Some real "little drummer boys"

Shake your maracas........or not...

Children's music classes traditionally include some activities with percussion instruments, but new studies suggest a re-think.

Some researchers believe that little children need to feel the beat on their bodies to develop beat-competency, and learn the "feel" of music with different time signatures.

Instruments may hinder this type of learning, providing an unnatural extension of children's bodies, and robbing them of the feel of the beat on their skin.

Of course, instruments are fun, and will probably always feature in children's music classes. This latest research just warns us not to overdo it, and not to underestimate the value of really feeling the beat.

We have always known that some instruments are more suited to early childhood than others. For example, triangles are just too difficult and quite unsatisfying for little ones.

I had always thought that maracas were great for kids because they were easy to grasp. At a workshop recently the conductor made an interesting point. When you shake a maraca, there is a lag between the movement you make and the noise of the beads inside catching up. It's actually quite tricky to keep the beat with this instrument. Of course they are enormous fun, but I won't be using them for early beat-keeping activities in my classes.

Percussion instruments are still fantastic for experiencing different timbre (tone quality) and encouraging children to experiment with sound and really listen. They are also a great motivational device. We just have to be careful how we use them.

Image: 'Play and Music'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96973845@N00/3629719915

Beth Bolton talks about the benefits of early childhood music.

Beth Bolton's CDs are available from the VOSA website (see the links in the side bar). Her lovely song collections expose children to music in different tonalities (modes) and metres (time signatures).

Granny had the right idea

When you were a child, who sang to you? Was it your Mum or Dad? Was it your Grandma?

Dr John Feierabend, the US the psychologist and music educator, has made a disturbing finding. He has interviewed people of different ages, and asked them what songs they sing to children. The older the person interviewed, the more songs they remembered. With each generation, we are losing repertoire. The art of singing and rhyming with children is dying out.

When it came to music, we used to be a participation culture. We sang around the piano, danced together, and used singing and rhyming in games with children.

These days, we prefer to watch other people singing and dancing. We are moving from a participation culture to an audience culture. As for the kids, we think we can out-source all that to "childrens' entertainers".

Parents are told that certain CDs and DVDs are "educational", but Feierabend found that they are actually making our children dumber. Rather than stimulating the brain and turning our babies into famous scientists (as one product seems to imply) they cause the viewer's brain to enter a zombie-like state.

What can we do? It wouldn't be a bad start to ask Nanna what songs she used to sing as a child. Encourage her to pass them on to your children. These valuable "heritage" songs link the generations.

Music and intelligence

We all know that babies are learning a phenomenal amount in the early years.   They learn a whole language, for a start.

In his article Music and Intelligence in the Early Years, Dr John Feierabend graphically illustrates just how important early learning is.  Most neurological pathways are built within the first two years of life, and atrophy if they are not maintained.

We talk and read with children to help them learn our language, and Feierabend believes we also need to be singing, rhyming and dancing with them, to help them learn to be musical.

We cannot wait for the school years.  As the child learns to communicate, talk and walk, they also need quality music education.

It is unrealistic to wait until a child is seven and then throw them into lessons on an instrument, without any preparation.  If they cannot keep the beat, sing tunefully and appreciate the beauty of music, their playing will only ever be mechanical and sub-standard.  A baby needs to grow up knowing music.  As Feierabend so often says, a musical child is tuneful, beatful and artful.  These are the prerequisites for a rich musical life.

Even though music improves many other aspects of a child's learning, musical intelligence is a goal in its own right, and one well worth pursuing. It's a great article.

Concert for Stepping Stones

Our choir's big annual gig is on Sept 19th, and as usual all proceeds go to a great cause - this time it's Stepping Stones Nigeria and we want to try to raise $10,000.

All of Stuart's choirs perform, the Woolaware High concert band is really brilliant, and there's usually a mass choir at the end. It's always a great night.

Tickets are $25 and $15 concession.
Email for your tickets: kerryn.cooper@gmail.com

One Love

A great clip from YouTube - As usual the Africans are the best singers.

Bobby Goes Pentatonic

This is a great vid - you may need to wait a while for it to upload. Bobby McFerrin (the "Don't Worry, Be Happy" guy) is making the point that the pentatonic scale is universal and innate. The pentatonic scale is do re mi so la.

I wish the audience had gone with him when he tried them on a harmony - ah well!

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

Bobby does all kinds of great stuff - check the video bar on the right of this blog - it sometimes has his version of Ave Maria.

Who Stopped the Music?

Last Sunday there was an excellent program on ABC Radio National, which reported on the sorry state of music in our public schools in Australia, compared to the situation in many other countries.

