Lets Make Music and Move

Let’s Make Music And Move! (Published in Island Parent January 2010)
By Maxine Fisher M. Ed., MTA(Music Therapist Accredited)

Music can be considered a language that is understood before spoken language. Infants vocalize from birth.When exposed to music infants may participate in a variety of ways including movement, eye contact with the caregiver, vocalizations , and simple relaxation. Although many parents and caregivers communicate through music with their children,some adults do not believe they possess the knowledge, skills, or confidence to share  music with the children in their care. When questioned, most of these adults played instruments and sang songs as children, but now no longer make music. In present industrial societies caregivers are less likely to sing and dance with their children. How can we as parents and caregivers feel more comfortable and confident sharing music and musical activities with our children?
Music and movement are linked.Toddlers respond to and actively engage in music with sounds as well as movement. Therefore, any music aimed at young children must include some movement to be effective. Children understand emotional messages through music. You can choose a song your child likes and sing it with them and hold them in your arms or dance with them and you may discover the joy that brings to you and your child. What are the musical preferences of your children? It may depend on their mood. Try presenting the same song in different ways. Pick a song you are familiar with such as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. You could sing it with a high pitch, then try a lower pitch. You could sing it fast, and then slowly. You could add a rock and roll beat with a tambourine or kitchen pot. You can sing it like  a lullaby, soft and gently. Notice how your child responds to each different version.When do they look away? When do they turn towards you and sing or dance? Use the versions that the child enjoys and choose other musical pieces that incorporate the instruments and styles that your children prefer.
Many parents have asked me what type of recorded music to play for their children. I believe that the main criteria for using any recorded music is that it is quality music and age appropriate. Quality means that the instruments and voices sound great to your ears.  Many of The Sesame Street Workshop recordings are a great example of terrific educational children’s music. Age appropriate means that the words are words that you would use with your children and that the content is child friendly rather than meant for adults. There is so much music that falls into this category. My daughter who is 4 years old loves the soundtrack from The Lion King Play. She sings along with the African rhythms and knows each and every word and musical turn in the songs. Your children will surprise you with their love of all types of different music. Play recordings of any music that you love and also of music that you may not have listened to such as Classical, Jazz, Musical Theatre, and Rock and Roll. Inspire yourself by going to a live musical event. It can be a concert in the park, a coffee house performance, a church concert, or a musical. If you become energized through music then your children will experience the positive difference when you share music with them.
In the classes that I  offer through Community Centres, I have found that parents, grandparents, caregivers, brothers and sisters were joining in and inventing new musical games to play. The goal of any early childhood music class should be to offer children an opportunity to experience movement and music that is both meaningful, educational, and most of all fun. If the parents are also participants, they should leave feeling more bonded with their children for having shared this great musical experience. Children love music and deserve a  life full of music.
References:
Blacking, J. (1974). How musical is man? Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
Fisher,  M. (2003) An Interactive Music Program for Caregivers and Infants Between 8-12 Months Old. Master’s Project, University of Victoria.
Fisher, M. S,. Boyer, W.A.R., Szabo M. (2004)Matching the Musical Responses of Infants.
ACEI Focus on Infants and Toddlers 16 (3)
Nawrot, E.A. (1999). Infants may perceive the emotional message in music. University
Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter, 15(11).
Papousek, H. (1996). Musicality in infancy research: biological and cultural origins of
early musicality. In I. Deliege and J. Sloboda (Eds.) Musical Beginnings. (pp.37-55). New York: Oxford University Press.

Matching the Musical Responses of Infants

Maxine S. Fisher, Wanda A. R, Boyer, and Moira Szabo University of Victoria

(Published In ACEI Focus On Infants and Toddlers Spring 2004 issue No. 3)

Infants come into the world with an innate receptivity to music (Blacking, 1974). Infants perceive music and it is essential for their development that they be exposed to music. Infants may participate in a variety of ways when exposed to music. Some of these ways include movement, eye contact with the caregiver, vocalizations, and simply relaxing. According to Boxhill (1985) matching is reflecting or mirroring a persons sounds and/or actions. By matching a child’s musical responses caregivers are also assisting their child with self-regulation. Trehab, Unyk, and Trainor (1993) found that mothers assist their children with emotional self-regulation through music. Mothers do this by changing the song renditions to elicit a change in the emotional response of their children. Music is a language that is understood before spoken language. Papousek (1996) explains how infants understand and use melodic modulations beginning with vocal play, leading to singing, and progressing to spoken language. He asserts that an infant’s vocal tract is a “powerful instrument” and that playful vocalizations are a “prelinguistic alphabet”.
Infants vocalize from birth and onwards so how do parents and caregivers respond through music to these early vocalizations? According to Trehab, Unyk, Kamenetsky, Hill, Trainor, Henderson, and Saraza (1997), mothers and fathers adjusted their singing by changing pitches and tempos when in the presence of their infant. The main difference between the singing of the fathers and the mothers was frequency of occurrence. Mothers sang to their infants approximately 74% while fathers sang 14% of the time. Stern, Spieker, and MacKain (1982) found that caregivers use high rising contours to engage infants. Papousek (1996) found that caregivers use lower descending contours to sooth infants. Unyk, Trehab, Trainor, and Schellenberg (1992) assert that an infant directed lullaby holds many of the same characteristics as infant directed speech. Bergeson and Trehab (1999) noticed that parent’s delivery of the same song is very different depending on the presence or absence of an infant. Differences include higher pitches, smoother contours, slower tempo, and slurred words when in the presence of their infant.
Although many caregivers communicate through music with their infants, some parents and caregivers do not feel they possess the knowledge, skills, or confidence to share music with their children. When questioned, most of these adults played instruments and sang songs as children but did not enjoy it due to a negative experience with a teacher or parent, and now no longer make music. It appears that many adults have a fear of singing publicly due, in part, to such negative experiences.  Researchers have acknowledged that many adults are not comfortable singing and making music. Papousek (1996) observed that in “present industrial societies” caregivers are less likely to sing and dance with their children. According to Apfelstadt (1989), many education students report a fear of singing and are reluctant to offer singing in their classrooms. De l’Etoile (2001) found that many daycare personnel did not feel confident in leading music programs and that inservice training on working with toddlers and music was effective in raising their confidence levels to implement music programs.
What can we learn from the literature? As teachers we can vocalize and children will love it. Here are some ideas designed to give teachers and caregivers information on implementing developmentally appropriate music with infants.

