Learning Through Musical Play

You've probably heard the old saying: “Variety is the spice of life.” When it comes to music, musical variety is definitely the spice of life! When you expose your children to music from around the world, you expose them to different cultures, countries, ideas, and experiences.  This is why Kindermusik uses such a wide genre of music.  Musical play also enhance child development in the following ways:

Language proficiency
Just as you read a variety of books to expand your child’s vocabulary, exposure to a wide variety of music and sounds expands your child’s “ear vocabulary.” High quality musical recordings and real instruments help your child “fine tune” her ear to recognize and imitate the sounds that make up words and language.

Spatial awareness
When a child listens to music, her mind perceives the sound in multi-dimensional ways. The sound is loud or soft, fast or slow, it moves up and down, or left to right. Eventually, she’ll use that “awareness of space” to work with her body when she walks through the living room and tries not to hit the coffee table. Much later, this same awareness is necessary skill for learning how to get around things, jump, run, and move in turning, twisting ways.

Temporal reasoning
You see this skill in action when a preschooler tells a story. He starts with his own experience and then moves to some imagined place with a princess or a superhero then goes back to something real again. Music does the same thing. It goes back and forth between established places (the chorus) and to new places that take you somewhere else (the verse). The ability to go back and forth from something established to something imagined comes from temporal reasoning, a skill used in music writing, storytelling, and problem solving.

Emotional intelligence
With exposure to a greater variety of musical styles-like jazz, folk, or classical, this increased exposure to music increases a child’s awareness, and understanding of different moods and emotions.

Cognitive skills
Research shows that music contributes to the development of a child’s ability to reason, his sense of patterning, and his memory skills.

Musical appetite
In the early years between newborn and age 7, your child is developing his musicaltaste buds as he learns to appreciate the finer things and to enjoy new musical tastes and textures. The wider the array of musical styles, the richer his “appetite” will be.

Try this at home… Your child is naturally musical. Hearing you sing and listening to recordings are like food for her musical appetite. Sing with child at least three times a day. Consider these song sessions musical breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (By the way, “lunch” can be interpreted loosely. Just plan the routine of singing together at a time that works for your schedule – when your child wakes up, in the car, doing dishes, at naptime, fixing supper, etc.!) Once you start, you will find that there is a song for everything. If you can’t remember what that song is, make one up!

The information in the post comes from Theresa Case whose Kindermusik program is located in Greenville, South Carolina.  

Young Child, Week 13

This week we reviewed all that we’ve learned through the semester focusing on remember the position of “C” on the staff, (third space up).  Please have your children use their manipulatives to make a staff and place the “C” in the right place.  Help them understand that the staff has a top and a bottom. This is a tricky idea because the five lines look the same right side up and upside down. 

We also worked on the proper technique for playing the glockenspiel. In order to ensure success playing the glockenspiel, it is very important that each child first thoroughly understand the way to hold the mallets and the way to use them to tap the glockenspiel keys. Use Music at Home 13 to review the procedures with your child.

If you can, create an opportunity for your child to play “Jingle Bells,” as part of your holiday celebration.  If they are scared to perform then give them a non-threatening opportunity, like playing the song for grandma while you’re fixing food. You don’t want to crush their musical interest by forcing them to perform.  

Dream Pillow, Week Five

Music is rich with patterns of rhythm and melody, from simple to complex. Baby’s brain is designed to seek patterns, right from birth, as she makes sense of the world. Thus, the simple, engaging song provides experience Baby’s brain is hungry for. 

This week when we sang Sarasponda, sometimes I left out the “oh”.  This was to help our babies develop a patterning skill of noticing when something is left out.  The musical term is audiation, “to think”. This is the ability to hear music when no musical sound is present.  It requires listening and memory skills.  This skill carries over into other areas of brain development and learning. 

From time-to-time this week include audiation into playtime.  Sing your baby’s favorite song and leave out the last word. Wait and give your little singer time to fill in the missing word or see if he notices that the word was left out. After a while, leave out the word at the end of sentences. (Example:  Old MacDonald had a ______, Ee-I-Ee-I _____.)  

Village, Dream Pillow, Week 4

From Skinnamarink and Saraponda to Dream Pillow Lullab,  class this week was filled with a colorful words, songs, and sounds. Playing with words in speech and song is a critical part of vocal development. This type of play allows babies to practice the precise coordination of lips, tongue, and breathing necessary to speak words. Since the ability to sing and the ability to converse with expressive speech are closely related, vocal play in songs, poems, and rhymes can help your baby develop both singing and speech skills.

Need a break from the norm? Try a little vocal play at home this week by breaking apart words of a song and repeating syllable sounds or singing/speaking slowly. Emphasize the movement of your mouth and lips; then wait and give your baby time to respond.

Here are a few other thoughts on music and learning to consider:

One More Time: One method of learning for young children is repetition. Repetition of experience provides stabilization of the brain’s neural pathways.

