For most young children, language unfolds naturally as part of the growth process. Maximum development comes only through careful nurturing of language opportunity by adults.

Language Development
Language development is essential in the child’s total development. Singing is an excellent aid in promoting good language patterns. Many songs contain repetitive sounds that can help children with speech problems. Pronunciation of the words helps distinguish initial, medial, and final consonant sounds. The child can more easily understand sentence structure by singing musical phrases. Young children can complement all areas of their language learning with music and can enhance their musical activities with language. Music and movement provide wonderful ways for young children to extend their language:

[When] emergent readers hear, sing, discuss, play with, and write songs, they are building important background knowledge that they will draw upon during later reading and writing experiences. With each new song, students learn concepts and word meanings that they will encounter in print. (Smith, 2000, p. 647)
Researchers have long hypothesized that music, movement, and language learning are closely connected. Butzlaff (2000) presents several possible reasons why instruction in music may help children acquire reading skills.

1. Music and written text both involve formal written notation that must be read from left to right.

2. Skill in reading requires a sensitivity to phonological distinctions and a sensitivity to tonal distinctions.

3. Learning song lyrics engages children in reading written text.

4 . M otivational agreement can be made because when children form parts of a musical group, they must learn to work together.

This instills a sense of personal responsibility, which leads to heightened academic responsibility and performance. (p. 167) Early childhood educators generally agree that there is a positive relationship between music and reading and that musical learning has positive effects on reading skills. However, the evidence that “music helps you do English and math better” could miss the main point of studying music. The study of music for its own sake is an ideal that music educators work to preserve through rich and comprehensive music education programs (Hansen & Bernstorf, 2002). Still, early childhood educators know that music, language, and reading work together. The more songs a child learns, the wider his vocabulary and more accurate his pronunciation. The better a child is at language, the more easily she will understand the words of a song and sing them with enthusiasm. In fact, songs can be one of the best vehicles for vocabulary development and language acquisition.

What if every child had access to music education from birth? | Anita Collins | TEDxCanberra