Babies are born with a natural ability to appreciate music, and early exposure to music plays a crucial role in ‘wiring’ your baby’s brain for learning.
For example, singing songs teaches children about how language is put together. When you sing, words and phrases are slowed down and are easier for your baby to understand.
Singing together regularly helps them to build up a vocabulary of sounds and words long before they’re actually able to understand the meaning.
Listening to music also helps to put babies and toddlers into a relaxed and receptive state – perfect for when you want to try a new activity with them.
Making music together is an easy activity that can provide a wonderful bonding experience for you to share. Even bouncing your baby on your knee as you listen to music won’t just make him giggle, it could also give his brain a boost and open the door to all sorts of exploration and fun.

Sing with your baby
Encourage your baby to clap along and move to the beat as you sing together. 
For younger babies, pick songs and rhymes with a simple, steady beat and lots of repetitive language, and for older ones try more energetic songs with more varied beats, tone and rhythms.
Watch your baby as you sing. What are they doing? Try to let them take the lead, if they clap, you clap. If they roll over, you roll over. 
Mirroring your baby like this will increase their self-esteem and self-confidence and encourage more of the same.
 
Using action rhymes and songs
Toddlers love rhymes! Singing and chanting together isn’t just fun – it’s a great way to introduce children to new words. Research has shown that the wider a child’s vocabulary is, the better reader they’re likely to become.
Rhymes also teach children how particular words sound, and shows them that changing a letter will make a rhyming word with a new meaning (e.g. ‘cat’ could become ‘hat’, or ‘moo’ become ‘boo!’) – this will help them when they come to learn letters and sounds at school.
Use rhymes at any time - they're a great way of keeping your child happy in the supermarket queue and a handy trick to have up your sleeve when boredom strikes! 
Rhymes and songs can also help remind children of day-to-day routines or tasks like brushing your teeth or getting ready for nursery.
Try personalising the action rhymes you choose. So, when doing 'Incy Wincy Spider' - with fingers and hands moving upwards, just like the spider travelling up the spout – say your child's name instead of 'Incy Wincy'.
You could even name the whole family. Children often find this very funny - the strangeness of it appeals to their sense of humour.
 
Make your own instruments
Making your own musical instruments is a brilliant way to encourage your baby to get creative. 
Tapping, banging or shaking in time with some music will introduce them to the idea of rhythms, patterns and beat which are useful for problem solving and reasoning.
Instruments don’t have to be complicated or expensive – if you can shake it, bang it, rattle it and make a noise, it’s an instrument! 
Dried rice or lentils in an empty bottle makes a great shaker, or you could use a saucepan for a drum with a wooden spoon as a drumstick.
Letting your older baby make a noise with an instrument encourages self-expression, and gives them a way to communicate how they’re feeling before they can talk.
 
Try placing a collection of simple instruments with different sounds in front of them – they’ll tend to be more creative if they’re given choice and freedom to play.
Toddlers love the opportunity to make lots of noise, and it’s a good way to develop their language and listening skills.
At every stage, make sure you praise and encourage your little one’s efforts – appreciating their creative endeavours (however noisy they are!) will build their confidence and self-esteem.
 
By Fiona Macrae, Science Correspondent 

Emily when did you know you wanted to become a singer?
When I was young, I never use to be a child that spent my days singing around the house. It was my primary school teacher that suggested to my parents they got me singing lessons as she could see I had potential, so they did. At the ago of 13, I auditioned for the Junior Guildhall School of Music and gained a place to study voice. From this point, I started to fall in love with music and singing and knew that this was something I wanted to do for the rest ofmy life.

Do you have a favourite piece of music?
This has to be Nimrod from ‘Enigma Variations’ by Elgar. There is something about this piece that gets to me everytime I hear it.

What inspires you to be creative?
I think it's always important in the music industry to keep everything fresh and continuously, to create new ideas so that you are one step ahead of everyone else. I always listen to a wide range of genres of music and by doing this, it inspires me when performing to put my own classical twist on songs that are far from the typical classical genre.

How much emphasis do you place on education?
I think education is important to ground you and give you a good chance in later life however
I think nowadays there is so much pressure on students to constantly achieve high grades that
sometimes it stops them from being ‘kids’. As long as you try the best you can at everything
put in front of you, then you should be proud and happy with the outcome no matter what
grade you get!

What message do you try to put into your work as a teacher?
Singing is meant to be enjoyable so I try to make sure that all of my lessons are fun and
exciting, whilst making sure that we still get through everything that needs to be covered. I
absolutely love singing and I want my pupils to feel the same way.

