When she was a college student, Megan’s first question to her instructor of Music for the Young Child class was, “Do I have to sing?”  Since her fourth grade music teacher told her to just mouth the words in the spring concert, Megan was convinced that she did not have any musical skills. In Music for the Young Child class, however, she learned that even adults who believe that they are rhythmically challenged can lead young children on a journey that expands their musical skills. 

Why Music?
The current research on the relationship of the brain to music along with anecdotal evidence by educators indicates that early music experiences enhance the development of intellectual, motor, emotional, social and musical skills. Caregivers and educators agree that music can be a fun and effective tool for language development and concept reinforcement. Young children find new ways to use their bodies and improve their coordination when they move to music. Soothing or exciting music can visibly change the emotions of a young child.  Shared musical experiences strengthen emotional and social bonds.  Finally, current research reveals that the human brain possesses a specific musical intelligence, and early, ongoing musical training affects that musical brain.  The early years are a window of opportunity for children to develop music skills that they will use the rest of their lives.

Four Paths
Megan learned there is more to teaching music than singing songs. The journey to musical understanding has four paths that she could easily follow.  Each path has markers along the way to check progress (see accompanying chart).  Following these paths, she felt comfortable teaching her young charges while observing their musical growth.
 
Path 1: Find and Use The Voice
The singing voice is a psychomotor skill that should be nurtured at a very early age.  Through playful activities young children can begin to control their voices to use them in an expressive way and to sing songs of their own and others. 
 
Path 2: Discover Rhythms and Beats
The beat is the underlying steady pulse of music.  Rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds that make up music.  Words of a song are sung in rhythm patterns.  Through movement, young children can discover the beat and rhythmic qualities (long and short sounds; sound and silence).

Path 3: Explore Sounds
Young children can explore four kinds of sounds: environmental, vocal, instrumental (including sound making objects) and body sounds. Through focused listening and guided manipulation of objects, adults can provide an environment in which children’s sound awareness grows.

Path 4: Talk About Music
Musical sounds can be described by young children in opposite terms: loud/soft (dynamics), fast/slow (tempo), high/low (pitch), long/short (duration), smooth/jerky (articulation).  Additionally, they can practice talking about timbre (or tone color), the unique quality of a sound that makes it different from any other sound.

Sample Activities for the Journey

Find and Use The Voice
Infants:
Imitate a child’s babbles.  Pat her and smile to show you are pleased when she makes sounds.
Chant by changing pitches of your voice as you recite nursery rhymes; create chants that describe your activities (for example: “Time for Randy’s bottle”)

Toddlers:
Read picture books that include sounds (for example: “Old MacDonald”). Use your voice to imitate those sounds and encourage toddlers to join in.
Play echo games.  Copy sounds and chants that toddlers create. Encourage them to copy you.  Vary the pitches and ranges of the sounds and chants.

Preschoolers:
Encourage preschoolers to make sounds that swoop from high to low or low to high (for example: a Halloween ghost or siren)
Help preschoolers explore different kinds of voices such as speaking, whispering, shouting and singing. Lead them to use different kinds of singing voices (for example: a soft voice for a lullaby).

Discover Rhythms and Beats
Infants:
Swing or rock infants to the beat of recorded or sung music.
Create a simple chant (for example: “Baby is happy.”).  Repeat the chant and tap the rhythm of the words on a child’s drum.  Repeat the chant again and guide the baby’s hand to play the rhythm of the words.

Toddlers:
Draw attention to steady beats in the environment (for example: ticking clock, moving windshield wipers, dripping faucet) and encourage toddlers to imitate the beat.
To introduce sounds and silences, walk, hop or jump together to recorded music.  Stop the music and abruptly “freeze.” Repeat. To introduce long and short sounds, play a rhythm instrument such as a maraca or tambourine.  Play short sounds and encourage the toddlers to hop or jump.  Play long sounds as the children move smoothly about the room.

Preschoolers:
Play a recorded piece that has a strong beat.  Explain that hands are soldiers and two of the fingers are the soldier’s legs.  Make two fingers march up your arm, across your shoulder, on your face, etc.  Invite the children to do the same
Teach a nursery rhyme that has one phrase repeated frequently (for example, “Hickory, Dickory, Dock”). When all have learned it well, teach them to clap the sounds of the repeated phrase by saying, “Let’s make our hands say the words instead of our mouths.”  After they have learned the rhythm pattern of the phrase, recite the poem again but clap the repeated phrase instead of saying the words.

Explore Sounds
Infants:
While talking or singing to an infant, place his hand on the side of your throat where he can feel the vocal cords vibrating.  This is especially effective with children who learn through touch.
Tie small bells on an infant’s wrists and ankles so that when she moves, she will hear the sound.  Start with one bell and add another of a different pitch to another wrist or ankle.  In this way, she will hear new sounds as she moves different parts of her body.

Toddlers:
Take a sound walk indoors or out and draw attention to sounds in the environment (for example: truck, bird, rain, refrigerator)
Fill several pairs of discarded pill bottles with small objects such as buttons, salt, rice, marbles or popcorn.  Tape the bottles closed.  As children shake the bottles, encourage them to find the two bottles that sound the same.  Show the toddler how to shake the bottles in different ways (for example: making loud/soft or long/short sounds).

Preschoolers:
Take advantage of every opportunity to allow preschoolers to see and hear live music.  A young child listens to music actively when he uses another of his senses with his ears to focus on the music.  For this reason, a child is more attentive when he sees the musician(s).
Gather a number of sound sources such as kitchen utensils and/or children’s instruments.  After you have read a book such as “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,” help the preschoolers select sound sources that could be used to imitate sounds in the story. These sources could include those that you have provided as well as body or environmental sounds.

Talk About Music
Toddlers:
When moving to recorded or live music, encourage toddlers to move in big, loud movements to loud music, and small, soft movements to quiet music (for example, stomp/tip-toe; clap/tap on palm of hand).  Use the words loud and soft to describe the sounds.
As toddlers play on children’s instruments, name each instrument.  Play one of the instruments in a place where he cannot see it and ask, “What do you hear?”  When he identifies the instrument correctly, reward him by letting him hide and play an instrument.

Preschoolers:
Select two recordings that are contrasting in tempo—one fast and one slow.  Move appropriately to each recording and talk about which music was fast and which music was slow.  Create a sound tape with a tape recorder.  Include familiar sounds (for example: phone ring, running water, vacuum cleaner) as well as different voices (for example: man, child, baby). Play the tape for toddlers to identify the sounds.

References

Palmer, M. & Sims, W. (1993) Music in Prekindergarten. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference.

Sims, W., ed. (1995) Strategies for Teaching Prekindergarten Music. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference.

As music educator for more than twenty years, Roberta Volkmann taught music at all levels.  During that time she developed early childhood music courses for parents, teachers and children.  Since her retirement from the Illinois State Board of Education where she served as Educational Consultant in the fine arts, Roberta has been an independent arts education consultant and freelance writer.