- Anita Collins’ guide to baby music for parents – The Lullaby Effect
- A summary of our favourite bits from the book
- The perfect Christmas bundle for new parents
- Baby music (traditional tunes and original tracks) to get you started – with an exclusive 10% off
Back in 2017, Sue Newman, Boogie Mites Director, was fortunate enough to skype with Anita Collins to discuss music education and neuroscience research for early years development. Anita’s insights (which covers baby music and through the early years), confirmed our experiences of the power of music, and her later publication has shed further light on how effective it can be when started from birth…
Collins is internationally recognised for her unique work in translating the scientific research of neuroscientists and psychologists to the everyday parent, teacher and student – About Anita Collins
The Lullaby Effect, published 2018, has lifted ‘the lid on early years music research’, and we’d love to share why with you…
Anita’s PhD (her “brain baby”), was actually born around the same time as her real-life baby. This meant that as her study grew, so did her little girl. She watched as some of the theories and experiments she practised took shape via her daughter’s actions and language.
Due to this, her short book takes form in a really engaging and informative way. She is clearly extremely knowledgeable and passionate on this subject, and each of her chapters takes shape through anecdotal stories and relatable experiences which we may have shared with our own little ones.
“Babies… hear their mother’s sound as if it were music”
Anita explains that “sound is information and our auditory system never turns off”. At birth, her daughter was hearing these complex sound environments (such as a busy café or supermarket) as “one sound”. And though her baby “might not be able to see [her] clearly for the first three months”, she knew who she was through the “unique qualities of [her] voice.”
“As a parent, your voice is their first and most important source of music that helps them learn how to first hear then produce speech.”
And because of this, your singing voice will always be good enough for your baby music time. At Boogie Mites, we so often hear people complain that they ‘can’t sing’ and this is a pain that Collins feels too: “Your voice is their window to the world” she says, “and they don’t know what singing in tune sounds like anyway at the start of their life, so you sound great!”
“So, how are music and language connected?”
Firstly, you must remember that just because your child does not speak yet, that does not mean they don’t understand.
Anita gives a lovely story to explain this. One Christmas, when her daughter was pre-verbal, Grandad started picking up Christmas presents and reading out who they were for. Without encouragement, Collins’ daughter toddled over, took the present from him, and then gifted it to the correct person. She couldn’t speak yet, but she understood “language at a very deep level”.
“As my daughter travelled through the process of acquiring language, I kept in mind that she was hearing language as if it were music.”
Her daughter was hearing their language and taking it in, but unable to express the same sounds back. To her baby, music was everything.
“Our brains like and need variety. Our ears need variety too…”
We have always believed that repetition and variety are key to music learning. You’ll see a similarity in our methods:
Anita Collins – ‘practise, practise, practise’
Boogie Mites – ‘repetition, repetition, repetition’
We’ve barely touched on the many subjects Anita Collins covers in this short, 73-page, book. You can also discover her writings on:
- What happened to a significant number of us in adulthood believe we can’t sing?
- What does music have to do with my child being helpful?
- How does music make my baby’s brain grow?
- Which lullabies ‘work’?
- What about the impact of singing?
And more.
BOOGIE MITES BABY MUSIC PROGRAMME
Have you heard about our Boogie Mites Babies Programme for Parents?
TWENTY-ONE SONGS
… 4 of which are traditional Nursery Rhymes with a Boogie Mites twist.
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- Mulberry Bush
- Row, row, row
- Humpty Dumpty
Nursery Rhymes offer a great way to get everyone included in active music-making (they’re known, catchy and fun), but the rest of the programme offers a diverse collection with multiple genres and rhythms.
THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS BUNDLE
Do you know a new parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle? Anita’s The Lullaby Effect and our Boogie Mites Baby Music Programme would make the perfect gift for congratulating their birth and celebrating Christmas together. Add some new tracks to your collection – no more baby shark or muppets Christmas!
We do not supply The Lullaby Effect. If you would like to get a copy of Anita’s publication, you must purchase through Anita Collins’ website.
Get the Boogie Mites Baby Programme
For enquiries, contact Sue Newman, Boogie Mites Director on 023 9281 7274, or email her: [email protected]