Music affects our mind, body and spirit, but yet the importance of music lessons is often underrated. With the ability to influence our behaviour, social skills like emotional intelligence, sensitivity and general achievement, music can have positive effects on many aspects of life.
 In children, music education is important as it promotes a desire to persevere and succeed, as well as having a whole range of other benefits.
Some academic evidence suggests that through involvement with music, children learn to fine-tune their listening skills and consequently their comprehension. Both skills can be applied to other academic subjects and can help students with problem solving and concentration. Music uses both sides of the brain, so any participation will enhance learning and challenge the mind.
Apart from the mental benefits, music has many positive physical effects. By playing an instrument e.g. piano, violin or drums the musician is encouraged to develop fine motor skills and excellent hand-eye coordination as well as the ability to be precise. Vocalists require a level of exertion of the diaphragm which can help vital organs to work as they should, while muscles can be strengthened too.
 
Music is flexible and versatile. It can teach people the importance of working as an individual or as part of a team, encouraging social interaction e.g. being part of a school band, choir, chamber music group etc. which is an important life skill and one which translates well to the workplace.
Those who play instruments typically dedicate time to practice and developing their creativity as well as organisational skills and perseverance. Those involved in choirs, bands and orchestras learn the importance of playing their part in a bigger project and also realise the need for time management, being reliable and switched on.
Of course not everyone is academic and music can be an outlet for many emotions including contentment, frustration, anger, joy and fulfilment. By expressing oneself through the music, a sense of self-esteem is developed and a degree of self-belief fostered, especially in those who may struggle socially or academically. Many pop artists like Adele and Beyoncé refer their solitude and frustration to be the driving engine behind their hit songs.
 
Therefore it is an obligation of parents, schools, artists and concert venues to enable an open dialog between children and different genres of music to make music a fundamental human value.

Being asked this question many times by my piano students, I've decided to write about the importance of the basics of piano playing.

Posture
First of all having the correct posture helps the player eliminating stress and tension and therefore this leads to successfully producing a continuous circle of power and flow during the practise. It also helps to develop a sensitive and controlled touch. 
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1. Your piano teacher or piano dealer can help you to choose a suitable piano bench which is worth investing money into considering the amount of hours you or your child will spend sitting on it.
2. Make sure your feet are placed stable on the ground, avoiding unstable feet as much as possible. Prevent your child's feet hanging down from the stool by putting a little foot bench in place until the student is old enough to touch the ground with both heels.
3. In order to achieve the most comfortable yet efficient position, the knees should be placed slightly under the keyboard.
4. When sitting down on the piano bench, make sure to sit on the front half of the bench. You do not need the whole bench or stool under your bottom and it's important that your main body weight should always be transferred to your feet.
5. The back should be straightened!
6. The elbows are held slightly higher than the keyboard. The distance between the elbows and the body should be at least one fist.
7. Shoulders should always be loose, never raised. Raised shoulders indicate tension, it is a common problem piano teachers generally fight against. Usually it comes from a difficulty you may experience in your piano piece. Remind yourself every few minutes to lower your shoulders again!
8. Keep your neck long and imagine your head being held from above, just like a marionette.
9. The wrist should be loose and flexible and there shouldn't be a bend in your wrist between your arm and fingers. Only a flexible wrist guarantees a relaxed, gentle touch to make a beautiful piano sound.
10. The palms should be curved similar to holding an apple. A good idea to get the right feeling for the correct posture  is to take a tennis ball with a full hand, open the fingers to let it go and to try catching it quickly from above with a strong grip. That also helps to develop a good technique for chords
11. Last but not least: Don't forget to breathe! Especially when playing a challenging piece and being focused. Always remember to take a deep breath to let the oxygen flow in your body and fuel it up with new energy.

I hope this article is useful for our piano and keyboard students but whatever you play, drums, guitar, violin, cello, flute or any other musical instrument, relaxation and good breathing techniques are the key to develop a better performance. 

Successful practise comes down to more than just the actual practise session. Patience and determination are other key-qualities you should work on to make the most out of your practise.
 
Here are four steps on how to achieve your practise-goals:
 
1.  Warm up
 
As simple as it may seem, warming up is a vital component of a productive practise session, and one that is too often skipped once an intermediate level of playing is achieved.
All serious and professional athletes take the time to warm up before working out, and the same should apply to musicians. You're working your muscles and tendons on a much smaller scale; the muscles in your fingers, hands, and wrists are all getting heavy use. Without stretching them out and getting them prepared, you risk performance injury, which can affect your ability to play. In the worst-case scenario, common performance injuries such as tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome can force you to stop playing completely. Therefore, before rushing through your Chopin etude, consider investing some time into scales, arpeggios and Hanon exercises upfront.
Pick an exercise, a scale, or anything that really gets your fingers moving. Your teacher or local music shop can advise you on must-have warm-up literature. The key is to start slow. Just because you can play your scales in allegro straight away, it doesn’t mean you should. Another good idea is to warm up to a click, especially before going on stage or doing a studio recording. The monotonous click calms down your nerves and allows you to focus on the performance. Also, if you are limited in time, start with the least technically challenging piece to allow the muscles to ‘wake up’.
 
