Baby and Pre-School Music Basics
HOW DO CHILDREN LEARN MUSIC?
Children learn by Listening
Music should be a frequent and consistent part of each child’s daily environment.
Children learn by experimenting on their own through Play
Song activities that model both active participation and the concept that there is no wrong answer turn music time into play time and promote individual play and experimentation with the music.
Children learn through Repetition
Repetition is a key part of learning. The more times we repeat a thought or experience, the easier it is to remember. Young children thrive on repetition.
Children learn with the support of adult guided Experimentation
By including the meaningful adults in the child’s life (parents, teacher) as part of our song activities, we set up the framework for ongoing adult guided musical interaction, experimentation and support.
Children learn when music is presented in a Meaningful Context
“Open song structures” is a term we use in Kindermusik. It refers to how we allow children, teachers and parents to adapt songs in whatever ways they please, allowing music to interweave with the meaningful events in children’s lives.
Children learn by Listening
Music should be a frequent and consistent part of each child’s daily environment.
Children learn by experimenting on their own through Play
Song activities that model both active participation and the concept that there is no wrong answer turn music time into play time and promote individual play and experimentation with the music.
Children learn through Repetition
Repetition is a key part of learning. The more times we repeat a thought or experience, the easier it is to remember. Young children thrive on repetition.
Children learn with the support of adult guided Experimentation
By including the meaningful adults in the child’s life (parents, teacher) as part of our song activities, we set up the framework for ongoing adult guided musical interaction, experimentation and support.
Children learn when music is presented in a Meaningful Context
“Open song structures” is a term we use in Kindermusik. It refers to how we allow children, teachers and parents to adapt songs in whatever ways they please, allowing music to interweave with the meaningful events in children’s lives.
Research clearly shows that early childhood is
the critical time for music development. Given the right supporting environment, important milestones in both tonal and rhythmic development are within reach for all young children. Where environmental stimulation is lacking, however, children are at significant risk of not achieving the foundation needed to support a lifetime of music learning and enjoyment.
For instance, research shows that musical aptitude --the ease with which a child learns music ---- fluctuates in the first few years of life in response to the quality of a child's music environment. A child in a stimulating music environment receives an aptitude boost. “The brain undergoes a period of rapid neural development after birth, continuing for the first years of life. During this time, new neural connections are forming more rapidly than at any other time in our lives, and during our mid childhood years, the brain starts to prune these connections, retaining only the most important and most often used ones. This becomes the basis for our understanding of music and ultimately the basis for what we like in music, what music moves us, and how it moves us. This is not to say that we can’t learn to appreciate new music as adults, but basic structural elements are incorporated into the very wiring of our brains when we listen to music early in our lives.”
Daniel Levitin Ph.D. This Is Your Brain on
Music p.107.
The bottom line is that easy and relatively
effortless learning and enjoyment of music will be an option for those children whose musical aptitude was bolstered by a rich musical environment in the earliest years of life.
the critical time for music development. Given the right supporting environment, important milestones in both tonal and rhythmic development are within reach for all young children. Where environmental stimulation is lacking, however, children are at significant risk of not achieving the foundation needed to support a lifetime of music learning and enjoyment.
For instance, research shows that musical aptitude --the ease with which a child learns music ---- fluctuates in the first few years of life in response to the quality of a child's music environment. A child in a stimulating music environment receives an aptitude boost. “The brain undergoes a period of rapid neural development after birth, continuing for the first years of life. During this time, new neural connections are forming more rapidly than at any other time in our lives, and during our mid childhood years, the brain starts to prune these connections, retaining only the most important and most often used ones. This becomes the basis for our understanding of music and ultimately the basis for what we like in music, what music moves us, and how it moves us. This is not to say that we can’t learn to appreciate new music as adults, but basic structural elements are incorporated into the very wiring of our brains when we listen to music early in our lives.”
Daniel Levitin Ph.D. This Is Your Brain on
Music p.107.
The bottom line is that easy and relatively
effortless learning and enjoyment of music will be an option for those children whose musical aptitude was bolstered by a rich musical environment in the earliest years of life.
And the Research Says....
EDWIN GORDON’S MUSIC LEARNING THEORY
Dr. Gordon’s research suggests that there are two stages of Music Aptitude: Developmental Music Aptitude and Stabilized Music Aptitude. Developmental Music Aptitude is from birth through about age 9. During the developmental stage, the level of aptitude is in a state of change. It is vulnerable to positive or negative influence through both instruction and environment, and is most vulnerable during the earliest years. The most typical negative influence on develop mental music aptitude is simply neglect. Without sufficient stimulation, the inborn potential for musical growth will actually atrophy. Stabilized Music Aptitude--- After age 9 music aptitude is stabilized and will not change. Other researchers suggest the change to stabilized music aptitude may be linked to puberty.
Dr. Gordon’s research suggests that there are two stages of Music Aptitude: Developmental Music Aptitude and Stabilized Music Aptitude. Developmental Music Aptitude is from birth through about age 9. During the developmental stage, the level of aptitude is in a state of change. It is vulnerable to positive or negative influence through both instruction and environment, and is most vulnerable during the earliest years. The most typical negative influence on develop mental music aptitude is simply neglect. Without sufficient stimulation, the inborn potential for musical growth will actually atrophy. Stabilized Music Aptitude--- After age 9 music aptitude is stabilized and will not change. Other researchers suggest the change to stabilized music aptitude may be linked to puberty.
HUBEL AND WIESEL RESEARCH
Nobel prize winning research by doctors David Hubel and Tortsen Wiesel of the Harvard Medical School found that if a kitten or monkey was raised
with one eyelid sutured closed during the first few months of its life, the animal would be permanently blind in that eye. This research documented the fact that the brain is not fully developed at birth. Instead brain development continues during the first years of life and the environment directly effects that development.
KINDERMUSIK! The perfect way to provide the nurturing, educationally sound methods of helping your child's brain become all that it can be! Join Us!
Each curriculum lasts 10 weeks. This school year we will be teaching two sessions. We want to encourage young families to invest their time and resources and take advantage of this perfect early education curriculum! Throughout the past 11 years of The LAMB School, we know from experience that Kindermusik can make all the difference in wiring your young one for future success. It is fun and immediately rewarding with long...long time great effects. Join us! We want to reach as many young families as we can!
Nobel prize winning research by doctors David Hubel and Tortsen Wiesel of the Harvard Medical School found that if a kitten or monkey was raised
with one eyelid sutured closed during the first few months of its life, the animal would be permanently blind in that eye. This research documented the fact that the brain is not fully developed at birth. Instead brain development continues during the first years of life and the environment directly effects that development.
KINDERMUSIK! The perfect way to provide the nurturing, educationally sound methods of helping your child's brain become all that it can be! Join Us!
Each curriculum lasts 10 weeks. This school year we will be teaching two sessions. We want to encourage young families to invest their time and resources and take advantage of this perfect early education curriculum! Throughout the past 11 years of The LAMB School, we know from experience that Kindermusik can make all the difference in wiring your young one for future success. It is fun and immediately rewarding with long...long time great effects. Join us! We want to reach as many young families as we can!
712-253-2867 for Registration or email thelambschool@gmail.com
