Sing to Your Babies—Please!

06/24/2014

Written by: Colette Fluet-Howrish

If I introduced you to a child named Eric and told you Eric’s family spoke French in their home, would you say, “Gee, I wonder if Eric will speak French when he gets older?” Of course not! We know that when children are immersed in a language in their homes—be it English, French or Spanish!—they will learn to speak that language.

Now, if I introduced you to a child named Anna and said her family made a lot of music in their home, would we say, “Gee, I wonder if Anna will be musical when she gets older?” You might, because we tend to think of musical ability as a talent that some of us have and some of us don’t. But musical intelligence is actually one of the intelligences that we are all born with (Gardner 1993). All children are born with the ability to learn music, just like they are born with the ability to learn language. And music learning is a lot like language learning. So, if a child is immersed in a musical home, they will learn the language of music!

A lot of musical learning will hopefully take place before a child ever gets to school or formal music lessons. Similar to how children learn to speak and understand a language long before they ever know what a verb or noun is, ideally, children should learn how to sing and move their bodies to a beat long before they are ever introduced to the treble clef or piano keyboard. Having this early music learning in place is like creating the foundation for formal music lessons to build on.

This kind of early childhood musical learning can take place in the home or in a music class like Music Together. The key is that children need the opportunity not only to listen to music, but also to find and use their singing voice, and move their body to different beats.

Our culture tends to be consumption-oriented when it comes to music—we listen, we watch, but we don’t often make music. Children need to see the people they love making music (modeling), and need lots of opportunities to practice using their singing voices and moving their bodies rhythmically.

So, turn on your favourite CD, or better yet, get that guitar out of the closet, make some shakers and bang some pots, and start making music with your little ones. Sing to them, dance with them, knowing all the while, that beyond just having fun and sharing some beautiful bonding time together, you are starting the pathways in their brains that will allow them to be able to sing and dance with confidence and joy for the rest of their lives!

Here are a few tips when making music with your child:

• For young babies, sing to them face-to-face and exaggerate your mouth movements and expression. This helps them to make the link between the sound they are hearing and how to make it. And, of course, there’s nothing they like to look at more than your face!
• When drumming or clapping to a beat, let your child experiment with finding the beat on their own, but provide them with a big model they can see and copy by drumming or clapping yourself. You can even try tapping the beat onto your child’s body to help them “find” the beat.
• Try taking out the actual lyrics to a song, and sing it on “la la la” or “doo doo doo” or another vocable your child voices. Many young children can sing the melody of a song on something like “bah bah bah” long before they can sing the actual words. Don’t let language stand in the way of singing!
• Practice finding the beat in all kinds of ways, small and large: clapping hands, tapping knees, banging the floor, playing with homemade instruments, and also marching around or dancing with your child on your hip. All of these ways help your child “find” the beat and move to it with their body.

Happy music making!

** Registration for the Fall 2014 semester of Music Together in Beaumont is now open!  If you’re looking for an activity to do with your baby, toddler or preschooler in the fall, now is the time to check out what a Music Together class has to offer. Music Together began over 25 years ago, and continues to be the most loved, early childhood music program.

NEW THIS FALL!

I am pleased to announce that a new day and time are being added to the class schedule. I will now offer a Friday morning class at 10am, in addition to the Tuesday classes at 9:45, 10:45, 5:30, and 6:30.

All the information you need to know about our classes can be found on our website, www.mtprairiesky.com, or on Music Together’s main website, www.musictogether.com. I highly recommend coming out to see a class for yourself, so please ask about a free trial class. To register, or for more information, you can contact me at cfluet@ualberta.net or 780-485-2332.

** Gardner, Howard (1993) Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences, New York: Basic Books.