While experts are divided on whether or not listening to classical music actually makes babies and children smarter, here are five reasons why your kids (and you) should be listening to it anyway.

1. It’s exciting!

Articles about the childhood benefits of classical music often emphasize its soothing qualities, but that’s just one small part of what classical music is. Classical music can be anything you want it to be if you know where to look, from joyful to heartbreaking to calming and even inspiring. In fact, one of the main goals of classical music has always been to express and evoke intense emotions! This can help to further a child’s emotional development.

2. It’s social.

Even if you’re stuck at home, watching or listening to classical music can be a group activity. You and your kids can watch performances and talk about what you see and hear. You can have a dance party in your living room to some classical music with a great beat! Or you could even put on classical music in the background while you play with your baby or do some other activities with your kids. There are endless possibilities for interaction involving classical music.

3. It’s educational.

Classical music brings a lot to the table in terms of education. You and your kids could learn about instruments and the different sounds they make. Or maybe you are more interested in history: there are hundreds of years of sounds and stories to discover. Exploring classical music might even inspire your child to learn an instrument, which comes with endless developmental benefits including enhanced memory, better coordination, and stronger complex reasoning skills.

4. It’s something new.

New experiences help babies and children (and everyone else) learn about the world around them. This furthers their cognitive and emotional development and makes their lives richer, even from an early age. And even if you’ve listened to some classical music in the past, you can never run out of new pieces and styles. There are endless exciting classical music experiences awaiting you!

5. It’s budget-friendly.

While live concerts are the ideal way to experience classical music and support classical musicians, it is easy to begin exploring and enjoying classical music from your own home. Hundreds of thousands of hours worth of pre-recorded performances and albums can be found on YouTube, and even more-obscure composers and pieces are often on Spotify, iTunes, or other online music services. High-definition performance recordings can also be visually captivating so finding the perfect piece to turn a bored child into an occupied one is often just a (free) click away!

Classical music has so much to offer on so many different levels. I enjoy classical music (as a performer and a listener) because I find it both engaging and enriching: it makes my life happier and more interesting. I also like sharing classical music with my one-year-old for these same reasons. He has a great time listening and learning!

Here are three musical works from my specialty, Baroque music (What’s “Baroque music”? Find out here.), to get you started.

1. “Dopo lungo penare” by Luigi Rossi

Find out more about Luigi Rossi and this piece here.

2. Concerto for Two Violins in a minor, Op.3, No.8, RV 522: III. Allegro by Antonio Vivaldi

Find out more about Antonio Vivaldi and this piece here.

3. Cantata “Wir danken dir…”, BWV 29: First Movement by Johann Sebastian Bach

The first movement ends at about 3:50, so you can stop the video there or keep listening if you want to hear more!

Find out more about Johann Sebastian Bach and this piece here.

If you want to learn more about the instruments you see in these videos, check out our Guide to Baroque Instruments.