Opening chords

Almost every parent spends time with their pre-school children, reading and counting to foster an understanding of language and numbers. As a result, by the time they begin school formally at age four they are often competent speakers, understand letters and can count. A window of opportunity is presented by the very young child’s undeveloped mind and what it is exposed to at that stage can have a real impact on future learning.

But is the same true of music? Can a lifelong understanding of the building blocks of music be begun in such young children, and if so, what is the best way? We often hear of unborn babies being exposed to classical music in the womb, but is there a more general approach?

‘Children develop more in their first seven years than at any other time in their life,’ says Rebecca Allen, head of pre-prep at Wells Cathedral School in Somerset. ‘Their brain is mostly developed by the