A friend passed along an article that I found very interesting as a mom and a teacher.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19212514
I'd like to add to what is stated in the article that children who get lots of exposure to live music-making experiences with their parents (in class, at home, and/or community settings) often spend much of their self-directed free-play time singing or humming to themselves in addition to self-talk. Self-singing and self-talk do not necessarily need to be considered separately as two different skill sets. I think of them as two shades of one activity that complement and support each other.
I often hear my 2.5-year-old son singing to himself as he plays alone in his room. A current favorite is the ABC song. But, Isaac doesn't just sing it the same way every time. He used to, but sometimes now he'll substitute other words but sing the same melody. Sometimes he sings each letter with an extra made-up sound in front of it. The other day, my husband heard Isaac singing each letter, carefully alternating a loud one with a soft one. When he missed a change, he would back up and self-correct. We didn't teach him this stuff! We've played soft-loud singing games with him, and of course he's experienced contrasts in Music Together class, but he was the one who took it and applied to his own song and made it his own game. This kind of self-conducted musical play/work is not just going to make for a good singer or musician later on. I believe Isaac's little singing games help him develop his overall creativity, his ability to self-regulate, and will impact many aspects of academic learning later on.
In more concrete terms, think of a child who sings a lullaby to comfort her dolls. Is she not setting herself up for the later ability to comfort herself and others through song? How much better to be able to sing oneself to peace rather than relying on external stimuli!
Structured, parent-led or teacher-led activities are not necessarily "bad" for your preschooler, but there is no doubt that young children need lots of unstructured times to filter through those experiences and process them in the little private world of imagination and self-directed play. Although I'm constantly exhorting you to sing with your child at home, those quiet times when the stereo is turned off and the child plays, talks, and sings alone in a quiet room are very important too! Resist the urge to leap in and start singing. Just stand in the hallway and listen.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
New York Phil plays Arirang
This week, the NY Philharmonic performed in North Korea, a historic feat of musical diplomacy aimed at improving ties between the USA and North Korea. As their encore piece, the NY Phil performed "Arirang," a flowing, peaceful, traditional Korean song that was in the Music Together Drum collection. Those of you who took classes with me last winter might remember it. The Symphony's performance brought tears to the eyes of audience members and musicians.
Music joins us, even binds us together, and the offering of a simple song is in itself no simple act. A great orchestra playing a simple folk song of the country hosting their concert is a symbolic act, representing friendship and human solidarity. It was a gift, a sort of musical hug. This event is a beautiful demonstration of the power of music and how it creates community - small, intimate community and a whole world community.
Take a moment and consider the hundreds of Spanish-speaking children who are singing "Don Alfredo Baila" with their families and schoolmates. And think of the thousands of families around the world who are singing "Pop Goes the Weasel," "Jack in the Box," and all of the other Sticks songs. What a beautiful sense of community we can tap into--to feel connected to nearly a hundred families in Buncombe County and many thousands of strangers around the world through simple joyful songs! Not long ago, another teacher shared that a stranger in an airport in Taiwan heard her humming Tingalayo (another traditional folk tune on the Tambourine collection) and started humming along. They had a friendly conversation about Music Together and went on about their day. Perhaps one day, that will be you or your child!
Here's a Wall Street Journal excerpt about the NY Philharmonic's concert in North Korea:
"As orchestra members finished the encore & stood to leave the stage, the crowd of 1,400 clapped more and more loudly, a few of them waved. The Phil's trombone and trumpet players did, too. With that spark, the North Koreans burst into cheering and waving, from the front rows to the top balcony. The ovation continued for another five minutes."
Other articles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/world/asia/27symphony.html?ex=1361768400&en=e6f9c095cdc76a54&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23347082/
Music joins us, even binds us together, and the offering of a simple song is in itself no simple act. A great orchestra playing a simple folk song of the country hosting their concert is a symbolic act, representing friendship and human solidarity. It was a gift, a sort of musical hug. This event is a beautiful demonstration of the power of music and how it creates community - small, intimate community and a whole world community.
