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From one very small group in 1990, today about 80 children
Each session ran for 45 minutes and activities were kept in a similar order each week. I made coloured streamers from crepe paper which were scattered over the floor. Children chose a couple and these were shaken in time to our opening song which was always the hokey cokey. Everyone was able to particicipate-even the youngest babies were carried!
Parents or carers were actively encouraged to participate.
After our opening activity song we sat in circle and continued to sing 2 or 3 ACTION SONGS. These involve a variety of hand and body movements with repetive chours.
Following the vocal activity, we then played with the musical instruments. These, i kept in a large wicker basket and just tipped them into the middle of the circle. Playing involved shaking, blowing, tapping and banging. An activity centered on exploring and creating. Children were free to change or swap instruments periodically to rhythmic background music. Carers were again always encouraged to join in and have fun with the children.
Every week i introduced a theme, some which worked well were Elephants, Teddies, and Jack in the Box. I would bring a picture or toys and talk a little, tell a story and always sing a song.
After this I would hand out bottles of blowing bubbles to all the adults and play some quiet floaty music...the room always looked magical with hundreds of bubbles floating. The children (and adults) loved it and any boisterous activity always ceased.
Following bubbles, we formed a circle and sang ring' o roses (twice). To finish the session I produced enough balloons for every child, which are played with for at least 5 minutes to more lively music. Each child would leave the session with a balloon and a picture that i drew relating to the theme of the week.
The groups were enormous fun for the children, parents and myself.
SOME USEFUL TIPS THAT COULD MAKE LIFE MUCH EASIER!!!
- Use light coloured crepe paper- dark blue stains when in contact with dribble!
- Tinsel streamers are fun for christmas.
- Have cloths to hand after bubble activity the mess is incredible.
- Only use bubbles in a carpeted room-vinyl etc will be very slippy and dangerous.
- Have string to give out to tie balloons to take home at the end of the session.
- Have more than one of each instrument- they all want the tambourine.
Although I practice as a recorder and piano teacher, I have come to recognize the enormous importance early childhood experiences have in developing the whole child. Not only does the child who wants to take up a musical instrument benefit from a structured two or three year course of musical activities, but such a course helps to develop the whole child.
We cannot perhaps imagine life without music: song, jazz opera symphony, etc.. but in too many of our nations schools and homes that is not such an unlikely thought as it sounds. There is of course plenty of background music available through television and in our shops but that is not music which encourages listening. All children are musical. Music is the natural expression for every child. As babies, young children respond to rhythm just watch infants rock to and fro when they listen to music, watch them smile from ear to ear! The beginnings of language are quite clearly rhythmic babble.
There is such a vital role to be played by we music teachers in providing very young children with a structured programme of musical activities that will awaken their interest in music ; stimulate rhythmic movement and spontaneous vocalization and increase their emotional stability. All we have to do is engage young children in musical experiences and help them to develop new skills. It sounds so easy!
Over the next few months i will be suggesting plans and ideas for providing children as young as six months with a sound musical basis. My syllabus can extend the child's musical skills from that young age for the next seven or eight years.
As a trained primary school teacher I cannot emphasize enough the importance of you, yourself, enjoying the the activities in which you are involving your class, Whilst holding clearly in your mind the aims and value of every activity your pupils experience. It is therefore, vital to plan your lessons meticulously whilst being prepared to follow an unexpected but valuable tangent. Concepts must be consolidated in the guise of ever new activities so that the children do not feel as though a game has passed its sell-by date. These are of course areas to be covered in the future. I will conclude this month by outlining further areas in which music plays an important role in our children's growth.
Music belongs to everyone. It should not be seen as available to an elite. The use of song therefore in teaching these tiny children is the most democratic way of establishing the premise that music is inclusive. Zoltan Kodaly considered singing to be the most natural form of active music-making and the best preparation for learning a musical instrument. Through songs, games and movement children become more self confident and they learn to express their feelings unselfconsciously through mime and dance. Listening to music can affect a child in two ways by its calming or by its stimulating effect. The development of auditory awareness and listening skills is the firm foundation upon which so much can be built the development of speech and the provision of opportunities for the child to express him or herself, to communicate and use his or her imagination, to be creative and to learn to participate in a group.
Through traditional folk songs the child becomes familiar with his or her national heritage and the simple melodies can be used to illustrate many musical contrasts, such as high and low, fast and slow, soft and loud, long and short, sound and silence form and structure etc. Many of these songs are pentatonic and therefore, easy for the child to develop a good sense of pitch. The development of the inner ear being, of course, a vital requirement for future musical activities.
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