Hosted by Stephen Crittenden, the program explores the many reasons for including music in the primary school curriculum, the way this was done in the past, and the way it has been eroded. It also includes some inspirational interviews from people such as Deborah Nicholson from The Song Room.

School music has fared badly in the wake of the recent "back to basics" movement in Australia. This is a seriously backward step. The radio program includes details of recent research which shows that if children do not have music before the age of 7, a critical period for learning is missed.

A hundred years ago our teachers were better equipped in this area than they are today.

You can read the transcript or play back the audio from here.

Image: 'So happy =)'
www.flickr.com/photos/97831130@N00/1066368855

PS22 - Forever Young

Check this out - these guys use contemporary songs, but have avoided all the usual pitfalls (eg inappropriate lyrics for kids, singing too low or too loud). They sing from the heart and they sing in tune with harmonies.

When should my child start an instrument?

As with most aspects of child rearing, everyone has their opinion on this point, and there are various different approaches. However, I believe it is often (never say always!) better to wait until the child is at least 7 before contemplating an instrument.

Here are my reasons:

• Fine motor skills: - Little children often have not developed the fine motor skills necessary to manipulate their instruments. In some cases, they are just physically too small to hold or play them properly. We know a little boy who has a saxophone that looks bigger than he is. He has to rest it on the case to play it. It doesn't look very comfy. I heard about another four year-old girl who desperately wanted to learn the recorder, but quickly became very frustrated because her little fingers wouldn't cooperate.
  

• The discipline of practice: - To stay with the lessons and practices over the long term requires a certain level of maturity.
  

• Musicianship: - Younger children are not likely to have the musicianship skills that can really help when learning an instrument. Unless they have good pitch, for example, they may not realise when they hit a wrong note.

Kodaly believed that the most important instruments for children are their voices and their bodies. They can happily develop their musicianship skills for many years through singing, moving, rhymes and games. It comes naturally to them. Voices and bodies are also portable, always available and inexpensive to use!

Once they learn to keep the beat and sing in tune, other musical concepts are introduced. After years of Do Re Mi classes, 7 year-olds are able to sight-read simple tunes on the stave. By this time they are ready to sail easily into learning an instrument. Because they are so familiar with musical notation and other musical concepts, they can concentrate more on learning how to operate the instrument they choose.

The first instruments we introduce to children in classes are percussion instruments, both tuned and un-tuned. These are satisfying for little children because they are able capable of playing them well.

Image: 'Vintage Postcard ~ Girl Playing Harp'
www.flickr.com/photos/7926983@N07/1161228939

Lounge Quintet

The Lounge Quintet is having a gig on June 28 in Coogee.

The idea is that you sit back, sip wine and nibble on food, and be entertained in the lounge-room of someone's home in Coogee. You get the address when you buy the tickets.

Songs by Elvis Costello, Leonard Cohen, John Lennon, David Bowie, Police, Coldplay, Rufus Wainright and Stuart Davis are performed with a string quartet and sung by Stuart. Awesome.

Tickets are $35 and space is obviously limited!

Ph. (02) 9665 8054
or email singup@optusnet.com.au

When should a child start music?

It is never too early to begin music with a child. Zoltan Kodaly famously said that ideally, the child's musical education should begin at the time of their mother's birth!

Just as it is never too early, it is also never too late. A lot of people have been put off singing early in life by a thoughtless adult. Kodaly believed that singing is for everyone - not just a select few - and that everyone can be taught to sing.

When a child is very young, there is a window of opportunity for helping them to find their voice. Later they will become self-conscious and embarrassed, but little children, who have not yet learned to be ashamed of free expression, can be taught to sing out and sing in tune. This is a gift they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Parents often wonder when a child should begin playing a musical instrument. Do Re Mi teachers prefer to help children find their voice first, develop the skill of singing and learn about the different aspects of music. Then, when they are older (about 7) they are well equipped to start an instrument. Through their Do Re Mi classes, they already know how to read notes on the staff, and understand the elements of music. They can sing in tune, which helps them self-correct when they make a mistake on their instrument. And importantly, they have developed an appreciation and love of different kinds of music. By the time they are 7 or 8 they have usually developed the fine motor skills necessary to manipulate their instrument well, without the frustration often evident in younger students.

Animusic

My kids have been watching this over and over again tonight, as well as other clips from anmiusic.



I like this one because you can watch it in the same way that you watch real musicians, and you get lots of visual cues for the different parts in the music.

The one entitled Pipe Dreams is also mesmerising, and very clever.

Planet Music

Sorry for the long delay in posting - I have been on "Planet Music", otherwise known as the Autumn KMEIA NSW teacher training course. This was a week of intensive training in musicianship, conducting and teaching methods. It was extremely demanding but greatly worthwhile and wonderful. The teachers are always brilliant and I highly recommend the course for any music teachers in early childhood or primary school settings.

