Turn OFF the music!

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Playing recorded music as part of your daily routine is a great way to introduce your child to a variety of musical genres as well as to help your child learn to use music in her life.  A children’s music CD can turn a traffic jam into a sing-a-long and a lullaby CD helps everyone relax at bedtime.  However, be sure your child has a chance to use and hear her own voice, too, by having times in the home or car when music or television is not playing and you are quiet, too!  It is during these “quiet” moments that your child’s brain has a chance to process auditory stimulation and respond with her own vocalizations.  Don’t be surprised to hear your child humming a known tune or making up a new song, words and all, while he colors at the table, plays in the bathtub, or while he’s supposed to be napping.  Go ahead and make a recording of your little one’s serenades - a delight to your child now and a precious keepsake for years to come.

Music as a Tool for Many Areas of Development

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As a teacher I have a metaphorical “tool box” I carry to which I add techniques, tips, tricks, toys, and tunes!  As a parent, I have a tool box, too – I’m always looking for ways to help my children learn and grow and enjoy life.

In addition to music being an important and wonderful part of life on its own, music can also serve as a tool for learning.  Perhaps you can think of songs learned long ago that helped you internalize facts (such as the “Fifty Nifty United States” song), values, or emotions.  Moving to music activates areas all over the brain and provides opportunities for children to develop various movement skills.  Learning music that expressed various emotions allows children to experiment with emotional ideas and encounter the way others have expressed themselves.  Music can also help bring people together, for in the act of making music together we listen to one another and work together for a beautiful whole.

The so-called “Mozart Effect” and other research reported in the media focuses on the idea that “music makes you smarter,” but the body of research is not yet conclusive on whether listening to music, playing in high school band, etc actually improves academic achievement.  Researchers have found, however, that music changes the brain.  And people all over the world will tell you that music is powerful.  Some music researchers I know like to say “Yes, music makes you smarter – smarter in music!”

As you encourage your child’s development in many areas, consider how music might be a great learning tool for your child.  And keep in mind that active music making is key!

Dance, Baby!

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Young children love to dance! Putting on some fun music and moving & grooving together is a great way to encourage physical activity, expose your child to a variety of musical styles, foster development of gross- and fine motor movement skills, and enrich relationships!

Here are a few ideas for “mixing up” a dance party:

• Play a “Move & Freeze” game: When the music is playing, dance; when the music pauses (a remote control is helpful here), freeze. This helps teach body control and response to sound.
• Let the elbow lead: …or the knee, or the head - choose a body part to lead the dance movements; this helps teach body part names, body awareness, and coordination.
• Paint the floor: “Continuous fluid movement” is a basic movement that is foundational to dance as well as music performance. Encouraging your child to move with “flow”, by painting the floor (wall, ceiling, your legs, etc) and moving with smooth, circular motions will help her learn to feel the space between the beats of music and move without tension.
• Move those hips: The hips are central to the body, and being able to move the hips with continuous fluid movement (as described above) is key. You may feel self-conscious, but your child won’t!

Helping your child move comfortably and confidently to music will be fun as well as support multiple areas of development! For more great ideas check out Music Play: The Early Childhood Music Curriculum Guide for Parents Teachers & Caregivers (Valerio, Reynolds, Bolton, Taggart & Gordon, GIA Publications).

Music Babble

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Think about how your child learns language – by hearing you speak every day, by trying out sounds, and having you respond with delight to their coos and babbling.  Ideally, children learn music in much the same way they learn language: through immersion in a rich environment with opportunities to develop listening, singing, and moving vocabularies.  You’ll notice your child’s early vocalizations are song-like and their movements contain many rhythmic elements.  Music educators recognize the importance of encouraging children’s “musical babble” in much the same way we encourage their language babble: an opportunity to play with sounds (pitches and rhythms) as they experience them.

Children gradually move from absorbing sounds, to playing with sounds through babble, and eventually to imitating musical patterns and phrases. You can encourage your child’s musical development by

·      Singing songs to him

·      Echoing his vocalizations with attention to pitch and rhythm (lip bubbles, coos, “yabba-dabba” and “ba-ba-ba-ba” type patterns),

·      Having “conversations” of back-and-forth musical babble.

Not only will you be having fun together, this will help facilitate your child’s musical development and could support other areas of cognitive development as well.

For more information about musical babble, including a CD with examples of songs and chants for young children, see Music Play: The Early Childhood Music Curriculum Guide for Parents Teachers & Caregivers (Valerio, Reynolds, Bolton, Taggart & Gordon, GIA Publications).

Music Play Teaching Methodology

The teaching methodology used in Music & Movement classes is based on research and teaching of Dr. Edwin E. Gordon and his students Dr. Alison M. Reynolds, Dr. Beth H. Bolton, Dr. Cynthia C. Taggart, and Dr. Wendy H. Valerio. Gordon has spent his professional career investigating the idea of "audiation," or thinking in sound. Audiating music is like thinking language. If you sing "Happy Birthday" in your head, you're audiating. Gordon theorized that guiding persons to audiate music of greater and greater complexity is the goal of music education; being able to audiate supports the ability to perform, understand, improvise, and compose music. Gordon developed a Music Learning Theory to describe the musical learning processes of infants and toddlers through children and adults; he and his students also developed curricula to guide and support this process.

Gordon's A Music Learning Theory for Newborn and Young Children (2003, GIA Publications) identifies and explains the following seven stages of preparatory audiation in young children:

1. Absorption (Child is absorbing musical material)
2. Random Response (Child responds to music; responses are not directly related to musical material presented)
3. Purposeful Response (Child responds to music in a related way; responses are not direct imitations)
4. Shedding Egocentricity (Child realizes his/her responses are not direct imitations; may show a funny look of recognition on his/her face)
5. Breaking the Code (Child imitates with some accuracy; responses are not preceded by a preparatory breath and do not indicate full understanding of tonal/rhythmic context)
6. Introspection (Child realizes his/her imitations do not include the preparatory breath or coordinate fully with movement)
7. Coordination (Child imitates accurately with a preparatory breath; there is evidence of understanding of the tonal/rhythmic context)

A more in-depth explanation of these stages can be found at http://www.giml.org/mlt_earlychildhood.php or in Gordon's books. These sources also show the typical age range for each stage. It is important to note that the goal is not to progress as quickly from one stage to the next as possible. Rather, we seek to nurture children in each stage along the way. There's no hurry!