Music Therapy Blogger Challenge 4 – Music & Early Childhood
by • June 5, 2015 • #musictherapyblogger challenge • 0 Comments
Talk about perfect timing… As my colleagues and I finish up our CMTE training for Sprouting Melodies, I’ve been reading through the corresponding book by Elizabeth Schwartz entitled Music, Therapy, and Early Childhood: A Developmental Approach. Let’s take a look at Chapter 1, Music and Young Children. It highlights how young children experience music.
How do young children experience music?
- Children respond to music in a combination of responses.
- Music is a part of their sensory give and take.
- Children need to have music to develop greater sensitivity, skill and appreciation.
- Music is an innate human experience, contrary to many beliefs.
- Music learning doesn’t need to take place for a child to have a basic musical response.
- Continued exposure to music is necessary so that the child doesn’t lose their ability to respond to music.
Music surrounds young children in many forms
- Self-Created Music: Using various sounds, movements, rhythms or speech which could be recognized as music.
- Peer-Created Music: Another child using various sounds, movements, rhythms or speech which is attended to by other children and could be recognized as music.
- Music Created in Home Environment: Parent’s singing with their children, humming, singing together, making rhythms on objects, moving in rhythms and performing other musical structures.
- Musical Media in Home Environment: Recorded music, music videos, TV, radio, or movies.
- Musical Media Outside the Home: Movies, radio, TV, background music in stores or other public venues.
- Music Created Outside the Home: Music therapy sessions, music lessons, music in the schools, or music performances.
- Music in the Natural Environment: A dripping faucet, birds chirping, or any other sound that the child absorbs and understands as being musical.
What I find so important about this chapter is the emphasis on music being innate to humans. While music lessons are wonderful and provide the opportunity to learn a particular skill, that isn’t the only way in which we and our children can have musical experiences. How cool is that?
Resources
Schwartz, E. (2008). Music therapy and childhood: A developmental approach. NH: Barcelona Publishers
