It has been my experience that many families stop bringing their children to Music Together when they pass out of the toddler phase. I understand that preschool and other classes sometimes cause a conflict in scheduling, but I also think that children often start to express a reluctance to come to music class. Parents are understandably reluctant to pay for a Session of classes that their children aren't excited about. However, the music class environment continues to be important for older children but for different reasons than for toddlers and babies. Older preschoolers often have attained a certain level of musical competence (meaning they can sing in tune and keep a steady beat to a song that they hear). But at this age, it's common for preschoolers to start to notice others in the class, and they suddenly realize that they can't make music with the same ease as the adults in class. Of course this promotes a certain self-consciousness and return to shyness, or that they would prefer to avoid an event where their purpose or *place* isn't clear.
Preschoolers benefit greatly from support of them continuing to make music in a group setting and especially of honoring their ideas and leadership. If your preschooler starts to express a reluctance to come to Music Together, have a non-pressure talk with him to see if he has any specific issues that challenge him. Of course, the parent is going to know best in these situations, but I do urge you to consider
* Feelings of self-consciousness are normal, but they can persist and worsen if your child isn't encouraged to push on through the challenge. As long as Music Together class isn't actually traumatic for her, there's much benefit to be had from supporting your child's attendance through the difficulty. As with any age, there's no need to pressure any amount of active participation! It's enough to be there and see the adults participating joyfully and un-selfconsciously. After a few weeks, she may venture into the circle again and find a new participation role more fitting to this new stage of maturity.
* Your child is likely to have challenges with other settings or tasks in the future. If your child has difficulty with a certain school subject later on, chances are he won't get to just quit. You'll sit and talk with him and gently let him know that you'll help him and support him through the challenge so that he can succeed.
I always love to get suggestions from the children in class for movements, lyrics, and sounds that the group can make. I think the older children are the most likely to have some creative ideas. However, in the noise and activity of class, it can be difficult for them to speak up or to be heard. Please advocate for your preschooler when she has an idea to share with the class. You may need to make the suggestion yourself so that I can hear it, but you can certainly attribute the idea to your child. "Emerson would like for us to make train sounds."
The bottom line is that you know what is best for your child, but please consider these thoughts when determining whether to continue to bring your preschooler to Music Together. They DO have their place! We just have to help them find it.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Another Music Together Teacher Shares
Music supports all kinds of learning, -we use our voices, listening skills, motor skills, our emotions, spatial reasoning, language skills. It expands thought into an expression from the heart. Most of all, it lifts us up out of ourselves and allows us to go to a place beyond words and gives us a sense of the beauty and joy of life. I believe it helps to make us happier, more compassionate, more satisfied and expressive human beings and enriches our life experience.
Music isn't something where we go from point "a" to point "b" and then we are finished. Musical development is something that continues all of our lives. I'm still developing musically as are all the adults in our classes, as are all of the children.
Judy Woodson
Director, South Coast Music Together
Music isn't something where we go from point "a" to point "b" and then we are finished. Musical development is something that continues all of our lives. I'm still developing musically as are all the adults in our classes, as are all of the children.
Judy Woodson
Director, South Coast Music Together
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Can your child sit still in class? Should he?
Can and should your child sit still in Music Together class? Not necessarily and not necessarily.
In each new enrollment season, at least one parent who is interested in enrolling in Music Together will express concerns about bringing her busy busy child to a class environment. I always try to reassure these parents and encourage them to bring their little movers to class.
It's understandably difficult for parents of "busy kids" to see other children just sitting quietly and "politely" in the circle watching the teacher. These parents wonder if their own child (who's turning somersaults in the corner) is getting anything out of music class...or they worry that their child is distracting others.
Worry no more! Of course it's very age-appropriate for children to be on the move...all the time! Movement and learning go together--it's been shown in neurological research, and more and more schools and businesses are acknowledging this fact and honoring it by incorporating physical activity into their curricula and programs. The Music Together program makes it possible for all types of learners to participate in or at least observe a variety of types of physical activity during each class--large gross motor movements and small fine motor movements, fast and slow, quiet and loud. Children are welcome to wander about and freely choose when to actively participate or passively participate through watching and/or listening. Children who sit quietly in the circle simply tend to be more visual and/or aural learners, while the movers tend to be kinesthetic learners.
