When children develop an awareness and knowledge of musical elements, children progress in their understanding and ability to control the elements for personal musical expression. Although early childhood music education is primarily about introducing the child to musical sounds and holistic experiences that are of the highest quality, enriched learning occurs when the child has an understanding of and ability to manipulate the music elements of rhythm, melody, form, loudness/softness, tempo, timbre, articulation, and style.
The foundations for Music include responding to music, develop musical skills, and being able to make music.
Music
1. Music Expression: The use of voice and instruments to create sounds
Indicators
Children may...
Examples
Children may.....
1. Use voices expressively when speaking, chanting, and singing.
2. Perform through multiple modalities a variety of simple songs and singing games alone and with others.
3. Use voice and/or instruments to enhance familiar songs or chants.
4. Respond to rhythmic patterns and elements of music using expressive movement.
5. Apply teacher feedback for progress of musical practice and experience.
Sing along to verses of songs that have a repeated pattern.
Act out actions in songs.
Play with instruments to create different sounds.
1. Clap hands in response to music with various beats.
2. Make vocal sounds.
3. Use words such as loud or soft, fast or slow to describe music.
4. Move arms up to high notes and down to low notes.
• Sing along with recordings of learned songs.
• Choose when to appropriately sing, speak, and chant the words of a learned song.
• Practice using high and low vocal sounds.
• Play singing games.
2. Creation of Music: Compose, improvise, and arrange sounds and musical ideas to communicate purposeful intent.
Indicators
Children may....
Examples
Children may......
1. Improvise sound effects to accompany play activities.
2. Use improvised movement to demonstrate musical
awareness.
Move or play in response to music.
• Improvise sound effects during play.
3.Theory of Music. Read, write, and analyze the elements of music through a variety of means to demonstrate musical literacy.
Indicators
Children may....
Examples
Children may....
1. Use individual means to respond to rhythm.
2. Use individual means to respond to pitch.
3. Use individual means to respond to dynamics.
4. Use individual means to respond to form.
5. Use invented symbols to represent musical sounds and ideas.
6. Use personal communication to describe sources of sound.
7. Use individual means to respond to dynamics and tempo.
8. Recognize a wide variety of sounds and sound sources.
Use words or other expressions to say why they like music.
Use words or other expressions to describe differences in music.
Share why they like some music better than others.
Communicate a song’s meaning and intent through drawing or painting (e.g., drawing farm animals while listening to “Old MacDonald”).
Move arms up to high notes and down to low notes.
Identify types of sounds (voice vs. instrument).
Use words to identify sounds they hear in their world
4. Aesthetic Valuation of Music: Evaluate and respond to music using criteria to make informed musical decisions.
Indicators
Children may...
Examples
Children may....
1. Move, sing, or describe to show preference for styles of music.
2. Discuss feelings in response to music.
3. Use individual communication to describe music.
4. Explore music from media, community, and home events.
5. Listen and respond to various musical styles, such as marches and lullabies.
6. Communicate feelings in music.
7. Express personal interests regarding why some music selections are preferred over others.
Move, dance, sing in response to music.
Indicate preference for certain songs or styles of music.
Request their favorite music.
Move in different ways to different styles of music (e.g., children’s songs, lullabies, jazz, marches, etc.).
Bounce, sway, walk, march or skip to music.
(Colorado Department of Human Services. (2021, October 26). Off to a great start. Colorado Early Learning & Development Guidelines. Retrieved August 19, 2022, from https://earlylearningco.org/)
Teachers can support children’s development of the music foundations with the following:
Find ways to expose children to music being conducted and performed.
Provide music areas where children can experience instruments or musical activities as individuals or in a small group.
Set up a “Science of Sound” area where children can explore and experiment with building sounds.
Provide a conductor’s listening and play area.
Make instruments with the children.
Incorporate chant games and songs related to sound production.
Include a variety of songs that related to a particular topic area
Use songs that have movements or gestures that accompany the words.
Provide children with an opportunity to conduct the group by singing or playing instruments.
Dramatize poetry and nursery rhymes as a fun way to explore and develop vocal inflection and pitch capabilities in the young singer.
Invite young children to move through instrumental program music, or music that “tells a story.”
Figure 10.14: Music with actions are popular in early childhood.[1]
Encourage children to invent accompaniments with musical instruments.
Invite local professional musicians or family members to demonstrate and talk about their instruments and the sounds made.
Invite live musicians for the children to conduct; encourage the child conductor to stop and start, go faster and slower, and give arm gestures for louder and softer sounds.
Incorporate books related to music. Include storybooks on conductors and orchestras.
Encourage children to create simple rhythm patterns.
Extend learning about different ways to lead a music group.
Incorporate freeze-and-move games as a fun, simple way to help children develop control of the body in space and to learn and practice fundamental locomotor movements.
Provide opportunities for independent and group play through musical play kits, which can be stored in a music area.
Incorporate the use of Web sites of children’s music and other age-appropriate software (if available), to engage children’s interest in sound
Encourage children to be playful and spontaneous when singing—they often sing made-up songs as they play alone or with other children.
Minimize use of recorded music when the goal is singing.
Pots, pans, metal or plastic cans, spoons, chopstick-beaters with cork stoppers for rhythm Glass jars filled with different levels of water for a water xylophone Pieces of 12” dowel for rhythm sticks; shakers made of plastic eggs filled with different materials
Basic
Rhythm sets with shakers and simple drums Singable books; glove puppets for nursery rhyme songs; song maps made of paper or fabric; selection of CDs, CD player, and headset for personal listening
Enhanced
Single-note resonator bells; child-sized xylophones; multiple-sized hand drums; ethnic instruments; child-sized guitar or ukulele; small electronic keyboard; recorder/flute; music software; music videos; songbooks
Natural Environment
Rhythm blocks made of small tree limbs; homemade wooden or stone xylophones suspended on a garden hose; wind chimes made of natural objects
Adaptive Materials
Thicker handles on some materials; instruments in a fixed position (such as a drum on a stand) For children with reduced hearing ability, instruments that resonate and vibrate allow for touching or holding.
Research Highlight
The following points about music and development in early childhood come from Start the Music Strategies, a collaboration by MENC (the National Association for Music Education), the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and the U.S. Department of Education. The points were developed by reviewing the research and professional literature.
We know that music is among the first and most important modes of communication experienced by infants.
As young children grow and develop, music continues as a basic medium not only of communication, but also of cultural expression and self-expression.
As preschool children not only listen to music, but also learn to make music by singing and playing instruments together (and responding to music in a variety of ways), they create important contexts for the early learning of vital life skills such as cooperation, collaboration, and group effort. Music in an educational setting also begins to teach young children to make judgments about what constitutes “good” music, helping them develop the rudiments of an aesthetic sense.
Music contributes to “school readiness,” a foundational education aim of the American people for all our children.
When children develop musical skill and knowledge they are developing basic cognitive, social, and motor skills necessary for success throughout the educational process, and in life itself.[5]
Source:
Start the Music Strategies. Reston, VA: National Association for Music Education, n.d.
Vignette
It is raining outside. Miriam and Pablo, both age three, begin clicking and tapping their fingers on the window glass to imitate the rain hitting the window. Pretty soon, all the children are making different kinds of rain sounds on the window. After a few minutes the rain comes to a stop, and the children are invited to circle time.[6]
