Let's Move!
Why move to music?
Studies have shown that music has a huge, positive effects on early childhood development. Exposure to music fosters many early learning capabilities, including:
Speech development
Listening skills
Patterning and sequencing
Rhythm, beat, and timing
Social skills
Emotional development
Memory
Physical coordination
Active Ear Tracking
Sound is all around us. Active listening is an important tool for understanding the dimensions of sound around us. It is also vital when we perform in a musical ensemble.
Try this ear tracking game.
Give each person in your group different sound to play (spoons, whistle, drum, etc)
One person will hide eyes as others hide around the yard
Each person plays their instruments
The 'It' person will use their ears to hear where you are
Variation: See if the 'It' person can find just ONE of the instruments. Can they find the drum when all the other instruments are playing?
Body Subconscious & Eye-'Everything' Coordination
Body subconscious is your intuitive sense of your body when you do not focus on it. As a musician, we need to be able to move the correct fingers while we are reading music, making the appropriate mouth shape (embouchure), and breathing fully. We have to do all this WITHOUT looking at our hands. Try this exercise with your child to help develop their fingering coordination.
Place instrument on lap with hands raised.
Call out one of their notes on page 6.
See how fast your child can find the fingering and play the note
Sense of Rhythm
Rhythm is the length that each note is performed. Our sense of rhythm is unique to ourselves. It helps us to alter the way we walk, talk, how we feel, and how we think.
Longer and slower notes are often more challenging to our children. Rests, or moments of silence, tend to be the most tricky for them to track.
Listen to 'Seven Jumps' (click link below) with your child. Move to the music when you hear it moving. Freeze each time you hear a long note. Be ready! Some of the notes are longer than expected! Can you remain frozen the appropriate length of time?