The Royal Conservatory of Music’s recent
Music and the Mind: A Smart Start to Early Childhood Education symposium brought together leading voices in neuroscience, education and the arts to explore the role of music in early childhood development.
Among the panelists, Raffi, the beloved children’s musician, reflected on how music starts at birth. “The first instrument the child is hearing is a parental, loving, caring voice,” he said. “That feeling of being loved for who I am, being safe in my mama's and papa's arms, that feeling, that's the first music,” he said.
The symposium marked the global launch of the RCM Smart Start program, and each panelist reflected on the best time for children to start taking music lessons. For Raffi, the early years are pivotal, they can either build a lifetime of possibility through nurturing experiences or limit it through neglect.
“It excites me that we're here talking about what the very young need, what they deserve from the very beginning, which is the musicality of our hearts, of our loving hearts, and our respect for the dignity of every single newborn.”
Raffi
Music and early connection
At the Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring, the philosophy of child honouring emphasizes the primacy of early years, grounded in principles such as respectful love, diversity, caring community and nonviolence — all affirming every child’s dignity and right to thrive.
In his nearly fifty years of writing music for children, Raffi has instilled this philosophy in his work. He believes that children start learning music from birth, by learning the language spoken at home naturally.
“We are wonders when we are young. This is why it behooves it to be said that it's the early years that make us who we are. Our emotional tone of being is set in the early years. And how wonderful that music can play an incredibly positive part in that self-affirmation, that beautiful start to life”
Raffi
This is how the RCM Smart Start program was born, by combining age-appropriate, play-based materials to foster musical, cognitive and social-emotional growth, and nurture creativity and focus with a combination of the science of learning and the art of music.
Raffi’s philosophy of child honouring places respect for children at the centre of both teaching and art. He believes that teaching music to young children should be built on encouragement and respect rather than pressure. “Teaching music to young kids should be an experience that gives them a feeling of encouragement… a stress-free, as much as possible, experience."
A legacy that continues to inspire
Half a century after his first children’s album, Raffi’s message remains clear and consistent. “It’s a wonderful feeling for me in my elderhood… to know that there’s something of value in my music that hopefully will long outlast me.”
Audience remarks underlined the reach of his work. Elementary music teacher Lorie Wolf noted that she uses Raffi’s songs all the time in her classroom. "There are so many ways you can take a Raffi song and be very creative with it in the classroom"
Leslie Church, Member of Parliament for Toronto-St. Paul’s, also attended the symposium and embraced the nostalgia. “He’s made such an incredible contribution to children’s music right across Canada.”
“Between ‘Down by the Bay’ and certainly ‘Baby Beluga’, these were daily staples in our bedtime routine for years and our kids love his music"
Leslie Church
Member of Parliament for Toronto–St. Paul’s
As RCM Smart Start prepares to launch globally, it echoes the same philosophy that has always inspired Raffi’s work, a belief in music’s power to nurture minds, touch hearts and bring people together from the very start.