Sometimes a child will seem totally disengaged from the class activity...sitting in the corner, looking out the window, playing with an unrelated object in the room, etc. But a child under the age of 5 is not capable of completely separating his attention from his environment. Even if his active attention is on a chair in the corner, the child's brain is noticing his parent's voice and actions, as well as the sounds and activity of the rest of the class. If you get close, you'll often hear the child in the corner humming or singing to himself. And parents often report that these seemingly disengaged kids will sing just as beautifully as you please...in the car on the way home from Music Together class!
What to do if you have a "busy kid?" Continue to participate in the Music Together activity! Kids under 5 are tuned into their parents' voices and actions more than those of any other person. Your child knows what you're doing even if she seems not to be watching. Alternatively, engage your child in whatever part of the room he chooses to be and in whatever way is appropriate to his current stage of development. If your child grabbed an egg shaker and headed for the hills, go to him and sit and shake your eggs together. If your child headed off to turn somersaults, go sing to him, turn some somersaults yourself (or just watch), and tap his back to the beat.
To balance this info, let me say that safety is a priority in Music Together. While hopping, dancing, waddling, crawling, walking, and most other forms of movement are fine, there is no *running* in class. Generally, children are able to moderate their activity when given an alternative. "You may not run in class. Would you like to bunny-hop or waddle like a penguin?"
In each new enrollment season, at least one parent who is interested in enrolling in Music Together will express concerns about bringing her busy busy child to a class environment. I always try to reassure these parents and encourage them to bring their little movers to class.
It's understandably difficult for parents of "busy kids" to see other children just sitting quietly and "politely" in the circle watching the teacher. These parents wonder if their own child (who's turning somersaults in the corner) is getting anything out of music class...or they worry that their child is distracting others.
Worry no more! Of course it's very age-appropriate for children to be on the move...all the time! Movement and learning go together--it's been shown in neurological research, and more and more schools and businesses are acknowledging this fact and honoring it by incorporating physical activity into their curricula and programs. The Music Together program makes it possible for all types of learners to participate in or at least observe a variety of types of physical activity during each class--large gross motor movements and small fine motor movements, fast and slow, quiet and loud. Children are welcome to wander about and freely choose when to actively participate or passively participate through watching and/or listening. Children who sit quietly in the circle simply tend to be more visual and/or aural learners, while the movers tend to be kinesthetic learners.
Sometimes a child will seem totally disengaged from the class activity...sitting in the corner, looking out the window, playing with an unrelated object in the room, etc. But a child under the age of 5 is not capable of completely separating his attention from his environment. Even if his active attention is on a chair in the corner, the child's brain is noticing his parent's voice and actions, as well as the sounds and activity of the rest of the class. If you get close, you'll often hear the child in the corner humming or singing to himself. And parents often report that these seemingly disengaged kids will sing just as beautifully as you please...in the car on the way home from Music Together class!
What to do if you have a "busy kid?" Continue to participate in the Music Together activity! Kids under 5 are tuned into their parents' voices and actions more than those of any other person. Your child knows what you're doing even if she seems not to be watching. Alternatively, engage your child in whatever part of the room he chooses to be and in whatever way is appropriate to his current stage of development. If your child grabbed an egg shaker and headed for the hills, go to him and sit and shake your eggs together. If your child headed off to turn somersaults, go sing to him, turn some somersaults yourself (or just watch), and tap his back to the beat.
To balance this info, let me say that safety is a priority in Music Together. While hopping, dancing, waddling, crawling, walking, and most other forms of movement are fine, there is no *running* in class. Generally, children are able to moderate their activity when given an alternative. "You may not run in class. Would you like to bunny-hop or waddle like a penguin?"
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Link: Economist article exploring Music And Humanity
For the stout-hearted, a long in-depth article exploring recent theories studying why music is such an integral part of humanity:
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=12795510
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=12795510
Music - What's the Point?
One of my Music Together parents sent me this link to a welcome address to the parents of the freshman class at Boston Conservatory given by Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at Boston Conservatory. It is well worth the read, both for musicians and "music consumers" (that means everybody!). Thanks so much to Gail for passing this along to me!
http://www.symphonymusicians.com/WelcomeAddressbyKarlPaulnack/tabid/87/Default.aspx
http://www.symphonymusicians.com/WelcomeAddressbyKarlPaulnack/tabid/87/Default.aspx
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Infants Can Rock Out Too!
