Did you know babies often return to the same or similar musical notes? Whether babbling, cooing, or crying, babies are born preferring musical keys. By joining your child in their “key” you can spark musical conversation with your child from the very beginning. When babies recognize that you’re singing the same note as them they light up and engage in the “conversation.” When engaging in this type of conversation leave plenty of space for your baby to fill in. Babies need more time for auditory processing! Enjoy!!
Danzón by Emerald Brass Quintet
One of our sleepy songs this month is a melody from "Danzón No. 2" by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez, which is also the title of Teacher Leslie's debut album with Emerald Brass. Emerald Brass in a Brass Quintet which means there are five musicians including two trumpets, one horn, one trombone, and one tuba. You can find her album everywhere you stream music and CDs are available for purchase here.
I Got Rhythm
We love our goodbye song, "I Got Rhythm" written by American composer George Gershwin (you may know his Rhapsody in Blue) that first appeared in the movie An American in Paris with Gene Kelly. I included the video because the clip is so charming!
We sing the lyrics:
I got rhythm; I got music; I got my friends who can ask for anything more
Spend time learning "I Got Rhythm" this week with the original lyrics:
I got rhythm
I got music
I got my man/girl
Who could ask for anything more?
I got daisies
In green pastures
I got my man/girl
Who could ask for anything more?
Ol' Man Trouble
I don't mind him
You won't find him
'Round my door
I got starlight
I got sweet dreams
I got my man/girl
Who could ask for anything more?
Who could ask for anything more?
Then try the following activities:
1. Fill in the blank "I got _____" for the whole tune
2. Copy Gene Kelly and ask your child to sing "I got" and then you complete the line with the original lyrics or your own, creating a call/response
3. Sing the song without words, either humming or on a neutral syllable like "la"
4. Replace the words with totally different words, ie. "Bird cat rabbit, bird cat rabbit, bird cat rabbit, frog and elephant and cow." This is great for rhythmic grouping and imagination!
5. Listen to any number of recordings and tap dance!! Our favorites include Ella Fitzgerlad, Sarah Vaughan, Marcus Roberts Trio, Sonny Stitt, Louis Armstrong, and Hank Jones
The Bear Missed the Train
The parody song "The Bear Missed the Train" is based on a famous Yiddish tune "Bei Mir Bistu Shein." There are two distinct sections in this song that repeat creating a form we call AABA. This means the "A" section repeats followed by a different "B" section and finally the "A" returns. This form is hugely popular in musical styles from classical to pop. Differentiating sections in music contributes to discrimination or knowing same and different. There are a few ways to hear this for yourself and help your child hear different sections. First listen without looking at the answer key below and see if you can hear the two different sections.
How'd you do? :-)
The "A" section includes:
Dm
The Bear Missed the Train
Dm
The Bear Missed the Train
A7
The Bear Missed the Train
Dm
And now he’s walking
While the "B" section includes:
Gm
And now he’s walking near
Dm
And now he’s walking far
Gm
And he’s whispering in your ear
A7
And he’s driving in a car
Help your child to hear the different sections by dancing with your two favorite dance moves. Only do one of your awesome moves during the "A" section and your other fantastic move during the "B" section. Another idea—dance in one section and freeze in the other. Or lie down during one section and jump in the other section.
Popular musical misconceptions busted!
From earlier this year….
"Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music was on our winter playlist because it's in minor mode. Most of the repertoire we know and sing is in major mode. Modes can be defined as a collection of hierarchical notes—more on that in another post. Unfortunately, when introducing minor mode an emotion is usually attached. Minor is often described as sad and major as happy. Well, we love busting misconceptions and this is a perfect example! Who hears "My Favorite Things" as a sad song? I'm sure there are people (you may be one of them) and that's not to knock how they hear the tune but it's one of my favorite minor tunes because it makes me so happy. "My Favorite Things" is also in triple meter (rhythm can be grouped in three), which makes me feel like dancing—another enjoyable association. There are many musical reasons that contribute to the emotion association of a tune including the instrumentation (what instruments are used), volume (loud or soft), tempo (fast or slow) etc. The context that you're listening is also important (music at a wedding or a baseball game will illicit different emotions than a memorial service).
