Monday, May 20, 2013

Rhythm and Movement

Have you ever noticed how young children move to music?  Young babies will stretch out their arms or wiggle their legs; sitting babies will often rock their little torsos, toddlers move their little feet and start tapping/clapping, and preschoolers start putting the whole thing together sometimes showing accurate rhythm through dancing and moving around the room!  It's a beautiful progression and the key is MOVEMENT!

Young children need movement to growth their rhythmic development!  At Music Together in Phoenix, we often notice that children move freely outside the circle.  As long as safety is not an issue (and it's not chasing), we celebrate this movement.  Last week, I noticed three year old Jensen moving his "train" to the beat while we were singing a song about a donkey, "Tinagalayo".  It was exciting to see little feet matching the micro beat and adjusting to our nuances in the song.  If we would have forced this little one to sit and "do it right", I believe that his learning would have stopped (as well as not being developmentally appropriate).  He was showing his rhythmic response to the song!

At home, it's fun to provide a plethora of different outlets to support a young child's rhythm development by singing, dancing and movement to recorded music.  An infant being danced with in Mommy or Daddy's arms, benefits by the kinesthetic experience of feeling the grownup's rhythm and beat.  In class, we rock our bodies back and forth, tap legs, clap hands, and dance to the beat.  Children respond to adults modeling the beat for them and respond from having this rhythm visible - it's as though they can "read" it in our bodies.  So, when you are making up songs in the car, putting on fun music for play time, enjoying a quiet lullaby at bedtime, remember to move your body!