Music Education for Infants and Toddlers? Yes!
Children are absolutely amazing. Their minds are like small sponges, eager to soak in all the information the world has to offer. Challenge them and they thirst for more information. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the early years of development. I remember creeping in on my son Joseph’s crib many years ago and remarking, “You’ve changed overnight!” But the greater change in childhood occurs in the mind, promoted by daily activity. The February 1996 edition ofnewsweekmagazine highlights an article which concludes that “children whose neural circuits are not stimulated before the kindergarten years are never going to be what they could have been.” There is definitely something very special about the early years. They are the foundation for lifelong success in learning and music is God’s natural vehicle for reinforcing this process.
Life begins at conception; God reminds us of His greatest creation by allowing a mother to feel the baby inside of her womb. Here the growth and learning process begins. Babies listen and respond to loud noises while in the womb by moving suddenly, moving slowly, kicking, etc. They have the ability to hear sounds around them, and it has been proven that a new born infant recognizes the sound of his mother’s voice. When first born they vocalize by crying as a form of communication. Thus, we have the earliest developmental stage of music education: listening, moving, and vocalizing. They have the ability to recognize loud and soft (dynamics), and high and low (timbre). Singing to your child in the womb is vital and lays the groundwork for these initial developmental stages. Lullabies are one of the loveliest ways of communicating to an infant. Far before any verbal understanding has developed, little ones are calmed, reassured, and comforted by these songs.
This stage continues through the age of two, with new added joys in the verbal category. Babies will start to coo and babble and begin to sort out the sounds they themselves can make from the sounds of the environment. Here we find the beginning singing stages. A child who has heard much singing will produce parts of songs by age two. Children will benefit from songs and games which involve bouncy rhymes, wiggle games, tickle songs, clapping/ tapping, and simple songs including lullabies. (See sidebar for suggestions to get you started.)
I’m sure there are millions of different games involving these concepts— and every mother has the God-given talent to make them up on the spot. (I remember “Babies in Space” with my little Joseph—but that’s another column!) The important concept here is that while reinforcing the natural bonding process with your baby, you’re also contributing to the education and learning pattern of your child. Songs and rhymes in early childhood are a playful way of enhancing essential developmental skills. They teach concepts, enhance vocabulary, develop motor skills, and encourage social skills and creative responses. Besides, it’sgreatfun!
When a child progresses to age three or four they are able to listen for longer periods of time, with concentrated awareness. He moves with coordinated motor skills and is able to sing simple songs. Children are able to perceive different concepts of sound such as dynamics, timbre, and tempo. They can sing accurately in limited ranges of pitch. They are able to respond to what they hear; they move or dance to music, and respond in a call/answer fashion of singing. And, oh, those creative little minds! My three-year-old little friend Anna has the most vivid imagination I’ve ever experienced! She has the innate ability to make up songs with complicated and twisted plots on the spot. By ages three or four, many children are tuneful singers who possess quite an extensive repertoire of songs. The preschool years are the ones when language skills are developing rapidly; singing skills, another form of language, should develop as well.
Below are the ten primary concepts that should be taught to young children as well as examples of simple songs that reinforce the concept.
1. Louder and Softer(The Principle of dynamics)Use“Hush, Little Baby, Don’t Say a Word”.Start singing softly, get louder(crescendo)and finally sing loudly!
2. Faster and Slower(Principle of tempo)
Try“Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush”.Sing slowly, speeding up as you repeat. It’s great fun!
3. Varying sound sources affect the quality of the sound (Principle of timbre)
4. Long and Short(Principle of rhythm)
Rain, Rain, Go A-way!is an example of a long, long, short - short, long rhythm.
5. A regularly occurring underlying beat in music(Principle of beat)As we sing simple songs together, I pat the beat on my lap with large motions, and the children imitate. Later, when this concept has been firmly established, we graduate to stepping with the beat. Playing Musical Chairs to a marching tune is a great way to reinforce this concept! (I never take away a chair though, that’s just mean!)
6. Some beats have a feeling of stress(Principle of accent)When the beat concept above has been accurately learned, this is a great game to play:
“Bouncehigh, bouncelow, bouncethe ball toShiloh”On the italicized words, the ball is bounced. On the word“Shiloh”,the ball is bounced to another child in the group, and the game proceeds.
7. (They have beats: 1,2, 1,2, or 1,2,3,4—2/4 or 4/4 time)while others are “skipping songs”(123, 456—6/8 time).(Principles of simple and compound meter)
UsingRing Around the Rosy,sing it while children march to it (in 2/4 time). Then, sing it while skipping (6/8 time). There! You’ve just utilized stepping and skipping to music, while reinforcing the meter of the song.
8. There are places in the music for taking a breath. (Principles of phrasing)
A phrase is a short musical thought. The end of a phrase is the natural breathing place in the music, such as:
(breath)Jesus loves me, this I know(breath)
For the Bible tells me so (breath)
Little ones to Him belong
They are weak but He is strong(breath)
9. Some phrases may sound the same or different (Principles of form)
For example:
My God is so great, so strong and so mighty,there’s nothing my God cannot do.
My God is so great, so strong and so mighty,
there’s nothing my God cannot do.
The mountains are His, the rivers are His,
the stars are His handy work too.
My God is so great, so strong and so mighty,
there’s nothing my God cannot do.”
How many phrases are there? (Four) Which one is different? (The third) This is the classic AABA format of most simple songs. Now, I’ll bet your two-year-old could tell you that, too!
10. Pitches may move higher or lower or may repeat(Principles of melody)
The best way to teach melody is simply parent modeling. Sing and have your child repeat. I use this method to teach all of our circle-time songs. The children love it! If you aren’t confident of your singing abilities, the resources mentioned below might be helpful.
Children won’t be able to explain these concepts, but they can show you that they understand them. All of the fundamental principles above are taught through singing and moving. All may be approached as “play.” An important concept to remember when singing for and with children is to sing in your upper voice (higher voice). Many children will lean toward the natural inclination to sing in speaking tone which is naturally in chest tone. Encourage youngsters to sing lightly and in upper register when reciting rhymes or singing songs. Loud singing lends itself to straining the laryngeal muscles that produce the chest voice, so be careful!
Some great resources that I use for class are the “Wee Sing” series of books and CDs. I don’t use the CDs in class because I prefer to sing with the children myself, but for those who don’t possess the gift of golden vocal chords, the CDs are a great help. Also, John Feierabend’s “First Steps in Music” series is a perfect resource.
If children can sing well, step to the beat accurately, clap rhythms, apply dynamic and tempo judgments to their songs, and show where sounds are higher and lower, and if, in addition, they can sing some thirty different songs, then the symbolic learning— both the musical and the academic of reading and writing—will progress rapidly in the following years from this solid foundation.
Resources:
How to Lead Preschoolers in Musical Activities by Rhonda Edge & Barbara Sanders. (Genevox Music Group, 2000)
Teaching Kids to Sing by Kenneth H. Phillips (Schirmer, 1996)
Music for Little People: 50 Playful Activities for Preschool and Early Elementary School Children by John M. Feierabend and Gary M. Kramer (Boosey & Hawkes Inc, 1989) OOP
First Steps in Music for Preschool and Beyond: The Curriculum by John Feierabend (GIA Publications, 2000) www.giamusic.com