Take a moment and consider the hundreds of Spanish-speaking children who are singing "Don Alfredo Baila" with their families and schoolmates. And think of the thousands of families around the world who are singing "Pop Goes the Weasel," "Jack in the Box," and all of the other Sticks songs. What a beautiful sense of community we can tap into--to feel connected to nearly a hundred families in Buncombe County and many thousands of strangers around the world through simple joyful songs! Not long ago, another teacher shared that a stranger in an airport in Taiwan heard her humming Tingalayo (another traditional folk tune on the Tambourine collection) and started humming along. They had a friendly conversation about Music Together and went on about their day. Perhaps one day, that will be you or your child!
Here's a Wall Street Journal excerpt about the NY Philharmonic's concert in North Korea:
"As orchestra members finished the encore & stood to leave the stage, the crowd of 1,400 clapped more and more loudly, a few of them waved. The Phil's trombone and trumpet players did, too. With that spark, the North Koreans burst into cheering and waving, from the front rows to the top balcony. The ovation continued for another five minutes."
Other articles:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/world/asia/27symphony.html?ex=1361768400&en=e6f9c095cdc76a54&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23347082/
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Audiation
You may have heard me mention the word "audiation." Audiation is to music-making what thinking is to speaking. It's the brain function of processing music. We sometimes hear music in our heads when there is no music in our environment, and that is part of the process of audiation. Audiation is the foundation of all music-making. Without audiation, no further musical learning can occur. When a person can audiate a song correctly (with a consistent beat and in the same key throughout), that person can most likely sing the song correctly. As I'm always telling my school-age students, "If you can sing it, you can play it."
A process I often use with my piano students and my high school drummers is to have them sing the music that they are attempting to play. Very often, their mistakes (the consistent ones, not the fluke ones) happen as a result of the fact that they are audiating their music incorrectly. This becomes apparent when I ask them to sing their part, and they sing it incorrectly. If I can help them correct their audiation of the music by helping them SING it correctly, then they can usually pick up their sticks or place fingers to the keyboard and play their music correctly.
At birth, the vast majority of people have the potential to become musically competent: meaning to be able to sing in key and keep a steady beat. This potential only becomes reality if musical stimulation is present to encourage growth and development. Just as almost any person is born with the potential to learn to speak, we only learn language if we are exposed to it consistently and have many many opportunities to "practice." As with most of our basic skills, (speech, movement, etc) musical audiation is best developed at a very young age, when the brain is at its most receptive. After the age of 6 or 7, our brains become less malleable and potential abilities that aren't developed are sort of "pared away" in the interest of efficiency. That is part of the reason it's more difficult to learn music as an adult.
I have seen this many times in my older students: The ones who had a consistent environment of live music-making experiences as young children are usually able to sing in key and move to a steady beat. These students have a MUCH easier time learning to read music and play an instrument.
So, to get back to the Music Together context, how does one encourage a young child "practice" this important skill of audiation? For starters, the words "practice," "work," and "play" all mean the same thing when we're talking about young children. Their work IS their play. They'll work at anything that tickles their brain and that Mom and Dad do, especially if it's fun/silly. Every time we play with the resting tone at the end of a song (singing the resting tone in silly ways at the end of the Hello Song, drumming on the floor while singing the resting tone, throwing scarves and singing the resting tone when they hit the ground, hugging ourselves on the last note of the Goodbye Song, etc) we encourage our children to audiate that note.
One way we encouraged this with our little ones in class this past week was when we split into two groups and took turns singing the phrases in Nigun. When I told one group "Sing very loudly but only inside your head," and we did not sing out loud at the end of each musical phrase, we gave ourselves and our children the opportunity to audiate the music. Any time there's silence after a song (rare but beautiful!), our children (and probably many adults) are still hearing the echos of our last notes in their heads. Any time we pause before we sing the last phrase or note of a song (Think about the very end of the recording of Pop! Goes the Weasel.), we encourage audiation.
This is why it's important that we have silence or singing of the resting tone after each song, rather than talking. It aids their audiation process. Any time we start talking, we immediately take our kids right back into the language centers of their brains, and the musical audiation process is disrupted.
So, during the next few days, try singing Pop! Goes the Weasel or Driving in the Car or When the Saints Go Marching In to your toddler, and see if you leave off the last word or note--will your child fill it in? Give him or her 5 seconds--it sometimes takes the littles a long time to turn "intake" into "output." Allow some silence at the ends of songs, whether you're listening to the CD or singing yourself. Sing Blow the Wind Southerly or Hello to your infant as you change her diaper, and listen for several seconds after you sing the last note--does he coo back to you? If so, sing his pitch back to him, and have a little musical dialogue!
