Joan Koenig | THE MUSICAL CHILD

THE ZOE PAGNAMENTA AGENCY | Non-Fiction

A pioneering music educator reveals how making and enjoying music can supercharge childhood development—and how parents and educators can harness this power to nurture children’s intellects, emotional health, social skills, creativity, and more.

You have probably heard of the “Mozart Effect”—essentially, the idea that listening to classical music can make people, especially kids, smarter.  While the research behind that claim (and the cottage industry it spawned) was all based on bad science, there is now clear evidence that music actually does help children develop intellectually.  It also fosters their social, emotional, and creative growth in ways we are only beginning to comprehend.  But not all music has this effect, nor are all ways of experiencing music equally beneficial.  In this uplifting book, music educator Joan Koenig will draw on the latest scientific research and on her experience in and out of her Parisian classroom to show how music can turn children into better people—and how, in the process, they can become extraordinary musicians themselves.