Benefits of Making Music With Your Family: Especially During Quarantine
The global pandemic has forced thousands of people to lessen their time outside of their homes. This has encouraged families to look into different types of activities that they can do from home. In line with this, Rolling Stone's piece on instrument sales during quarantine details that a surge in music gear sales and downloads for free music software Garageband has surged due to quarantine.
Now, if you've been undecided on whether or not making music with your family is something you should consider doing then this is the article for you.
Aside from it being an overall fun activity, making music with your family also brings other benefits as well. If you want to learn more about this process, read on for a quick discussion on why recording an album or some songs with your family could prove quite beneficial.
Benefits of Making Music With Your Family:
Bonding Opportunity
First of all, making music with your family is a great opportunity to bond. Even if you have children that are too young to participate, they can still reap the benefits of the music that you'll be making. The New York Times' article on lullabies and bonding highlights how babies' sense of hearing is the most important sense they'll give for the first two years. This is why singing to your children is one of the most effective ways to form a connection early on.
Cognitive Development
Aside from being a fun activity, playing and learning how to play instruments has quite a few cognitive benefits as well. An article published on INC. highlights that science has shown that musical training can change the brain's structure in a way that promotes long-term brain development. Mileage will obviously vary depending on how involved your children will be with the entire music-making process but this is something you may want to keep in mind when considering trying out musical activities with your family.
Importance of Creativity
Lastly, the importance of creativity when it comes to you child's development cannot be understated. A study conducted by researchers from UC Berkley detail that nurturing your child's creativity could help them with problem-solving, emotional intelligence, and social intelligence down the line.
What You'll Need to Record:
Audio Interface
To put it simply, your audio interface will be what sends your recording into your computer. All you have to do is connect a microphone into it to convert the sounds into digital form. Most audio interfaces come with features that let you monitor the metering and levels of your recordings to ensure that they're optimal for the music that you're trying to make. The Focusrite Scarlett is a good place to start as it is budget-friendly and is compatible with 3rd party digital audio workstations (more on this later).
Microphone
The next thing you'll need is a microphone to record instruments on. We understand that not everyone is familiar with music gear. Which is why it's important to look for a mic that's simple to set up and use. Shout4Music’s review of The Audio-Technica ATR2500 outlines how this particular type is a plug and play mic making it easy to handle and record with. Not to mention it has the range and flexibility to record a multitude of live instruments that may be used for the songs. If you're only going to be recording one song rather than an entire album, your phone or computer's built-in microphone may be the way to go. However, if you're going to be recording extensively, a decent microphone is pretty much a necessity.
Digital Audio Workstation
Lastly, a digital audio workstation (DAW) can make up for any live instruments you lack. It can even add effects and samples to any of your tracks. When it comes to DAWs you'll one want one that's intuitive and easy to use. If you're using macOS, Garageband is a great free option as it comes with many instruments and effects that'll be useful for any song you'll be trying to record.
If you enjoyed this article, you might want to check out our other article on the 11 Music Activities to Do With Your Family During Corona Virus Shut Down for additional things to try out!
Exclusively written for mewsicmoves.com
By: Leila Alayna
Mewsic Moves is also offering telemusictherapy sessions during this time for those that need additional mental health support in dealing with anxiety and depression or also those that want to continue individual music therapy sessions but are practicing social distancing.
For more information please reach out to us:
email: john@mewsicmoves.com
phone: (818) 877-6797