Anfänge des Musiklernens

How to make music available to small children is one of the most hotly debated topics in current discussions on education. Do all children or only the musically gifted benefit from being encouraged to learn music? When can or should musical education begin? How do children actually learn, and what is innate in them? In this book the basics of general educational theory and developmentally conditioned processes are presented in the context of findings from brain research. The book is intended for anyone with a personal or professional interest in musical education: music teachers and parents, instructors and students, policy makers in education and culture. The intention is to offer professional expertise in musical education but also to stimulate new ideas about learning, making and teaching music. Contents include: - The role of music in human development - In the beginning was the ear - The competent infant: what babies can already do - Singing and speaking: how children discover language and music - Learning music like a language - Neurobiological foundations of learning music - The development of musical thinking - Early musical education - Starting to learn a first instrument The author: Wilfried Gruhn is Emeritus Professor of Music Education at the Academy of Music in Freiburg. He was founder and long-time leader of the project “Children’s Worlds of Learning Music” and his research interests include neurobiological and cognitive-psychological aspects of learning music. He has written many works on music education and the study of learning.