Here's a short, fun article about a study finding a sense of rhythm in newborns:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28862536/wid/11915773?GT1=31037
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28862536/wid/11915773?GT1=31037
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Audiation, Musical Contrasts
Hello everyone,
I hope everyone is staying warm! It's winter for sure!
I hope you're all enjoying your Bells CDs. Does your child have a favorite song or two yet? Get ready to hear it a million times! This can be tiring for adults but is great fun and very educationally valuable for your child. Save your stories about your child's musical moments this week to share with us in class next week. There are some blank pages in the back of your songbook where you can note the meaningful musical moments you share (a beautiful quiet lullaby experience), as well as the silly and ridiculously cute things your child does with music. One parent just wrote to share with me that her daughter got extremely excited when "Trot, Old Joe" started playing. Apparently, the little girl shouted, "It's 'Taco Joe!'" and sang it that way for the whole song.
AUDIATION IS SWEEPIN' THE NATION
A subject that I will be bringing up more and more in the next few weeks is "audiation." Very simply put, audiation is the process of hearing music in your head. To expand a bit, thinking is to speech as audiation is to singing. Right before you sing a note, chances are you are hearing the note "in your head." Accurate audiation (hearing the correct tone/rhythm) in one's head is absolutely necessary to being able to make music accurately.
Audiation is a learned process that is easiest to learn when the brain is in its most malleable state: early childhood. Children tend to learn audiation through exploration and experimentation when they are placed in a consistently rich musical environment. Children often start with audiating the last notes of songs rather than the first. And it takes their inexperienced brains time to take in, process, and then manifest that final tone (also usually called the resting tone) in some way--often 5 seconds or longer after the external sound stops! That is why we do lots of resting tone play at the ends of songs and another reason why (you guessed it) I ask parents not to use their speaking voices in class, particularly in the fragile spaces at the ends of songs. Instead of cheering or talking, please participate in the resting tone play with me, sing goodbye to the instruments, or sometimes...we'll just be silent. And listen. Listen to the sounds your child makes--I heard many little voices singing and speaking and cooing on tones near or right on the resting tones on Monday. If you're talking, you might miss these precious first attempts at singing the resting tone!
Support your child's audiation at home by listening to the tones he/she is cooing or singing, and sing them back to him/her. Make a game of it! After singing a song or listening to one on your CD, give your child the gift of a few seconds of silence so that his/her brain can process what it has heard.
MUSICAL CONTRASTS
To review a couple of things that we did and talked about this past week...most of our "work/play" can be characterized as a study in contrasts. From extremely high to extremely low pitches (in the vocal warm-up) to short vs. long sounds (Hopping and Sliding) to sound vs. silence (Foolin' Around), children ADORE contrasts! They're fascinated by abrupt changes, and they will learn to anticipate them quickly, though the thrill doesn't seem to lessen--rather it increases as they start to figure out how it works!
At the age of 2.5, my son shocked the socks off of me by singing through the entire Alphabet Song alternating loud and soft singing on each phrase. He'd always giggled when I sang it that way for him, cackling when I surprised him on the loud parts. I never guessed he would do it on his own at such a young age! He's not a genius (well, maybe he is...ha!)--just about any child can learn to do this before age 3 or 4. My son has simply had enough live music-making in his life that he is not musically delayed!
Up and Down Pitches
Remember the vocal warm-up? Voices are high when hands are high, voices are low when hands go down, etc.? Try moving your voice up and down to accompany your child's activities, whether it be climbing the stairs, riding the escalator, zipping a zipper, sliding down the slide, or just singing and moving. For those of you with very small children, it's very effective to raise and lower the pitch of your voice while lifting them high and swinging them down. The perception and understanding of pitch direction must occur before children are able to follow a melody line accurately with their voices.
Short and Long Sounds
Putting physical movement to these concepts makes the learning come very naturally and joyfully to our visual and kinesthetic learners. They don't need to know the musical terms "staccato" (short and separated) or "legato" (smoothly connected) to get the idea. Hopping and Sliding was a perfect way to play with these concepts.
Sound and Silence
What is more fascinating that listening to a groovin' little track on a CD and suddenly having it drop away for 7 or 8 beats? I would argue that watching the face of a little one who has never experienced this phenomenon is possibly more fascinating! One little boy in class said "Uh oh!" every time the music stopped during Foolin' Around. It won't be long before he and all the children are rejoicing in those stops and then starting to anticipate when they happen--and even more amazing--knowing when to start playing again!
