Chapter One The Benefits of Music and Movement Today we know more about how children learn and grow than ever before. We have data to confirm our hunch that "Music is vital to life." Read what experts in their fields think about the benefits of music and movement:
"Music brings people together. Through music, children take an inner experience and move it into a shared creative experience. Group music-making releases energy which can be channeled in creative, productive directions. Children learn about themselves and others by playing music together and by listening to each other-tapping into hidden courage that can be played out by singing together or discovering the inner resources to listen quietly to another child's playing." - Judi Bosco Board Certified Music Therapist "Resiliency - to bounce back after a disturbing event is not something we are born with; it must be learned and sometimes that takes many years. There is no vehicle more joyful and playful for providing such training than early childhood music and movement." - Dee Joy Coulter, Ed.D. Neuroscience Educator "A rich voice opens the ear and gives energy to the nervous system. Not only does it help children process and memorize the message, but it also increases their desire to listen more, learn more, and know more. A good voice fills the cognitive and emotional brain." - Paul Madaule Founder and Director
The Listening Centre "Speech and music have a number of shared processing systems. Musical experiences which enhance processing can therefore impact on the perception of language which in turn impacts on learning to read." - Susan Hallam Institute of Education
University of London Noted author and neuroscience educator Jane Healy speaks about children whose parents have chosen more "academic" pursuits for their children: "Studies show that 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds in heavily "academic" classes tend to become less creative and more anxious - without gaining significant advantages over their peers." - Jane M. Healy Your Child's Growing Mind And, if everything else were not convincing enough.a 2007 poll found that 88% of all post-graduate students in college and 83% of all people earning $150,000 or more had extensive music training. Poll, November 14, 2007 Reuters, Ltd. Why Music and Movement are Vital for Children: Peanut butter and jelly, socks and shoes, bats and balls, hide and seek and music are all elements of childhood. Children are naturally interested in music, and music is naturally good for children. Why is music so attractive to children and why is music so well suited to children?
Music is a language, and children are oriented toward learning language.
Music evokes movement, and children delight in and require movement for their development and growth.
Music engages the brain while stimulating neural pathways associated with such higher forms of intelligence as abstract thinking, empathy, and mathematics.
Music's melodic and rhythmic patterns provide exercise for the brain and help develop memory. Who among us learned the ABC's without the ABC song?
Music is an aural art and young children are aural learners. Since ears are fully mature before birth, infants begin learning from the sounds of their environment before birth.
Music is perfectly designed for training children's listening skills. Good listening skills and school achievement go hand in hand.
Developmentally appropriate music activities involve the whole child-the child's desire for language, the body's urge to move, the brain's attention to patterns, the ear's lead in initiating communication, the voice's response to sounds, as well as the eye-hand coordination associated with playing musical instruments.
Music is a creative experience which involves expression of feelings. Children often do not have the words to express themselves and need positive ways to release their emotions.
Music transmits culture and is an avenue by which beloved songs, rhymes, and dances can be passed down from one generation to another. Music is a social activity which involves family and community participation. Children love to sing and dance at home, school, and at church.
[1] It is my strong belief that all children love learning. The very youngest of them soak knowledge up as if they were dry sponges thrown upon the water. At the Montessori schools we also believe that the children learn with their hands. They do an activity with their hands and the muscle memory actually works with the mind memory, enhancing what they learn. So, what we do is show the children how to do something, and then they repeat it with their hands. Let me give you an example as to how I show music to very young children (1 to 6 years of age or even older).
Rhythmic flash cards: I use rhythmic flash cards to help the children develop a sense of how long to hold each type of note. Practicing with these cards also helps to increase the children's memory, attention span and focus when we play a game that involves clapping the rhythm after only looking at the card for a brief moment. We also allow children to improvise their own melodies on top of the rhythms given by these cards. Below is an example of what these cards look like.
www.jaytonmusic.com I have used my hand-made flash cards with the notes for over 20 years. They are a gigantic size, made out of cardboard and kept in a special order that makes the music easy to learn. I begin with walking out quarter notes. The children step out each beat. It is very simple. The first five flash cards (1-5) are eighth and quarter notes. The next five cards (6-10) introduce the half note, and we actually say them using the eighth and quarter notes as well. When we reach the next five cards (11-15) we introduce the "Rest." We reach the Rest and whisper the word "rest." So, we use the eighth, quarter, and half notes and the Rest in different order. Then I introduce the sixteenth note with clapping and slapping the legs. Yet another set of five cards (16-20) are introduced which are more advanced notes like 16th notes and triplets and even more advanced, and it is a relief to have them all to use during lesson time. Using the cards five days a week became a challenge for the kids. A seven minute exercise at a music lesson is long and boring if the task is the same every day. So, I came up with a rhythm game. I put five cards down on the floor. I would take one card from the floor, and the kids had to guess which one I had taken out to make the rhythm. (The name of the game is "What Rhythm is Missing?"). The other game, called "Memorize the Rhythm," was introduced as flashcards. After clapping the whole set, I asked children to look at the rhythm card and when I hide it, they will clap without seeing the card, but at the same time memorize the next one. The variation was great, and the children became very proficient. On another day I started to speed up the cards. When I hid a card, they had to look at the next note card and clap it. The next day they used their feet to stamp or run out the varying notes. It was great for motor skills and memory and was fun, fun, fun.
Naturally musical In the 15-35 month-old classroom (and with the 3-6 year-olds) music comes naturally. Everyone wants to touch the keys of the piano. Piano time is the most popular work in class. In fact, a piano became the first choice or method to use to adjust children (to calm down the crying child) at the separation/drop-off time in the morning. Just a week ago little 20 months-old Tripp was crying nonstop. The teacher came with him to the office to call the parents. I took Tripp onto my lap, sat with him at the piano and whispered: "let's make a melody for Mommy ..." I showed him two keys around two black keys (E and C) to press with his thumbs. Anybody could do it. I supported those two "sounds" he played with simple chords of tonic, VI chord and IV subdominant. Tripp not only stopped crying.he magically started to make a nice tune (I quickly managed to video record it). His mom, who almost left in tears herself that morning, was so happy and appreciative. Curious about how the children were soaking up music, I put a xylophone in the classroom. The same effect occurred. Yes, there could have been disruption in the class because everyone wants to be able to use the instruments. But.if I bring a drum into class, for example, and show a certain rhythm then the child will learn rather than fighting over the drum and distracting the class. I always have the same cards for a week, so children can practice and later improvise. I must set up a limit time on each instrument, because the young children don't know limits yet ... just like if you set out snacks, they will keep going back to the bowl until...
