The Covid-19 pandemic had a tremendous effect on the world’s youngest in terms of self-esteem, mental health, and socialization. Conversing over the internet became a new standard while handshakes, hugs, and typical modes of interaction became little more than memories for kids attending school online.
On the upside, parents had more time to spend with their children; this can’t compensate for the lack of social interactions with their friends, teachers, neighbors, and other people.
Many found respite in music, escaping the problems the world hasn’t encountered in centuries. For the children, music was not just an escape; learning how to play an instrument was proved to be one of the most effective means of self-care, maintaining the level of normalcy and preserving the child’s mental health and social skills.
Returning to In-Person Lessons in the Age of the Internet
While remote working isn’t new, it became increasingly popular in pandemic times, and that has also affected music teachers. Those that would either teach students from their home or in a designated facility have now taken to the internet, just like the rest of the world.
As soon as the lockdowns and curfews were lifted, most music teachers were eager to begin teaching their students in person again. The transition period may be hard, but experts are confident that the return of in-person lessons will help children re-socialize and return to their pre-pandemic selves. Today we’ll discuss why this is believed to be so:
Music Lessons Build Cognitive Abilities
According to a recent study, in-person music lessons have proved to be an efficient method of coping with the situations set by the Covid-19 pandemic. Research has shown that children that attend music lessons whether by themselves or in groups exhibited substantial improvements in their cognitive skills.
This is especially important for children attending kindergarten and pre-school, who were forced to stay at home right in the middle of the process of learning fundamental communication skills.
In-person music lessons are designed to help children of all ages form new friendships, enjoy a new hobby, and learn how to communicate with a different kind of voice – music.
By learning how to play an instrument, the children will have an opportunity to speak directly from the soul. The teachers overseeing the lessons are not there to just review the abilities and progress of their students; one of their roles is to help the children grow in every other aspect by reinforcing their self-esteem, engaging them in conversation, and lending an ear whenever they wanted to lift something off their shoulders.
Music Lessons as Safe Spaces
Mental health and the social life of a child are in a very tight relationship. Thousands of children have suffered mild cases of anxiety and depression after being deprived of the means to communicate with their classmates and neighbors, and consequentially, their needs for socialization suffered even when the lockdowns were lifted.
Many parents still don’t allow their children to go to school, fearing that large groups of students are more likely to experience a Covid-19 outbreak again. On the other hand, in countries where the Covid situation hasn’t been as dire, many children perceive their classmates and teachers as strangers after months of not communicating with them.
In-person music lessons are safe spaces, both literally and metaphorically. In terms of the former, a music teacher interacts with an individual child or forms a small group of students, minimizing the risk of exposure. While in a small group, following Covid regulations is much easier and negates the risk of spreading the virus.
In terms of the latter, children will get to meet and learn more about their new classmates and teachers through music. With each played melody, the kids will have a new channel for communication, expressing their feelings in a way they could not before.
Music Teachers as Pedagogues
The severity of Covid’s impact on the social skills of both children and adults varies from person to person. Some have lost the need to communicate with others, embracing video games, TV shows, and other forms of digital pleasures while the majority of people still yearn for human touch, smell, and voice.
Digital communication tools certainly helped the children stay in touch, but these tools have also created a false sense of intimacy; children that were best friends before the pandemic would continue to speak over the internet, only to perceive each other as strangers when they met in person again.
Given that school teachers have their hands full with following various procedures and drastically tweaked teaching plans, in-person music teachers offer a helping hand with this issue.
By teaching smaller groups or individuals in person, music teachers have an opportunity to focus on each child and address their needs, demands, and fears accurately. Although their main job is to help the children learn more about music, the role of a teacher is to guide their students through their hardships.
Speaking Through Tones
There are many children that withdrew in themselves, caving in under the pressure of the stress caused by the pandemic. With their usual lives taking such a drastic turn in mere months, and later years, some children have isolated themselves from their parents and friends.
While professional therapists may be proficient in making breakthroughs, such feats could take a tremendous amount of time. Again, music teachers came up with a solution on how to bring these kids out of their shells.
Music is one of the purest forms of non-verbal communication. By plucking the strings on a guitar, pressing the keys on a piano, or hitting the drums of a percussion set, children get to express their deepest emotions and communicate their thoughts to everyone listening.
With the in-person lessons coming back, music teachers are again able to reach the children with social anxiety and similar mental health issues caused by the pandemic. By speaking through tones and sounds, teachers can help their students learn to communicate in a new way that will ultimately help them regain self-confidence to socialize in more traditional means again.
Head over to Rock Out Loud for guitar and music lessons in the New Jersey area.
