birth, babies can hear high-pitched noises, may be calmed by lower sounds, and can locate sound in front of them. They will be startled by a loud or sudden sound.

By four weeks, they prefer high-pitched sounds and start to respond to the sound of your voice. They will recognize whether sound is coming from behind or in front.

From three months, they may respond actively to music by, for example, swaying and turning towards the sound, and vocalizing vowel sounds like "Aaah", "Eee" and "Ooo."

At 20 weeks, they begin to recognize familiar voices and respond differently to the sound of strange voices.

By six months, they start imitating sounds (e.g. Boo! La!).

At 28 weeks, they will look towards sounds from above and below and tell tunes apart.

By nine months, they respond to familiar songs. Their singing may follow a familiar melodic pattern.

From one year, they will begin to lose the capacity to hear high-pitched sounds but start to discover musical pulse and create sounds by banging everyday objects.

Some babies say their first words as early as eight months. Many begin to talk around eighteen months, and some take a little longer. Singing with your baby could speed up this process.

18 months to 3 years (Kindermusik Our Time Classes)
By eighteen months, your child may start to respond to music in a coordinated way.

Language skills can develop further through singing and imitation.

Moving and responding to music can help develop memory and hand/eye coordination.

Children learn to distinguish between loud and quiet and fast and slow.

Children begin to be aware of a beat in the music and recognize different rhythms.

They will learn the words to simple songs and develop the coordination needed to play simple instruments, such as drums and bells.

This is when they begin to find out how to cooperate with other children, an essential skill for playing in ensembles.

3 years to 5 years (Kindermusik Imagine That! Classes)
Your child may begin to become more aware of pitch and rhythm.

They will learn to sing more complex songs as language skills grow and their vocal chords develop.

They can cope with more sophisticated movement to music.

They will take pleasure in playing and exploring new sounds and instruments.


Our Kindermusik classes are designed to encourage and support each stage of a child's musical development, starting with our infants and babies in Village classes to our big kids in Imagine That classes.

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