Week 3:
Music concepts may be effectively introduced to the Our Time-aged child through fun and playful activities. The concept of tempo (or speed) is central to music. The 1½- to 3-year-old child is learning to control and coordinate his body’s movements and is naturally interested in the concepts of fast and slow. Mastering these concepts through activities such as bouncing, playing instruments, and dancing is fun and satisfying for the child.
As the children become more and more comfortable in the Kindermusik setting, I find that they are able to contribute more and more to our class experience. One of the many benefits of Kindermusik is that in a small class, your child is able to offer ideas upon which activities may be built and developed. Today, Hey Lolly (a silly song!) became even funnier as the children offered their own silly words to insert. We sang and laughed to “Hey boingy…Hey silly…”and of course “Hey tooty.” They also did a great job of playing their resonator bars to a steady beat while we sang.
Also, the children had a great time today driving their “cars.” Imagination abounds at this age and, when given the opportunity, the preschooler always amazes me with the many details of his own story! My paper plate is a steering wheel, or a car seat. Some sat to drive while others ran. And listening to and picking out the different timbres in “Traffic jam” helps develop skills needed for coding, sorting and categorizing sounds, which is a skill necessary for reading.
This week, we learned a new note –“d’- indicated by the new yellow sticker on their glockenspiel. This new note is in one of our new songs, Lucy Locket. And using Music at Home 18, your child can actually play this melody!
Today your child was also given melody cards which include the three notes they have learned, a staff chart, and note chips. Your child will be thrilled to show you how she can “write” music with these tools. This is just the beginning of music literacy, or reading and writing music!
This week, we learned how to play “c” on our recorders. Of course, the children already recognize the sound of c” and a’, have sung the notes in many songs, and know how both c” and a’ look on the music staff. Now they can play these two notes on the recorder! At home, your child will be excited to find that he can play simple melodies such as Rain, Rain, Go Away and 1-2 Tie My Shoe with his two notes on the recorder! Be sure she is holding the recorder with the left hand on top!
We also had a lot of fun playing a song from Hawaii with our puili sticks (boomwhackers) and preparing a Japanese folk tale incorporating a few fun instruments. We can’t wait to perform it for you next week!