Relaxation: Relaxation is a learned behavior. Setting aside this time each week not to be engaged in an active, thinking activity helps Baby learn to enjoy quiet play and learn that relaxation can include times other than nap time and bedtime.

Language Development: Baby is learning more than she can say as she watches and listens to you reciting this rhyme. Infants younger than six months can distinguish a wide range of speech contrasts. By eight months many can distinguish familiar words from unfamiliar words.

I feel; Therefore, I learn: Baby must be emotionally involved in an activity to learn. Incoming sensory stimulation is processed first through the brain’s non-rational, non-conscious limbic system, the seat of emotion, and only then goes to the neocortex, or rational brain. 

Young Child, Week 12

Music is an all encompassing discipline:

·       Reading and writing in music is called music notation. This week the children are learning about the note c on the music staff. Help your child “write” c on Activity Page 9. If you have any music at home, help your child “read” the note c by locating the note on space number three of the music staff.

·       Listening in music consists not only of listening to music but learning to focus our attention on abstract sounds and on speech. Help your child further “attend” (pay attention) to sounds by pinpointing sounds in your environment such as water lapping over stones, rain falling on the rooftop, or wind rushing through the trees. Also, play a listening game by speaking a 4 or 5 word sentence and asking your child to repeat what he heard.

·       Movement with music consists of free movement as well as choreographed steps.  This is why we often move to music in class.  We also must move to make music.  This week have your child practice hitting the high “C” on the glockenspiel (big white dot) to “Toot, Toot,” with the song “Train is a Come’n” on their home CD. Through out the song have them bounce their mallets in the air in front of them to the beat until they come to the “Toot, Toot.” At the “Toot, Toot” have them strike the “C” first with one mallet and then with the other.

Please have your child keep practicing Jingle Bells.  Remember to have them use both hands! Enjoy your child’s ever increasing awareness of music in your lives!  

Grown Up Kindermusik Kids!

Ever wonder where your children will be 15-20 years after Kindermusik?  I hope you enjoy this family video, it was a spontaneous family musical activity after Thanksgiving dinner. They created this arrangement.  Four of these girls were Kindermusik children.  None of them grew up to be professional musicians but as you can see music continues to be a big part of their lives.  In the bunch are two college athletes, an accountant, several mothers, and a professional photographer.  All pursuing their dreams and enriching their lives and the lives of others through music.

Dream Pillow, Week 2

This week's class activities had a lot of movement.  Movement helps stimulate and develop a baby's Vestibular system.  The vestibular system is one of our eight sensory systems.   Most people aren't aware that they have a Vestibular System, but this sensory system helps the brain coordinate the rest of our senses.  Take a minute and read the following article about the Vestibular system and how important it is to your child's development. 

http://www.devdelay.org/newsletter/articles/html/52-vestibular-system-is-critical.html. 

Young Child, Week 10

This week we reviewed the rhythm concepts of Ta, TiTi, and the quarter note rest.  We also started to read high and low notes.  The Star Light Star Bright work sheet helped the children hear and then visually represent higher and lower notes.  They did a great job of identifying the high and low notes. 

We also started learning Jingle Bells.  The children were able to identify that Jingle Bells starts with a TiTi, Ta pattern.  We put a star on the E bar of their glockenspiel.  Have them practice playing "Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells" using both their right and left hand. 

Remember to have them do their music homework by writing their Ti,Ti, Ta, and Rests symbols on the back of their Star Light sheet.  

Village, Dream Pillow!

We started our new Village unit this week!  This unit features lots of lullabies.  When you have time put together a CD or play list of the lullabies from this class and other music you own to create a bed time music routine for your child.   Play your lullaby songs when you are having quiet time or putting your child to sleep.  Listening to quite music at bed time can be routine for your child.  Routines help develop your baby’s sense of time and sequence as well as bring security and stability. That’s why routines such as our hello song, warm up, exercise,  and good bye songs are built into each Village class.                       

I always enjoy seeing your baby’s face and the movement you choose for our hello song.  It warms my heart as they smile and respond to my singing.  Give them a hug and tell them Ms. Mindy sends them a song!  Enjoy listening to the new class CD and sharing the book with your baby!   See you Monday.  

Kindermusik Young Child, Week 9

This week in Young Child we reviewed the rhythm concepts of Ta (quarter note)  Rest (quarter note rest) and TiTi (eighth note, two eighth notes equal one quarter not.  This means TiTi equals Ta.)  We started to visually represent these rhythms using the white cards that your child received in class this week. The cards should be in there bags in a red envelope.  Using their cards, have them set out and then play different 4 beat rhythm patterns.

A concept that could use your reinforcement at home is that they don’t need two TiTi cards to represent TiTi, one card represents both TiTi’s.  (The TiTi card is the card that looks like a table. It has two marks connected with a straight line across the top.  It looks like an eighth note without the head.) They would need too cards to represent Ta  Ta,  Each Ta gets one beat while a single Ti gets only half a beat. Each white card represents 1 beat.   

