Education Week – Jennifer Paterson
“If you think about it, the spoken word has a sort of musicality to it. The way we enunciate, our voice inflection, our word choices, and even the volume and speed at which we speak all have a musical effect. In the scholarly paper “Music and Early Language Acquisition,” researchers sought to prove that in order to speak, people must first have an understanding of music. The authors argue that spoken language should be described as “a special type of music.” By these standards, music is not a superfluous part of life at all; it is necessary to all communication between humans. The researchers go on to point out that our brains process language musically, so there is much to be said of studying music alongside language, and at a very young age.”(more)