Hippety, Happety, Hoppety!

Hip, Hip, Hip, Hippety (2 + 2 + 2 + 3)
Hap, Hap, Hap, Happety (2 + 2 + 2 + 3)
Hop, Hop, Hop, Hoppety (2 + 2 + 2 + 3)
Hippety, Happety, Hoppety (3 + 3 + 3)
CLAP, CLAP!  (2 + 2))

Did you know this fun-awesome chant we're using for Spring, uses the same asymmetric meter from Dave Brubeck's  "Blue Rondo Ala Turk"?    According to a recent story I heard at my daughter's jazz concert, Dave Brubeck was in Turkey listening to street musicians.  After asking about the origin of this unusual music, the street musicians said, "this rhythm is to us, what blues is to you."  Thus, the name "Blue Rondo Ala Turk"!   

This might seem like a super complex activity for children under age 5, right?  Actually, children's brains are open to learning lots of complex rhythms and meters.  The first five years of a child's live, they are absorbing all that is in their environment.  In class this week, we played with this fun and invigorating HIPPETY, HAPPETY, HOPPETY asymmetric meter chant while bouncing the babies, toddlers and preschoolers on our laps, including some "tickle me" verses and "hugging me" verses as well!  Play can be VERY complex work, but it's always fun.

Watch Dave Brubeck's quartet playing the "Blue Rondo..." song and see if you can hear similar patterns!

Hard Wired for Music

 

We are hard wired from birth for many things: language, physical development, social-emotional skills and . . . music.

 

Children are born music makers!  Children are born to sing and move; infants even as young as a few months of age can show rhythmic and tonal responses to music. Babies will often coo or sound on the resting tone of a song (usually the last note).  Toddlers can bounce to the beat and preschool age children can learn entire songs.  If this is so, why do we have such a large amount of adults who do not feel comfortable singing “Happy Birthday” or dancing in public?  The answer lies in a child’s early childhood years.

Little musicians need to be musically nurtured to develop their potential.

It is true that a child who is exposed to many languages will gain the phonemes of the many languages and conversely, a child who is not given adequate verbal stimulation will grow up with a limited vocabulary.  Similarly, to develop musically, a child needs to be in an environment with a wide variety of musical experiences.  The easiest and most natural time for a child to gain their basic music competence is between birth and age five.  During these years, the window for developing accurate rhythm and singing in-tune is wide open.  If a child’s musical atmosphere in their early years is filled with rich music experiences, a child will be fortunate to grow up with all the music potential they are born with! 

Children get their disposition for being a music-maker from their parents.

How do I nurture this inborn music in my child?  Many parents are worried that they themselves are not musical and might destroy their little one’s possibilities of being a confident music maker.  Actually the very opposite is true.  A child gets his disposition to be a music maker by seeing the grown ups in his life joyously make music.  If your child sees you having a blast singing and cutting up the rug, they will see it is safe and they may even imitate you.  Parents are the best music models for their children!

Ways to nurture your child musically.

There are many easy ways to incorporate music into your child’s life:

·        Sing, sing, sing!  Sing in the car with the radio, make up songs (or change the words to familiar songs) about whatever you are doing with your little one, changing diaper, going to the store, eating some broccoli.  Lullaby time can be the most precious time, singing your child off to sleep with love. 

·        Dance, dance, dance!  Put on your favorite dance music and move your bodies. It’s fun to invite friends over and dance together.  While playing a CD in the car is a good, your child is buckled in tight and can’t get the large movement experience that is important for rhythm development.

·        Play, play, play!  Get out the pots and pans and have a jam session to some fun and inspiring music that you enjoy.  Wooden spoons on plastic bowls and shakers of dried beans in a sealed up water bottle can make some interesting sounds for children experiment with.  Children benefit by having difference sensory experiences of tapping, shaking and scraping.

 
If you find yourself wishing for more ways to play with your child with music, join one of the great early-childhood music programs in town.  Children learn best when they are in a relaxed atmosphere that is non-performance oriented, developmentally appropriate and lots of fun for both the children and the adults. 
 
Active music making is a whole brain experience.  It helps children regulate their emotions; it can soothe the soul and sometimes bring peace to an over-cranky toddler.  Lastly, music is a meaningful way to bond with your child.  Have fun, be silly and thanks for reading our blog!

by Kathy Rowe, Music Together in Phoenix
http://www.MusicTogetherInPhx.com

Singing & Dancing Children

The fun, yet frenzied, Monday Night Music Together class: it's a little bit on the smaller side for our typical classes (5 children and with one make up family), but last night's benefit was getting to really see (and hear) the children's music responses!

We have a family "making up" and coming to class for almost the first time.  Mom and Dad marvels at how pre-walking, baby Cale immediately started rocking his little torso with our "Hello Song" while he squealed with happy sounds.  Cale's strong rhythmic response did not stop until the very end of class.  The whole class took notice and we sang a verse on his happy yowl sound - Cale smiling as if to say, "yes, that's MINE!"

A set of adorable soon-to-be 4 year old twin brothers (also with both Mom and Dad) immediately start to moving parts of their bodies to the beat.  J.J. leads the class with his pointer finger as we warm up with "whooo" sounds going higher and higher and then quick down to the ground.  Colton is sitting really close to mom; he's smiling but says "no thanks"; we follow Dad's finger "whew, whew, whew" up and down.

Jack and his Mom are holding hands rocking side to side like a HUGE bell for the "Ding Dong" song; Jack taking the lead!  We switch to a "row boat" motion, still with parents/children holding hands.  I hear mommy voices, daddy voices AND children's voices - it's so awesome! 

Noah is smiling big when it's time to going on our pony rides and bounce on the grownup's laps!  He has wandered across the circle and so I get to take a turn being Noah's "pony" for "Ride O"!  At the end of the song, he initiates the next verse by bouncing his little bottom.  It's time for fast running horses! 

Siobhan, the only 3 year old with a vocabulary of a middle adolescent, is coming in to class and quickly joins in!   The whole group moves up to dancing as we transition into our "Betty Martin" tiptoe song.  Siobhan picks jumping for the next verse!  Mom & Dad all follow along as we all dance & sing, "Hey Siobhan, Jumping, Jumping....".  She is the one that explains the concept of sharing to her newest best-friend, Jack.

Our weekly 45 minutes of JOYFUL family music is most definitely not about children performing; nor do we ever worry about the children "getting it right".  The awesome grownups in class model for their little ones, and typically the babies babble, the toddlers toddle, preschoolers practice and play along.  It's always empowering to acknowledge the musical behaviours we see in class and celebrate these milestones with the families!   We agree that ALL CHILDREN ARE MUSICAL!