Music education greatly benefits kids. This is why Little Kids Rock and HARMAN International Industries Inc. have teamed up to form Jam Zone, a new web-based project that offers music lessons to children.
Little Kids Rock has been operating since 2002 and has helped more than 400,000 underserved schoolchildren across the United States, especially those who don't have music education classes anymore. The group provides modern band music classes (rock, pop, blues, hip-hop, country, reggae, and R&B), offers music trainings and hands out free and brand new instruments to students and teachers in numerous school districts so they can continue pursuing music education.
Little Kids Rock and HARMAN developed Jam Zone as an online destination that ensures music learning is free, fun and easy. Some kids get intimidated when it comes to learning how to play an instrument so they shy away from it. Jam Zone targets this particular issue by making the website's design mobile-friendly and the lessons easy to comprehend and follow, according to a press release from HARMAN.
David Wish, the founder and CEO of Little Kids Rock, said that the world of music continues to evolve -- thanks in part to the ever-evolving technology. So it's natural for music education to follow through.
"Over the past 50 years, technology has radically changed every element of music making. The way music is being learned, created, distributed, consumed and shared is changing at lightning speed," Wish continued, as quoted in Harman's press release.
It is easy to find song charts and lessons for specific instruments through Jam Zone. The website has more than 200 video lessons and jam-alongs with guided step-by-step instructions about playing instruments such as guitars, drums, keyboards, bass, ukulele, vocals and more.
Jam Zone users can also check out user-friendly tips and techniques on how to write and produce a song. With this, children, parents, teachers and others can make and compose music anywhere.
The benefits of music education go beyond learning how to read music notes and playing instruments. Mary Luehrisen, executive director of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), said that learning music serves as a child's gateway for more formal lessons and enhances kids' skills, according to PBS Parents. A pastime or activity that revolves around music is also a stimulating and integrating experience.
Music education is beneficial to a child's language development and increases their IQ. It also helps improve test scores, develops spatial-temporal reasoning, and encourages the brain to work harder and have a bigger growth of neural activity.
