Here and There
“Smart” CD for babies
By Gerry Garcia
SOME six years ago in the United States there was on-going research on the effects of classical music on brain development in early childhood. This was part of the “Smart Symphonies” program of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Naras) Foundation, which produces the Grammy Awards.
A notable consequence of this was the launching of the “Smart Symphonies” CD– a compact disc containing selections recommended by numerous experts in music and child development.
It was on this score that Mad Johnson, a worldwide leader in infant nutrition, has offered to support the research and provided a $3-million budget for three years to the Grammy Foundation to help bring music into the lives of more infants.
In the launching of “Smart Symphonies” here in Pinoyland at the Westin Philippine Plaza ballroom, multi-awarded Ryan Cayabyab, a San Carlos City native who had been exposed to classical music since he was a kid because his mother was an opera diva, was invited.
Ryan said, “That’s the reason I am able to deal with any given situation and it’s still a big part of my life.” Cayabyab added he would soon come out with a separate music studio where we teach music and movement to kids aged 3 to 7 years, we continue to instill that classical music helps in brain development.”
The CD will not be marketed commercially, according to Mead Johnson but it will be made available through pediatricians who recommend Mead Johnson products to mothers and their babies.
Another expert in child development who had been tapped by Mead and Johnson as consultant and endorser of the “Smart Symphonies” project was Dr. Grace Shangkuan Koo, professor at the University of the Philippines College of Education and consultant in Educational Psychology.
Dr. Koo, whose article “How Music Can Boost Your Brain Power” appeared in PDI’s SUNDAY Lifestyle section, said, “Classical music may soothe and calm newborn babies and help them adjust to life outside the womb. One reason could be that the soothing rhythm of most classical music is similar to the mother’s heartbeat which surrounds the baby from the moment hearing begins in the womb.”
“In the earliest days, weeks and years of life, everything your baby experiences and learns, stimulates millions of vital connections in the brain that are the foundation for all future learning.”
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/here-and-there/ Readers may reach columnist at sundaypunch2@yahoo.com . For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
