Benefits of Making Music With Your Family: Especially During Quarantine

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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

Let’s Be Social

11 Music Activities to do With Your Family During Corona Virus Shut Down

This is a challenging time for many right now as businesses and schools are closing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus. There are millions of children that are having to stay home and one of the biggest concerns for parents is …

“What do I do with my children all day?”. 

As a music therapist in the field for the past 15 years I have spent a lot of time helping families create and implement at home music programs from educational to a multitude of other therapeutic goals. As fear and worry surrounds us during this shutdown it is of utmost importance to also focus on optimum mental health. Music therapy has sown increase positive benefits over the years in multiple research studies that help reduce anxiety, depression, fear and worry. What a more important time right now to use music more than ever.

Here is a list of some of the musical activities that I suggest you share and implement with your family during this time. I highly suggest you to make it fun, make it educational and make it meaningful and memorable! These are times that children will remember most that during stress and chaos “my family came together through music and play”.

Enjoy sharing music with your family during this time!

1. Music Improvisation or Family Jam Session

Most music therapists use music improvisation (or jamming) as a way of connection, communication and helping clients redirect their energy and focus. You do NOT need to be a musician to improvise music. You can utilize instruments that you may already have at home or make it fun and creative and find objects around your home to use as instruments. For example: Pots and pans, buckets, keys, plastic containers, and much more can be fun improvisation instruments. You can also make a fun scavenger hunt for your family to see how many items they can find at home to turn into an instrument. Enjoy the creativity, sounds and rhythms you can make together as a family. Solos are also fun as well!

2. Song Play Lists

Music therapists often help clients collect songs to create various playlist to match their emotions or create memories of monumental moments. You can take some time where you and your family chooses an emotion and search for songs that they can place in each play list. Children can even do this on their own if you give them directions and access to YouTube to find songs that fit each category. Some category examples are:

• Music to motivate me

• Music that makes me happy

• Music from my favorite movie

• Music that clams me, etc.

• Music family favorites

3. Music Dance Party

Music and movement is central to our bodies and can help us regulate our emotions and allow us to release tension. When music is played our whole bodies receive the therapeutic benefits of its vibration and sound. Mewsic moves (play on words intended) us to move and dance so why not create a list of your families favorite dance songs and move together and have fun.

4. Karaoke

Singing has been known to decrease anxiety and depression as well as a powerful tool in expressing our feelings. Find some family favorites and sing along together. Youtube has a lot of karaoke sing along versions of songs that could be fun for you and your family.

5. Song Rewriting

Music therapists utilize song rewriting activities in many sessions to help clients connect to their feelings or to express themselves. Song rewriting can be made easier by taking out various words from a familiar song for your family to fill in the blanks and to make the song their own.

For example: You are my sunshine can be rewritten as:

You are my ___?___, you make me ___?___, when skies are ___?___…

6. Music to Relax and Practice Mindfulness

Photo by Jyotirmoy Gupta on Unsplash

Music can have a therapeutic impact on helping us relax, practice mindfulness, focus on positivity and allow us to let go of negative/fearful thoughts. This can be a useful tool right now to help children (and parents) to practice relaxation, medication and practice focusing on gratitude and positivity in a time of uncertainty and worry. 

You can take time to go through all your families favorite songs that help them to feel calm. I prefer to use music that has no lyrics to help focus on images or thoughts that come to mind when you sit, listen and focus on mindfulness.

7. Music and Art

Music and art is a powerful combination to help express, focus and share our thoughts and/or feelings. Music and art is also a therapeutic combination to help with expression, mindfulness and exploring creativity. You can have your children create art (such as painting, drawing or collaging) to match the music or their feelings.

8. Make Your Own Instruments

This has usually been a favorite in my sessions with the children that I work with. Make this activity fun and encourage your children to find things around the house that they can use to make their own instruments.

For example: empty prescription medication bottles can turn into a fun musical shaker if filled with rice or beans. Also, plastic containers can turn into a fun guitar or stringed instrument with elastic bands around it. Pots and pans are always a favorite with young children but not so much with parents! (I learned how to play the drums with my parents pots and pans set)

9. Music Trivia

This will take a little bit of research and time but can be a fun activity to learn more about music, lyrics and artists. For example:

• How many songs can you list that has the word HAPPY in it?

• Name 3 songs by Beyonce

• Who sang Let it go?

10. Learn a New instrument 

For those of you that may have an instrument at home this can be an ideal time to sit down and learn some of the basics of this instrument together. Youtube has many amazing videos on basic piano, guitar and ukulele strategies to name a few. I highly recommend ukulele as it is an affordable instrument as well as easier to learn than guitar, especially for younger children.

11. Educational Learning Through Music 

Many music therapist utilize music to help children learn new educational material that they may have struggles with at school. Turn math, reading and social stories to a whole new level by creating a simple melody to make learning fun and easier to learn. How did most of us learn the alphabet? We sang it!! Make learning fun through music.  For example:

• Create math song melodies to learn addition, subtraction, division, multiplication and more.

• Use rhythm and melody to help with spelling

I hope you find these 11 musical interventions helpful for you and your family during this time of being homebound and trying to fill the time. Also, please share any of your ideas or musical videos of you and your family creating music together as I’d love to see what you create together.

I welcome any additions to this list and love to share musical resources to help all families during this time. Please share in the comments below.

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

Let’s be social