2. Take short and long breaks
 
The importance of taking breaks is as important as the playing time itself, especially if you're practicing for extended periods. Even with a solid warm up, take ten minutes to just relax after playing for an hour. This will give your body and mind time to recover from any fatigue and actually allow you to practice longer. Use this break as an opportunity to air the room, change your sitting position, have a drink, stretch your back and arms, rest or close your eyes …
If you practise every day, it’s also a good idea to have one day a week as your designated "break day." Don’t play at all on this day. The same concept applies here as with the shorter breaks during practise sessions: you are allowing your body to recover from all of the stress that has accumulated over the course of the week’s practising. In my experience, this has allowed me to practise in a more focused way. I often set weekly goals, which are concluded with a break (where I make new goals or edit current ones).
 
3. Record yourself
 
Another concept that is far from new, yet often forgotten, is listening to a playback of yourself. If you don’t already, record some of your practise sessions with your phone. Recording yourself essentially allows you to be your own private instructor, and with the affordable and easier-than-ever technology available, there is no excuse. As one of my old college professors once told me, "The tape doesn't lie." Your recordings often reveal ugly truths, as all of the small playing errors are right in your face. This is a good thing, however, since it allows you to identify problems in your playing that are difficult to hear otherwise.  
This is an absolute necessity for anybody with aspirations of making a career as a studio musician. Recording is much different than playing live, and it's essential that you have some recording experience to get used to how it feels prior to taking professional gigs.
 
4. Apply your practise

This is probably the most important part of practising. 
It doesn't matter how much music theory you have memorised or how many fancy scales you can play if you can’t apply it to the real performance.
 
Set yourself a long-term goal, apply for an audition or sign up for the annual school recital, a summer masterclass or competition. Applying your practise means getting out there and playing with and for other people. It’s all nice and good practising on your instrument at home but once in a concert environment, your perception and capability to think change rapidly when your nerves kick in. On these occasions you also will get immediate feedback and can even pick up some new ones from the other players.

 
   John, you started playing piano aged four and went to study piano and composition at the Royal College of Music in London. Did teaching piano when you left college contribute to your career as a music producer today? 
 
Yes, I believe it did as you learn how to challenge your students and bring the best out of them musically. The same skill-set is required for producing artists. The challenge of producing artists is that you have to contain your own musical ego and put it to one side so that artists feel they are comfortable working with you and develop trust whilst getting great results.
 

​You produce both classical music and various types of classical crossover music for TV and big sport events, even dipping into EDM (electronic dance music), which is quite impressive. From a production standpoint, what do those have in common? 
 
Whilst it might not seem that there are similarities between classical and EDM genres, working on Laura Wright’s Sound of Strength’ album in 2014 with other EDM producers proved that you can tastefully put those two together.
 
 
You are also a classically trained composer. Do you remember the first piece of music you ever created? 

I don’t particularly remember my first piece but I do remember spending lots of time listening to the piano works of Rachmaninoff and Chopin trying to imitate their style and technique and create my own compositions based on them.
 
 
When we look on of these different styles of music you’ve made over the last 13 years, are we seeing an evolution in your production, or are you just make whatever music suits your mood at the time? 
 
As a producer I produce and arrange the majority of the time to the spec of the artist or label. In my profession you always evolve from one project to the next and you never stop learning. As far as mood goes, you can’t produce according to what your mood dictates. You have to pull all the tools out of the bag and get on with the job but I guess it’s the same with any profession.
 
 
Can you describe, briefly, how you work on a new musical project, what are the creative steps from an idea to a finished song?
 
Nowadays we are very lucky that we can produce great sounding demos with fantastic sample libraries and sequencers. This is where I start the creative process of any project. To create the right demo is the most important part of the whole recording process as it gives clarity and direction towards the end product. In a lot of cases the demo is the finished song and then you go on to replace sampled with real instruments or combine samples with real instruments.
 
 
Do you have advice for young people who want to become music producers?
 
Be inspired but don’t compare yourself to others, get obsessed and put in the ten thousand hours. Develop a great understanding of harmony and learn how to construct great and enduring melodies because mostly people forget production but they don’t forget a great melody.
 
If you had to do it all over again, would you still choose this career?
 
Yes, I’m very lucky to be doing what I’m doing. Many people who aren’t musicians always show interest in what being a musician is regardless of how successful they are. But it is hard to forge a great living out of the industry unless you are totally dedicated and obsessed with breaking down doors!