Does it matter? I think kids love music…it is incredible how much they can learn singing, dancing and moving their bodies with music.
When my baby was on my belly I used to play classical music every morning, and afternoon every single day, now she is 14 months and she loves classical music, but she loves also salsa, when I play for her classical she goes to sleep(no kidding) but when I play salsa she dances and smiles.
What about you?
My son loves any music he hears, whether it be a tv jingle or something on the radio. I play a lot of classical music for him. We listen to it in the car and sometimes at home, but I also play some kids music at home.
I think you should play both. Classical music is great for background music or relaxation. Salsa would be great when you want to get up and move. I think any music is great for a child as long as it isn’t too crazy or has bad lyrics.
Music is for enhancing our lives. Stimulating our brains is a nice by-product, but it’s not the main reason for listening.
Classical music has a huge variety of sound qualities, from the strings to the winds to the horns to the percussion. It has melody, harmony, and counterpoint. It can be soothing or rousing or disturbing.
Salsa has complexity of rhythm and makes us want to dance. It has it’s own history and culture.
My son likes classical (Fantasia music, Mommy) sometimes, but it doesn’t get him excited. He likes his KinderMusic CD’s, flammenco guitar, 70’s disco, and the Blu Man Group.
I usually use classical music as a background sound when we play etc. I use Africa songs and classical ballet music when we move and dance together. I think both are good to my baby.
I play fast music when my son is playing.N play classical music when he is feeling sleepy.coz it is soothing n helps in relaxing. 
I agree we should expose our children to all types of music.
However, I do think classical music does have a special quality to it - it’s just very intricate in ways that no other types of music can be, especially if you’re talking about an orchestral piece played by an an entire orchestra.
I personally enjoy many different types of music, but certain classical pieces just hits me like no other music genre can. This is especially the case with piano concertos. I truly feel like my brain is extra stimulated!
I wonder if the R & B that I expose my child to is damaging? 
You guys are overdoing it.
What?
What do you mean with overdoing it??
Maybe she doesn’t like R & B!
Just creating ruckus…but when I read such forums, it makes me wonder, about those parents who religiously expose their infants to certain types of music and incorporate it into their daily schedules. For example, classical music. Yes, it may be soothing or it may just be background noise to them. Did you guys grow up listening to this music? Did you as adults incorporate it into your daily lives before you had kids? If yes, then I can understand that you’d want to expose your children to it, but if not, then what the heck??? I didn’t listen to classical growing up, and I’m fine…or maybe not knowing Beethoven is seriously hindering me emotionally and intellectually…
I think for brain estimulation probably classical is best, but we definetly need variety in our lives and music is not the exception. It would always depend on the activity you are in at that moment and you mood.
I just know that I’m not going to expose my children to country! j/k
You are tooo funny! lol
I might make people mad!
I actually agree with Aiysha in a way. We get in our “I want to do everything possible to help my baby” mode, and launch ourselves into whatever is fashionably thought to be helpful and educational. And later studies show that it really isn’t as educational as it we thought. And then another study shows that maybe it is educational. It’s all pretty soft science–always being proven and disproven.
I grew up with classical music. Chinese born parents were hypereducating their first generation offspring long before it became fashionable among the non-Chinese. I don’t know that they especially liked it themselves, but they certainly played it for us.
I have more than an average appreciation for classical music. I play classical piano, or once did, proficiently enough to study at the conservatory at my school as an undergraduate. My son listens to classical music to the extent that I listen to it at home, which is not every day, even though it’s my preferred music style.
However, I also really value silence. Background noise is not always a good thing, either. People criticize having the TV on in the background because it interferes with word discrimination and language development. Well, having background music also interferes with hearing speech to some degree.
People always talk about classical music as background music. I think that the more you are familiar with it, the less likely to fade into the background it is. If it is a piano concerto that I have actually played myself, it is actually more distracting to me than carrying on a conversation. I can feel my fingers playing it and my mind shaping the melody. It’s only background music if you can tune it out, and then, what’s the point?
So I play classical music when I want to hear it. Not because I think it is going to make my son smarter. And if I feel like silence, then–well, my son is three. We don’t get silence, really, but we don’t need any more to add to the cacophony either, even if it was written by geniuses.
Play what you enjoy. Teach your child to enjoy. Don’t sweat it so much.
yes let’s do it having fun!
Here are my very serious thoughts on the points raised:
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No country music for my daughter too… lol
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Though that was said in jest, it brings up a good point that has already been mentioned, namely, it’s important that everyone enjoys it. As a parent, our moods are very influential (and thus important) for our children, so it’s very important we feel good in what we’re doing.
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Hypereducating / hothousing - We agree that many parents do sometimes get overzealous and go overboard, and this is a good time to remind ourselves not to do so. Remember the cardinal rule - keep it fun! Specifically on this topic of music choice - yes, do not overdo it and ‘create a ruckus’. Everything should be in moderation. Silence is also important!
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The “we were never taught X at that age, but we turned out fine” argument - What I’m about to say is not directed at Aiysha in particular, but something I’d like to comment about in general as I’ve heard this line of argument mentioned several times by people who are against early learning. This argument just doesn’t compute for me insofar as it is supposed to be a reason for not doing something (whether it is exposing our children to a variety of music, or to the entire concept of early learning).
For me, just because something wasn’t done in a previous generation should never IN ITSELF be a reason for us not to do something. If that were the case, I believe there would be very limited progress through the generations.
Of course we turn out just ‘fine’. We all do. Every single generation turns out ‘fine’. Yet look at how much has changed through the generations, and how much progress has been made by society. And that’s because we have embraced new (and often better) ways of doing things. Many old school teachers would say that each generation seems to be getting brighter and brighter, and I’m not surprised if this were really true.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that all new things and all changes are beneficial, but only saying that just because something was not done during an earlier generation (like when WE were kids) is not in itself a good reason not to do that thing, and we should mentally open ourselves to things that are ‘not the norm’ if we are to have progress.
I think we all try to enrich our kids’ lives… Sometimes something we didn’t do as kids just adds an extra flavor we missed out on… I grew up without music and it’s difficult for me to remember to enrich my kids’ lives through it, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try, does it? I wasn’t shown math dots either…
Childhood is like a mirror which reflects in later life the images presented to it.