The Rhythm of Life

It's hard to believe another week has passed in my abroad adventures. Throughout my time, I have enjoyed biking, exploring, and eating my way through Germany! At the end of this week, we will be taking off from our apartments in Heidelberg and venturing our separate ways to clinical sites (only for a week, thank goodness, I'm not ready to say goodbye to everyone yet!) I have enjoyed biking to our classes at SRH Hochschule Heidelberg, and learning in the incredible music therapy facility they have. One topic that was of particular interest to me this week in our Psychology of Music class is the Acquisition of Music. Ever since I took a Music & Development course at my university, I have been fascinated by the concept of music prenatally and during infancy. While in utero, the fetus is soothed and oriented by the rhythmic sounds of its mother's heartbeat and voice. These prenatal auditory experiences provide enriching sound environments, stimulating nerve cell, auditory structure, and CNS growth. After birth, infants have specific predispositions to music, including pitch and rhythm discrimination, and preference for it's mother's voice. Even before birth, music is a part of life. We are exposed to the sounds of the world around us, impacting our lives greatly everyday. Without prenatal auditory stimulation, the fetus risks reduced localization and discrimination skills. Infant-directed speech/singing is a useful tool that can facilitate secure attachment, modify an infant's state of being, and can provide information for auditory pattern structure. At a crucial point of growth, it is important that a baby is experiencing sensory stimulation, ensuring neuronal structure and development. Throughout a person's life, music has influence: physiologically, emotionally, psychologically. From the top 40 hit you jam out to with friends or the simple rhythms of a beating heart, music can imprint a person forever.