I was excited to let the children take home their glockenspiels.  Please have them practice learning to strike the bars correctly.  Remind them to be careful with their instrument.  Here is the rhyme to help them remember how to play the glockenspiel. 

Mallets are resting as quiet as can be.

Would you like to try them? Come and follow me.

Thumbs are up and Pointer comes out.

Here is Tall Man, now turn them about.

Lift at the mark and hold your mallets steady.

This is the place we call ready.

Now gently bouncing from bar to bar,

Are your elbows out, don’t bounce too far.

Mallets are resting as quiet as can be.

Thank you for playing your glockenspiel with me.

Remember we got our glockenspiels early this semester because I want to start teaching them to play Jingle Bells for the Holidays.  

Ensemble Play!

Ensemble plays help children develop important learning skills.  For an ensemble to work each child must listen to and follow directions; this requires active listening, comprehension, and self control.  It’s not easy to wait your turn to play a percussion instrument that you’re holding in your hands.  Like all skills self-control has to be practiced.  We need to create opportunities for our children to develop self control at time other than moments when self control in mandated.  Ensemble play is a perfect opportunity.  The child doesn’t have to exercise self control for very long and is rewarded by being part of a fun musical activity or story.  Social skills are also developed through ensemble play.  Turn taking and experiencing the results of a group working together create positive social experience for a child to build on in other settings.   The following video is an ensemble activities from our Young Child class. 

Instrument Smorgasbord

What’s this instrument called? What does it sound like? These are the questions a budding musician asks.  This website lets your child see and hear instruments from the  woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion families.  You can click on the green arrow above the instrument to hear the sound the instrument makes.  This website can be used to play a musical “Guess Who” game.  Have your child stand away from the computer and then select an instrument sound.  Have your child then come to the computer and guess which instrument you selected.  Once he’s succeeded in finding the correct instrument let him select the next instrument and you guess.  This game not only builds musical sensitivity but helps fine tune listening skills.  Listening and hearing are different things; good listening skills are a real asset to learning. 

Here’s the website link:  http://www.musictechteacher.com/quiz_help_instrument.htm

Music and Phonological Awareness

Phonological Awareness, What is it?
Long before your child can tell you that the magnetic letter “m” on your refrigerator stands for the /m/ sound, he or she is building sensitivity to the sounds of spoken language. Researchers call this phonological
awareness, or “a general appreciation of the sounds of speech, as distinct from their meaning.” Phonological awareness is a very important step in the journey to learning to read. In fact, a child’s level of sound awareness upon entering school “may be the single most powerful determinant of the success he or she will experience in learning to read.” Academic research has proven that the playful experiences a parent has with a young toddler significantly  impacts that child’s level of phonological awareness.

From the perspective of a parent, however, phonological awareness crops up most prominently in a few ways. It begins with an awareness of the spoken contours of speech (for example, using rising pitch to signal a question). It continues as children begin to notice syllables and sounds within words (for example, “number” can be divided into two chunks: num- and -ber). The next step is rhyming. Early experiences recognizing, repeating, and predicting rhymes are a perfect and age-appropriate way to build phonological sensitivity.

Developmental Milestones: Phonological Awareness
By the age of three, your child will most likely be able to: Repeat e-i-e-i-o or other favorite song lyrics.
Notice repeating sounds, such as buh in bumble bee.
Fill in rhyming words in a predictable song.
Repeat words with certain sounds, i.e, hop, hop, hop!

Music is a great way to stimulate awareness of syllables, rhyming, and changes in intonation. In fact, brain studies of eight-year-old children, amazingly, show that children who started musical training at the age of four or five are better at processing the pitch changes within spoken language than similar children without musical training.

How It Works in a Kindermusik Class
Word Play: The often silly, often rhyming, and always
engaging rhymes, poems, and song lyrics featured in
Kindermusik classes give your child a chance to speak and
sing, practicing rhyming, word play, and predicting skills.
Sound Play: They don’t just learn from words! Sounds and
syllables, even nonsense ones, are enough to get your child’s
language brain cells “buzzzzing”.
Vocal Play: You and your child get to really see what your
voices can do. Using voices to make high and low sounds,
“smooth” and “bumpy” sounds, the sounds of animals, water
running, popcorn popping, you name it—it all adds up to
more awareness of sounds, how to make them, and how they
can come together to build words.

What You Can Do at Home
Clap and pat to the beat.  Help your child tune in to the rhythms of
spoken words by clapping or patting their legs to favorite nursery rhymes.
Word play, stringing together words that begin with the
same sound like Big Bad Bug or Yellow Ukulele Yahoo.  You can also use words that end with the same sound.
(Source: On the Path to Reading, by Suzanne I. Barchers, Ed.D., Heidi Gilman Bennett.)

Remember it's never too late to register for a class at Imagine Arts Studio!  We prorate tuition for those joining classes after they've begun.  You can see the class schedule on our website: ImagineArtsStudio.com!