Musical Activities for Preschool Children––Part 1 of 5 Articles / Music Views Posted by PKelly on Apr 27, 2005 - 12:20 PM Part 1 I’m often asked the question in my travels, “What kind of musical activities do you recommend using with preschool children to bring them to an awareness and appreciation of music?” Now, usually these are not people who are convinced that with the right activity combined with the right mantra they could conceivably transform their little ones into another Mozart. They're just well meaning parents who would like to do something positive musically to help their kids along a little. Being a parent myself I know very well how they feel! The schools are all doing what they can, I suppose but with their limited funding . . . . . . . the fact remains that less and less time and money and emphasis is being put on music and the arts while more and more is being spent on sports. Not that there’s anything wrong with sports. On the contrary, physical activity can often be the basis for a very positive early understanding of the basic elements of music. But I would certainly like to see more of a balance. Did you know that a large portion of the "corporate music machine" is doing everything it can to make a fast buck at your kid’s expense? Many music industry bigwigs are purposefully targeting the ears of 5 and 6-year-old kids with pop groups that have next to nothing appropriate to say to them. They’re not targeting youngsters at the expense of older kids––they’re just casting their nets ever wider to increase profits. And that's business. They can only succeed if you let them, however. You ultimately hold the purse strings. And preschoolers are so impressionable! It's a shame to waste the time that can spent so profitably to their musical benefit. Kids can learn to be musically discerning. There truly are only two kinds of music out there––good and bad. The rest are just style categories. What I’m setting out to do in this series is give you as parents some musical activities that you can do with your preschoolers to set them up with an awareness and appreciation of music. Proper awareness of sounds and music starts when language starts, so it’s never too early to begin. I’m planning to add one activity for each article I write on this topic. When the series is done you should have a solid starter collection of preschool musical activities that you can use again and again. After a while you’ll be able to add your own twists to them to keep them from getting stale. Okay––here's the first one, simple but hopefully stimulating: This is an exercise in listening and hearing melody and rhythm in the world around us. I think parents will find this an interesting and enlightening activity, too, because all of us take for granted the sounds around us. It’s nice, too because it’s activity that can be done almost anywhere––at home, driving in the car, waiting in the doctor’s office or walking in the park or woods. But let’s start in the house. Find a place in your house where there are sources of natural sounds about––could be an open window with birdsong or other animal sounds filtering in, the wind blowing a branch against the window, a motorbike roaring by––whatever. Pick a sound and point it out to your child––make sure he or she hears the one you’re speaking about–– and then imitate the sound. Make the sound with your voice or using mouth noises, clicks, pops––whatever. If it’s a steady repeating sound be sure to follow its rhythm. If it has pitch, match its pitch as best you can. Let’s say for example there’s a dove cooing in the tree outside the house. Imitate the cooing sounds as precisely as you can. Next see if you can’t get your child to imitate the cooing sounds with you. Be sure to imitate the silence in between coos, as well because this is the natural rhythm of the bird’s song. The silent spaces and their lengths in music are as important as the sounds themselves. The point here is to get your child to begin listening keenly and be aware of the sounds around him. The sounds of nature and the mechanical man-made sounds all around us are the sounds that our music often imitates. Sometimes it’s blatant imitation as in a piece of program music like Haydn’s Toy Symphony, or Tom Wait’s Rain Dogs recording where pieces of pipe and bells and pot lids actually provide the percussive soundtrack. More often though, it’s more subtle––the strings providing the sounds of the wind in Respighi’s Pines of Rome or Coleman Hawkins’ breathy saxophone imitating the sensuousness of human breathing. Listening for and appreciating the pitch, the rhythm and the timbre of these sounds is a great first step in learning to listen to and to appreciate music properly. I think your preschooler will find this musical activity fun and stimulating at least for short periods of time. But more than short periods of time isn’t necessary, nor is it the point. Awareness is what we’re after here, not filling up hours of time. You open the door and hopefully your child walks through and begins to enjoy listening and imitating sounds on his own accord. By the way, speaking as a professional musician I can tell you that I learned this little game from my father. It’s something I’ve always carried with me and have been able to use in my own musical activities, whether it’s in writing a piece of music or interpreting an Italian art song. And yes, my own son has become quite adept at it, as well. I hope you can use it and enjoy it, too. This article is from Walking Oliver   http://www.walkingoliver.com/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.walkingoliver.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=218