A process I often use with my piano students and my high school drummers is to have them sing the music that they are attempting to play. Very often, their mistakes (the consistent ones, not the fluke ones) happen as a result of the fact that they are audiating their music incorrectly. This becomes apparent when I ask them to sing their part, and they sing it incorrectly. If I can help them correct their audiation of the music by helping them SING it correctly, then they can usually pick up their sticks or place fingers to the keyboard and play their music correctly.
At birth, the vast majority of people have the potential to become musically competent: meaning to be able to sing in key and keep a steady beat. This potential only becomes reality if musical stimulation is present to encourage growth and development. Just as almost any person is born with the potential to learn to speak, we only learn language if we are exposed to it consistently and have many many opportunities to "practice." As with most of our basic skills, (speech, movement, etc) musical audiation is best developed at a very young age, when the brain is at its most receptive. After the age of 6 or 7, our brains become less malleable and potential abilities that aren't developed are sort of "pared away" in the interest of efficiency. That is part of the reason it's more difficult to learn music as an adult.
I have seen this many times in my older students: The ones who had a consistent environment of live music-making experiences as young children are usually able to sing in key and move to a steady beat. These students have a MUCH easier time learning to read music and play an instrument.
So, to get back to the Music Together context, how does one encourage a young child "practice" this important skill of audiation? For starters, the words "practice," "work," and "play" all mean the same thing when we're talking about young children. Their work IS their play. They'll work at anything that tickles their brain and that Mom and Dad do, especially if it's fun/silly. Every time we play with the resting tone at the end of a song (singing the resting tone in silly ways at the end of the Hello Song, drumming on the floor while singing the resting tone, throwing scarves and singing the resting tone when they hit the ground, hugging ourselves on the last note of the Goodbye Song, etc) we encourage our children to audiate that note.
One way we encouraged this with our little ones in class this past week was when we split into two groups and took turns singing the phrases in Nigun. When I told one group "Sing very loudly but only inside your head," and we did not sing out loud at the end of each musical phrase, we gave ourselves and our children the opportunity to audiate the music. Any time there's silence after a song (rare but beautiful!), our children (and probably many adults) are still hearing the echos of our last notes in their heads. Any time we pause before we sing the last phrase or note of a song (Think about the very end of the recording of Pop! Goes the Weasel.), we encourage audiation.
This is why it's important that we have silence or singing of the resting tone after each song, rather than talking. It aids their audiation process. Any time we start talking, we immediately take our kids right back into the language centers of their brains, and the musical audiation process is disrupted.
So, during the next few days, try singing Pop! Goes the Weasel or Driving in the Car or When the Saints Go Marching In to your toddler, and see if you leave off the last word or note--will your child fill it in? Give him or her 5 seconds--it sometimes takes the littles a long time to turn "intake" into "output." Allow some silence at the ends of songs, whether you're listening to the CD or singing yourself. Sing Blow the Wind Southerly or Hello to your infant as you change her diaper, and listen for several seconds after you sing the last note--does he coo back to you? If so, sing his pitch back to him, and have a little musical dialogue!
Musical Instruments and Props in class
I've been asked several times why we don't use instruments and props more often during Music Together class. By props, I mean scarves, balls, puppets, etc. Obviously, the children love these objects; the play-along song and its accompanying box of loud brightly colored instruments is many children's favorite part of class!
What is the purpose of the instruments and props in class? These things are simply a way of getting a child's attention, of stimulating interest, and suggesting different ways of exploring music...which may in turn inspire musical exploration at home. The instruments and props, however, are not intrinsic to making music, and are often even distraction. A person's first and most important instrument is her voice, followed closely by body parts. If you can't clap a steady beat with your hands, you certainly can't play a steady beat with a drum and a stick.
To use an analogy, when my son Isaac was learning to stand and walk, we had several toys in our home that were exciting, colorful, noisy and designed to inspire and "aid" standing and walking behavior. Isaac, now 2.5 years old, is a pro at walking (although he still tussles with the stairs from time to time). Did Isaac love those toys? Yes, indeed! Much to the dismay of my abused ears. Could he have learned to walk without those toys? Certainly! Did the inspirational toys speed up his development in that area? I doubt it, since he was 14 months old before he started walking on his own at all. In fact, a child's development can sometimes be delayed by an over-reliance on props such as walkers, etc, if they are over-used.
