Early Childhood Music and Movement Classes Ages 0-5
Baby Music
Family Music &
Intro to Music Fundamentals
Welcome to Bloom School's Early Childhood Music & Music Movement program! We are honored to be a part of this important and and exciting stage in the musical development of your child. You'll find our instructors have various backgrounds and training in music ed from:
- Orff Schulwerk
- The Gordon Music Learning Theory
- Music Together
- Kindermusik and
- Musikgarten
We believe children learn best when learning concepts through their bodies first while incorporating singing, playing, dance, drama and spoken word. Their first instrument is their body. The following outlines the main goal we have for preschool aged children and the various paths we take in order to achieve it.
The Goal
Audiation. Hearing music in the mind with understanding. Audiation is to music as thought is to language. It is a cognitive process by which the brain gives meaning to musical sounds. As in language, music contains "vocabulary" that when learned in an environment that is most intuitive to young children, leads to a deeper and more joyful understanding of music and music making. This environment is one that emphasizes movement, pretend and play in learning musical concepts. The activities promote the child to think and hear as musicians but to participate as the children they are.
The Activities
Steady Beat/Pulse.
Rhythm can be stressful to a child if they can't organize the sound by recognizing/feeling the pulse or steady beat. Usually this is felt through the body of their caregiver in the beginning. Being held while dancing or moving to the beat is a wonderful way to achieve this. Tapping lightly on the bottom of their feet, back etc is also a fun way for them to feel the pulse. While they may not have the motor development to express on their own till age 2, it all begins in the arms of a loved one! As they get older (ages 3-7), they will learn to play with a mallet instrument, clap, tap different parts of body, tap sticks, partner hand claps, walk, march, jump, leap and dance to a beat. At this point rhythm is introduced, first by echo, and eventually reading and writing. This is not taught by rote. Reading, writing and expressing rhythm is taught in the same vein as how we learn our own language.
Singing Voice.
Many children (and adults too) "talk sing" which sometimes just sounds like talking or in adults is described as tone deafness. It's actually an inability to modulate the voice in order to find and create the singing voice. Singing to a newborn is just as important as speaking to them. Synapses in the brain are ready to take this in and learn music as a language thus leading to audiation. A child must have a connection to hearing musically in order to not only find their singing voice, but to be able to match pitch. Learning to modulate one's own voice is where we begin. Students will learn the difference between speaking voice, loud voice, whisper voice and singing voice.
Resting Tone.
Every song has a key- this is what we call the resting tone. Children will learn to recognize and sing this in a variety of tonalities- major, minor, modal as well as in different musical genres- Latin, African, Jazz, Classical etc. Again, we are trying to help them organize musical thought.
Movement
Movement is so important in the early childhood class. Developmentally, children learn everything through their bodies. They need to physically experience an idea. Without this, the concept at hand is lost. You can sit down and teach a 4 year old how to recite Shakespeare, but why? Without conceptual understanding, there is no true learning. A child doesn't learn what fast or slow is until they've moved in that way. Fast/slow, up/down are concepts that must be learned through the body. Moving up and down within the music alphabet should start with the body first. Pulse must be learned through the body. Vocalizations must be learned through the body- for instance, holding a flower and raising it to show that it's growing accompanied by a sliding up vocalization makes more sense than just sitting and making sounds. Every concept in the music and movement classes must to be learned through the body first.
Form
Identifying the structure of music helps children to organize musical thought. Structure in music is called form. Identifying form is identifying the different sections/parts in a song/piece.
Improvisation
Before a child starts formal training on an instrument of their choice, it's important for them to explore and improvise musically. This is actually extremely important once they start their private lessons as well! To get students "off the page" can be an invaluable way to get them to really listen to themselves and the music they make thus helping them to be more expressive musicians. Children naturally improvise stories and games in their daily play. Expanding this into their musical play is a wonderful way for them to learn important concepts in time, rhythm, melody and form- not to mention story telling. After all, that is the core of great instrumental and vocal improvisations.
Play & Pretend
We want children to always, no matter what they do or where they go in their musical lives, associate music with play. Activities that foster play and pretend, reinforce this association and create an enduring, joyful context for their musical futures.
Exposure
Finally, we want all of our students, when it comes time to take private lessons on their chosen instrument, to have a substantial audio pallet from which to draw upon. Having listened and danced and played to many different styles and genres, students will be more open and curious and more willing to follow the varied and wonderful paths of musical exploration.