Activity:
Listen and sing the tunes on our Spotify playlist or Youtube with your child and ask them what emotion describes the song. You can use an emotions chart or make your own together. Follow your child's lead! If they associate fast as happy, go with it and have a dance party. If they associate soft with sad, mope around and exaggerate the emotion. If you have a baby or young toddler it's never too early to make all sorts of goofy expressions that emulate a variety of emotions. :-)
Valentine's Day Playlist
A little belated but here are some of our favorite 10 songs for children about love (Click song titles to watch and listen):
1. All You Need is Love by the Beatles
2. The More We Get Together by Raffi
3. Heart Song by the Kiboomers
4. A Bushel and a Peck from "Guys and Dolls"
5. On a Bicycle Built for Two by Nat King Cole
6. What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
7. Overjoyed by Stevie Wonder
8. The Mother by Brandi Carlile
9. Lullaby by Billy Joel
10. There's a Little Wheel Turning in my Heart by Laurie Berkner
Let's Go Fly a Kite
Throughout the summer we enjoyed using scarves to fly kites in our workshops. Scarves are amazing for weight, space, time, and flow in music. Find lightweight scarves like those from class and play while listening to "Let's Go Fly A Kite" from Mary Poppins. (We also have scarves in our starter kits, which have about 10 instruments!)
"Let's Go Fly A Kite" is an example of a tune in triple meter, meaning the rhythms can be grouped in three. While listening to the tune show the triple feel in your hands by clapping all of the beats (beat 1, beat 2, and beat 3) emphasizing beat 1. Now try stomping your feet on beat 1 while clapping. You can also try flying your kite in circles on beat 1 and throwing your scarf into the air on beat 1. See if your child can feel triple meter by watching how they march, move, sing, kite-fly, and dance in the song. Ask you child how else they can move on beat 1. If your child is pre-verbal dance while you are carrying them emphasizing beat 1.
There are endless ways to play with scarves and feel triple time. Please share any fun ideas you or your children come up with!
Is my child learning in music class?
A Dad asked me last week about what to do to encourage his child to stay in the room at Noise Lab during our workshops and I didn't have a great answer in the moment. I've further reflected on the idea of how a child should "look" involved to be involved in music.
A child engaged in music may look like.....
Music is an aural and oral language. It is internalized and learned by listening and doing. Depending on their age, day, time, week, learning style, level of interest, and many many factors, a child may be fully engaged while standing outside of the room at Noise Lab or not engaged at all inside the room. Children are born learning. They wake up every day learning. All of their senses are being called upon to process the many new things life sends their way each and every waking minute. And it's hard! If a child leaves the workshop they may be feeling overwhelmed or they made need to process something from before and we've moved on too quickly. Or maybe they're hungry and need a break. They also might need to move! Or maybe they just don't like the song we're singing! :-) What I love about Noise Lab workshops is that despite all of the ins and outs, in the end I'm learning about my child (and all of yours) and bonding with them while we make meaningful music together.
Think big picture
My children are certainly not model students at Noise Lab. They sometimes need attention that I can't provide and are often not doing what everyone else is doing. I believe that my participation and enjoyment transfers and allows for them to stay engaged because I'm engaged. I know this to be true because my children sing the Noise Lab songs when no one is watching and often request to listen to them at home. Despite their behavior in class, they are still learning. Is it always fun having them? Not always! The environment that we're creating for our children establishes their first connections with music. You are creating a powerful bond with your child and for your child with music that will last a lifetime.
Expectations
Is it reasonable to expect a 18 month old to sit for 45 minutes? Absolutely not! Is it reasonable for a 4 year old? Absolutely not, although some can. While our workshops incorporate movement and we often change things up to account for the need to wiggle it is not realistic to expect any child that attends our class to sit still. In fact, if they all did it'd be so boring! I'm inspired by my colleagues at Bing Nursery School that have created a thoughtful schedule for their classrooms. What do they expect? After 3 hours of free play children ages 3-5 are asked to sit at story time for 15 minutes! That's it!
Overview
- Movement in and out of the classroom is okay (though play equipment should be off limits during the class) and may be what your child needs to learn.
- The week to week may not look pretty but will accumulate in a lifelong meaningful experience and bond with music that you are gifting your child.
- Expectations for what your child should be able to do and what they can actually do may not be the same (a lesson I learn constantly).
add "and hear" after "see."
Meaningful Music Making With Your Children In the Car
Some of the most meaningful music I hear from my children comes while we're driving around town. I often leave the radio off to allow for these spontaneous musical interactions. My 3-year-old often sings about what he sees, either using pre-existing melodies or making up new melodies. Sometimes the music isn't very meaningful, and that's okay too! I resolve to listen either way and record as I did earlier this month.
I feel that providing him space to create music is giving him a gift of spontaneity, uninterrupted time, and space to be bored. It's also amazing to witness how my 10 month old responds. She usually chimes in singing related pitches.