I hope everyone is staying warm! It's winter for sure!
I hope you're all enjoying your Bells CDs. Does your child have a favorite song or two yet? Get ready to hear it a million times! This can be tiring for adults but is great fun and very educationally valuable for your child. Save your stories about your child's musical moments this week to share with us in class next week. There are some blank pages in the back of your songbook where you can note the meaningful musical moments you share (a beautiful quiet lullaby experience), as well as the silly and ridiculously cute things your child does with music. One parent just wrote to share with me that her daughter got extremely excited when "Trot, Old Joe" started playing. Apparently, the little girl shouted, "It's 'Taco Joe!'" and sang it that way for the whole song.
AUDIATION IS SWEEPIN' THE NATION
A subject that I will be bringing up more and more in the next few weeks is "audiation." Very simply put, audiation is the process of hearing music in your head. To expand a bit, thinking is to speech as audiation is to singing. Right before you sing a note, chances are you are hearing the note "in your head." Accurate audiation (hearing the correct tone/rhythm) in one's head is absolutely necessary to being able to make music accurately.
Audiation is a learned process that is easiest to learn when the brain is in its most malleable state: early childhood. Children tend to learn audiation through exploration and experimentation when they are placed in a consistently rich musical environment. Children often start with audiating the last notes of songs rather than the first. And it takes their inexperienced brains time to take in, process, and then manifest that final tone (also usually called the resting tone) in some way--often 5 seconds or longer after the external sound stops! That is why we do lots of resting tone play at the ends of songs and another reason why (you guessed it) I ask parents not to use their speaking voices in class, particularly in the fragile spaces at the ends of songs. Instead of cheering or talking, please participate in the resting tone play with me, sing goodbye to the instruments, or sometimes...we'll just be silent. And listen. Listen to the sounds your child makes--I heard many little voices singing and speaking and cooing on tones near or right on the resting tones on Monday. If you're talking, you might miss these precious first attempts at singing the resting tone!
Support your child's audiation at home by listening to the tones he/she is cooing or singing, and sing them back to him/her. Make a game of it! After singing a song or listening to one on your CD, give your child the gift of a few seconds of silence so that his/her brain can process what it has heard.
MUSICAL CONTRASTS
To review a couple of things that we did and talked about this past week...most of our "work/play" can be characterized as a study in contrasts. From extremely high to extremely low pitches (in the vocal warm-up) to short vs. long sounds (Hopping and Sliding) to sound vs. silence (Foolin' Around), children ADORE contrasts! They're fascinated by abrupt changes, and they will learn to anticipate them quickly, though the thrill doesn't seem to lessen--rather it increases as they start to figure out how it works!
At the age of 2.5, my son shocked the socks off of me by singing through the entire Alphabet Song alternating loud and soft singing on each phrase. He'd always giggled when I sang it that way for him, cackling when I surprised him on the loud parts. I never guessed he would do it on his own at such a young age! He's not a genius (well, maybe he is...ha!)--just about any child can learn to do this before age 3 or 4. My son has simply had enough live music-making in his life that he is not musically delayed!
Up and Down Pitches
Remember the vocal warm-up? Voices are high when hands are high, voices are low when hands go down, etc.? Try moving your voice up and down to accompany your child's activities, whether it be climbing the stairs, riding the escalator, zipping a zipper, sliding down the slide, or just singing and moving. For those of you with very small children, it's very effective to raise and lower the pitch of your voice while lifting them high and swinging them down. The perception and understanding of pitch direction must occur before children are able to follow a melody line accurately with their voices.
Short and Long Sounds
Putting physical movement to these concepts makes the learning come very naturally and joyfully to our visual and kinesthetic learners. They don't need to know the musical terms "staccato" (short and separated) or "legato" (smoothly connected) to get the idea. Hopping and Sliding was a perfect way to play with these concepts.
Sound and Silence
What is more fascinating that listening to a groovin' little track on a CD and suddenly having it drop away for 7 or 8 beats? I would argue that watching the face of a little one who has never experienced this phenomenon is possibly more fascinating! One little boy in class said "Uh oh!" every time the music stopped during Foolin' Around. It won't be long before he and all the children are rejoicing in those stops and then starting to anticipate when they happen--and even more amazing--knowing when to start playing again!
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