I am already accredited to teach young children, but I'm back this year to see what happens in early primary school - to see "where we're headed" with all the early childhood work.

Highlights of the course this time included:

• Meeting up with friends from all over the place who come together to study - this is the final year for many of us
• The opportunity to try out songs, games and dances for ourselves in the practicum classes
• Choir at the end of each day
• Ensemble work, and the notorious "sing and plays"
• Composing our own canons in musicianship
• A lecture from the beautiful Ms Jenone Nagy ("Insie") from the National Association of Hungarian Kindergarten Teachers.

Image: 'music rocks my world'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20005495@N00/61581047

Beat Lehmann workshop

This is awfully late notice (first session is happening ooh, right about now) but I promised my choir buddy Amanda last night that I'd put this up. Beat Lehmann is running workshops in acapella world music singing this weekend in Bondi Junction. You could still get to tomorrow's (Sunday's) session - details below:

- 10 am to 4 pm
- 61 Newland St Bondi Junction
- Cost for one day $70 ($125 both days)

For beginners and experienced singers, no music reading skills required. Beat Lehmann is an accomplished conductor from Queensland.

By the way, last night's concert was a blast.

What makes a great early childhood music teacher?

This is a bit presumptuous of me, but I reckon I have a few ideas about what makes a great children's music teacher. Bear in mind that this is just my opinion - a product of my experiences, both good and bad. I have taken my young children to half a dozen different music teachers over the years, so have a bit of experience. I am also studying the Kodaly approach, so I am looking at this through a Kodaly lens. I am not saying, however, that the only good teachers follow that approach.

So - here is my list of the characteristics of a great music teacher for young children (under 6). I might expand on some of these points in future posts.

• Likes the company of children
• Gets along with your child
• Loves music, and generates enthusiasm for music
  
• Great musicianship (can sing in tune, play an instrument, read music)
• Detailed understanding of child development
• Makes their own detailed lesson plans, but does not have a "script" that must be followed
• Has an overall plan for helping children to develop over the long term (7 years), with musical objectives and general developmental goals
• Limits the group size to levels appropriate for the age of the children
• Provides a varied and interesting lesson
• Helpfully and cheerfully answers your questions and offers useful advice
• Is relaxed about younger siblings, tantrums, and those times when your child would rather not participate.

There are probably other things I will remember later. If so, I'll add them.

Personally, I also prefer that the teacher is not part of a franchise. I know that all teachers are paid for their work. However, there is a difference between a professional association and a franchise. A professional association (like KMEIA), exists to educate teachers to a high standard, and advocate for children and teachers. There is no pressure on this type of organisation to endorse a teacher if their work is not up to scratch. A franchise exists mainly to make money. There are probably some great teachers who happen to belong to a franchise, but it's better to be aware of the difference.

Anyway, that's my list as of 12.25 am tonight. Let me know if you agree/disagree.

Image: 'The pianist'
www.flickr.com/photos/8034873@N07/1499953615

Acapella Gig - Friday April 3

Um.... I think it was meant to say 7.30 PM. Should be a fun night.

See my earlier post for info on the charity we are supporting with the proceeds from this concert.

Paul Jarman

On the weekend I took the kids to a sensational workshop run by Paul Jarman. The kids loved his sense of humour, awesome musicianship and wonderful collection of quirky woodwind instruments from around the world. If you ever get a chance to see him, grab it!

I was also impressed with the workshop for another reason. The participants were mostly Central Coast Children's Choir members between the ages of 5 and 8. Paul had them doing complicated body percussion, four part rounds in various languages, and harmonies. There seemed to be nothing these kids couldn't take on. They didn't even really think about it - they just did it! It was testimony to the power of the Kodaly approach, and to their teachers, Jenny Bell and Joanne McMahon.

Paul concluded the workshop by showing the kids how to make a woodwind instrument out of a drinking straw. We demolished half a packet of straws when we got home. The four year-old just kept cutting them into little pieces, but the 8 year-old was blowing raspberries through his straw for quite a long time. Such a soothing sound! Thanks Paul......

Gig - Friday April 3

On April 3 there will be a concert in Kensington featuring two acapella choirs run by Stuart Davis. All proceeds will go to a wonderful charity - the Kantha Bopha Foundation in Cambodia, run by Dr Beat Richner. This amazing man has built several hospitals for children in Cambodia, and every week he also puts on a cello concert to raise money to continue his work.

Details of the concert:

- Ising On the Cake and Sea Minors (Stuart's youth choir) will perform.
- 7.30 pm
- Entry by $5 donation
- St Martin's Church Hall, Kensington (Sydney).