Musical props and "aids" are to musical development as standing-and-walking toys are to standing and walking skills. They are lots of fun, they're not harmful if they're not over-used, but they don't contribute much to musical development.
But, didn't those standing-and-walking toys motivate and inspire Isaac to stand up and walk? Yes, perhaps, but the toys were not nearly as influential as the fact that Isaac saw Mom and Dad standing up, walking around, getting their own food (There's the ticket!), and apparently having so much fun! Now--those of you who have been around for a couple of sessions know where I'm going with this (grin). A drum or pair of shaker eggs are really cool and fun for your child, and they may inspire him to experiment with music at home. But those instruments won't be nearly as influential to your child's inclination to engage in musical play (and therefore development) as YOUR actions in music class and especially in daily life between music classes. This is why we emphasize over and over again how important it is for you to sing and dance and have fun at it...and sometimes turn off the CD player when you do it. Be silly, and make the Music Together songs your own!
(On a side note, for absolutely amazing examples of how music can be made with ONLY a voice and body parts, check out Bobby McFerrin. If you can make it all the way to the end of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" on his myspace page, you can watch other videos. I highly recommend his concert solo near the left side of the choices. You can also hear samples from Bobby McFerrin's album "Spontaneous Inventions" at the itunes store.)
Left Brain/Right Brain and Touch and Movement
Often when we're singing but have no specific hand or body motion to go with our song, you'll hear me remind you to tap or stroke your child. It's hard to get around to explaining WHY during class!
Touch enhances the intake and processing of new information in HUGE ways! Not only does it cause an emotional response from the person being touched, usually increasing the sense of safety and bonding, touch awakens the nervous system and aids in neural development of young children whose neural pathways are still being built and strengthened.
A Music Together mom who is a psychotherapist shared her experiences related to this subject:
When working with seriously traumatized adults, the therapist first has the person rate their level of pain. Often, it's around 9 (with 10 being the highest level of pain). As the therapist and the patient talk about painful experiences, the therapist lightly taps the patient on alternating sides of the body (right arm-left arm or right knee-left knee, etc). As the session comes to a close, the patient often rates his or her pain level at 2 or 3 after the tapping. According to the therapist, the emotional side of the brain is blocked with the painful memory, while the logical left side of the brain understands that the painful experience is in the past and shouldn't affect the patient any longer. The two hemispheres of the brain are not communicating in agreement with each other. The therapist's tapping encourages communication and linking between the two sides of the brain.
Another reason to let babies mouth the instruments...
A fellow Music Together teacher in California sent the following post to our teacher listserve, and I thought I'd share:
"When babies are in the oral stage of development, they are also working on their fine motor skills. There are nerve endings in the tongue that connect to the same part of the brain that governs fine motor control. So, babies will be the most "mouthy" when they're working on their pincer grasp and other fine motor skills. It's important that they mouth things a lot during this period, so the proper neural pathways are laid down to support their fine motor skills.
That connection between our mouths and the fine motor skills always stays with us; that's why we stick our tongues out when trying to do some fine motor skill, even as adults - notice yourself the next time you use a screwdriver (or attempt a cool guitar solo)."
Triangles, Right Ear-Left Ear
During or after the Love Song of Kangding, I asked parents in my classes to move their triangles nearer to one of their children's ears and play gently for a few moments, and then to play nearer the other ear. The triangle sounds different to your child, depending which ear is closer to the sound. Our ears hear things differently, and this goes for any sound of any instrument or object or voice.
Of course, this is an activity that is much more effective when done at home rather than in class. Help your child explore sounds, and encourage the development of the neural pathways between the two sides of your child's brain by doing some ear-to-ear play at home. No matter what you think your own voice sounds like, the sound of your voice is your child's favorite sound in the world and the one that he or she is most intensely tuned into. So, try singing or chanting softly into one of your child's ears, and then sing the second verse into the other ear. Try the same activity with other sounds: if you have musical instruments, that's fine, but you can use any object that makes an interesting sound. Just take care not to play too loudly--test the sound on your own ears first.
High Frequency Sounds and Children
This link is to a wonderful article about how high frequency sounds impact children's development in positive ways--you may be surprised by some of the links between high frequencies and our brains and physical composition.
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