As a new faculty member at Iowa State University in the ‘80s, Sister Lorna Zemke was an important influence for me. Sister taught at Silver Lake College and was a pioneer in prenatal music development. I was fascinated by her program, which involved singing to babies in utero. She observed that newborns recognized their parents’… Read more »
Posts By: Lyn Ransom
Singing Development in Infancy
In a previous entry, Dr. Ransom shared how she uses music to have beautiful days with her grandson. Now she’s back with some ideas for how you might decipher and support the musical sounds that your baby makes every day. What is vocal development for an infant? What does vocal development look like? We all… Read more »
Jackson, the Music Maker
My children, now 25 and 29, had music around them growing up. I sang and played guitar and their father played his favorite ’60s songs on the piano. We had a music area in their playroom and they played ukulele, drums, and shakers with us whenever. My son’s son, Jackson, now over a year old,… Read more »
Jackson’s Song, or the Left-handed Lullaby
Four months ago, I became a grandmother and I was so thrilled that I offered to babysit Jackson Daniel one day a week. The first day, I got up early, drove an hour, and felt a little uneasy, but happy. It all went well until around 2:00; he still hadn’t fallen asleep and now he… Read more »