Of course we put on recorded music too, or the radio, or sing together. I recently found a video of a family singing a John Coltrane solo on a tune called 26-2. All choruses. WOW!
Most of us would probably shy away from introducing our children to Coltrane, thinking it's too hard or wouldn't mean much to them. The above family demonstrates how false that belief can be. I also love James Corden's Carpool Karaoke with Stevie Wonder. Even Stevie makes music in the car!
So whatever the music may be, if you love it, share with your children. And allow them space to create their own too!
How Toddlers and Newborns Learn Music
It’s easy to reflect on your own experience when considering how children learn music. You may remember keyboards, xylophones, or recorders in music class, participating in church choir, or taking private lessons, all of which are examples of formal instruction. Music acquisition usually begins before formal instruction just as learning a language begins before kindergarten. Think about your first musical memories. Are those different than your experiences with formal music instruction? If so, your music learning was well underway as a young child and infant.
Learning music begins like learning language – children listen. They listen frequently; they listen to a variety of people; they listen in different situations; they listen to familiar and unfamiliar voices; and they are spoken to often. Children are wired to listen and learn by listening to live music. I’m reminded weekly of the importance of live musical interactions during Noise Lab classes as children come right up to my face as I’m singing and playing guitar. Listening to live music and recorded music are not the same, just as listening to recorded speaking and interacting in conversation with people are not the same. While there’s nothing wrong with listening to recorded music, it does not substitute for live musical interactions.
In language acquisition, with listening comes speaking. Similarly to how young babies babble only days and weeks after listening and being spoken to, babies that are sung to “sing” not long after birth. Often when babies sing they refer back to the same or similar pitch (note). If you have the opportunity to be near an infant, sing “Hot Cross Buns” and then listen. Babies often take longer to respond so don’t be surprised if the response is minutes later! Here’s an example of an 8-week old baby filling the space with the melody “Dona Nobis Pacem.” Notice how the baby waits until there is a little space in the melody to sing and then takes full advantage to offer her ideas.
In music, speaking is synonymous with singing something new or different. Also called improvising. Daily language is improvisatory and unless you are reading a script you are improvising. We are born improvisers. This second recording is an 8-month old baby interacting to the radio while singing tonal and rhythmic improvisations with Dad.
Unfortunately, in music learning, improvising is often abandoned for reading music notation. In language an infant or young toddler would never be expected to read, but this is often the expectation for children in formal music instruction with few prior musical experiences. Without context, reading music becomes an activity of decoding symbols and though music can be created, it is often with little meaning. Imagine having to recite text in a foreign language that you did not know, never learning the meaning of the words and instead only learning how to say them perfectly. This is essentially the experience of many children with few musical interactions being asked to read music before they speak.
Once listening and speaking in music are well under way (my first post discussed the importance of knowing a lot of songs) reading and writing (composing) in music can be meaningful. Without a rich musical environment created prior to reading and composing, a child’s language in music may not be very meaningful. The process of learning music should be similar to learning language. It should be fun and engaging through a variety of experiences that are meaningful to the whole family! Stay tuned for my next post about singing with your children!
Listening - Speaking - Reading - Writing
When is my child ready to play an instrument?
The most common question we hear is, "when is my child ready to play an instrument?" We usually reply, "how many songs does your child know?" Musical development unfolds differently for everyone depending on many factors including desire, ability, and exposure. Playing an instrument not only requires physical skills but it's also important to remember that an instrument is a tool used to communicate. When a child knows many melodies, can sing the resting tone of songs they know, and has the physical skills required to hold an instrument, a child is ready to play!
To prepare a child for an instrument parents should create a music rich environment that includes:
1. Singing with your child constantly (in child friendly keys like Eb)
2. Listening to quality live music as often as possible
3. Moving and dancing to live music
Once you think your child is ready for an instrument there's no need to rush out and buy an common instrument such as violin or find a private lessons teacher. Let your child play with an instrument such as a kazoo or glockenspiel. Play and sing through the songs your child knows. There is plenty of time in a child's life for formal learning. Think about when your child first began speaking. Did you rush out and find a language tutor and begin learning sentence construction? Too often, this happens in music, which creates a gap between skill and understanding. For every time we've been asked "when is my child ready to play an instrument" we've been told stories of parents/children that used to play an instrument but quit because they had a negative experience. Keep it fun and keep it engaging by focusing on the music environment you are providing your child.
Below is a TEDx talk by Dr. Christopher Azzara discussing how we learn music.