Sending your child for piano at age six is no longer considered early. Parents are enrolling their kids at music-based enrichment centres from as early as one month.

Musikhaus founder Patricia Lau believes that all babies are born with perfect pitch.

“There is no such thing as ‘not musically-inclined’,” she says. That’s how babies recognise their mother’s voice and if it’s not tapped into early enough, they can lose that fundamental musical skill.
 

Lau conducting one of the sessions for babies.

The Musikhaus Babies Programme (0-18 months) serves as a platform to stimulate baby’s brain development through music.

Musikhaus takes pride in continuously striving to be on the cutting edge. “We can’t stick to one method,” says Lau, a previous pioneer of one of Malaysia’s leading musical kindergartens.

“Every year the programmes evolve and we incorporate new methods learnt from the United States, Europe, Beijing and Australia.”

The result is a curriculum that aims to stimulate the child’s overall development, challenging traditional Asian methods of learning which tend to be more memory-based.

Teaching with music and signing

The Musikhaus Babies classes are 45 minutes a session, once a week with a maximum of 12 babies to a class. It is a multi-disciplinary programme combining music and (baby) sign language, along with other activities like story-telling, object exploration and dance.

Everything moves along in one seamless musical activity not unlike a Sesame Street programme, except that you and your baby are participants in it. The activities are not random play (such as letting your child lose in a gym) but specifically designed to develop different areas of your child’s mind and body.

A group dance with actions, for example, encourages Active Listening, which Lau describes as “focusing in a subconscious manner.”

Such a skill is important for children especially in later years when they are exposed to larger group environments - it helps them focus, absorb information and take instructions.

Unlike conventional music lessons, Active Listening does not require any practise. In fact, the children are exposed to a different piece of music every week so as not to fall into the trap of memorising.

Children “actively listen” (as opposed to “hear”) when they start to subconsciously pick up certain details: Is that a man or a woman singing? Can they hear the repetitive pattern in the music? All this lays the foundation for a child’s later learning in music, but also in language, creativity, reasoning and analytical abilities.
 

Parents and toddlers enjoying one of the music enrichment classes.

Is three months too young?

The most popular starting age at Musikhaus is the Bubbles Class (18 months to 2½ years) - often by parents seeking an outlet for their child’s newfound energy and propulsion to tear the house down – but children should start earlier, says Lau. She recommends three to four months - after mummy has recovered from the initial exhaustion of birth.

The babies programme does not just stimulate a young child’s mind but gives parents the opportunity to discover areas in which their child can improve. A child who is already physically active, for example, may be better off undergoing training in visual development rather than expending his energy further on swings and bars.

Certain childhood disorders can also be detected by the centre’s experienced educators and special attention, if given early enough, can often make a significant difference.

Three months, however, may seem a little young to most parents especially if your child cannot even sit through 10 minutes of Baby Einstein. Lau explains that it’s not unusual for first-time babies to get tired half way through the class but after four or five classes you will be able to see a difference – in the way they focus on things, listen to instructions or seemingly anticipate something in a song.

Benefits for the long-run

A three-month-old-baby is not going to start doing a full-on dance routine. “You can’t see the effects at the initial stage.” says Lau.

“They are like a sponge, but at 10 months or so, it shoots out.”

The babies may start talking and using single words (cold, hot, eat, play). Some are even able to skat (dumdee-doo-dee-dumdee-doo).

For more details, visit www.musikhaus.com.my.