Emotion & Rhythm
The purpose of matching is to establish a connection with your child. (Boxhill, 1985). If your child appears relaxed, humming and slower movements may be used to match your child’s state. For example holding a child and gently swaying back and forth while humming a melody. According to Boxhill, unmatching is the opposite of matching. For example if your child is agitated, slower rhythms and melodies may be used to assist your child with relaxation. The most important thing to remember about matching is that it is a live experience. It is important that you watch what a child is doing, and that you listen to what kinds of sounds they’re making. If they move fast, you can clap fast.  If they move slowly you can clap slowly. If they suddenly stop, you can suddenly stop. Notice their reactions, notice if they’re having fun, and enjoy.
Developmental Opportunities
Musical games offer developmental opportunities. Take the opportunity to sing in high tones and in low tones with accompanying movements of up and down respectively. Play with the low/high and up/down concepts with children at their own pace. You can encourage children to lead you in low/high and up/down sequences. Try picking up an object with a child for up, and putting it down for down. As children continue to grow and develop, they may learn to pick up an object for the high sound and put down the object for the low sound. Up and down gives you the opportunity to use a high sound with the movement up and a low sound with the movement down. Any sound is great as long as you are really differentiating between up and down. Make sure to clap and smile and congratulate the child for a job well done as often as possible.
The song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star can be played at a slow tempo followed by a fast tempo. The concepts of fast versus slow and loud versus soft may be demonstrated through music and movement. Model the fast movements to the fast version and the slow movements to the slow version.
How much noise can you make? How much noise can children make? More importantly how much noise can you and a child make together?  Give them an opportunity to really let loose and make loud sounds. If they make loud sounds with their voice “Ahhh” make loud sounds with them “Ahhh”. Give them a rattle and take one and shake it with them as loud as you can, or use a table top or a pot and spoon from the kitchen and play along with the song. Play along with the loud sounds and rhythms, sing out loud and encourage noise! For quiet, hold the child next to your body and hum along and gently sway with the soft tones. Children will have the opportunity to discover and play with musical dynamics and movement.
Musical Preferences
Infants like adults have preferences regarding music. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is demonstrated using male and female voices, clarinet, saxophone, and percussion. The styles used include fun opera, country, rock n’ roll, and jazz. How do individual children respond to the sounds of different instruments? Which versions do they prefer? When do they turn away and loose interest? When do they sing along or move to the music? Use the versions that the child enjoys. Choose other musical pieces that incorporate the instruments and styles that individual children prefer.

Implications
By linking emotion and rhythm with matching and unmatching games, children are provided with developmental opportunities to experiment with sound and movement. Teachers and Caregivers can support children’s musical preferences by playing with different musical styles and accompanying actions. For other resources try the web site
HYPERLINK http://www.letsmakemusicandmove.com www.letsmakemusicandmove.com. This web site offers links to reputable non-profit music education organizations and is continually updated with information on music with infants and toddlers. Users may also submit questions regarding early childhood music by using the e mail address on the web site. Bottom line: Have fun with music.

References
Apfelstadt, H. (1989). Do we have to sing? Factors affecting elementary education
majors’ attitudes toward singing. Applications of Research in Music Education Update, 8(1), 24-26.
Bergeson, T. R. & Trehab, S. E. (1999). Mothers’ singing to infants and preschool
children. Infant Behavior & Development, 22(1), 51-64.
Blacking, J. (1974). How musical is man? Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
Boxhill, E. H. (1985). Music therapy for the developmentally disabled. Texas: Pro-ed.
de l’Etoile, S. (2001). An in-service training program in music for child-care personnel
working with infants and toddlers. Journal of Research in Education, 49(1).
Fisher, M. (2003). An Interactive Music Program for Caregivers and Infants
Between 8-12 Months Old. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Papousek, H. (1996). Musicality in infancy research: Biological and cultural origins of
early musicality. In I. Deliege and J. Sloboda (Eds.) Musical Beginnings. (pp.37-55). New York: Oxford University Press.
Papousek, M. (1996). Intuitive parenting, a hidden source of musical stimulation in
infancy. In I. Deliege and J. Sloboda (Eds.) Musical Beginnings. (pp. 88-108). New York: Oxford University Press.
Stern, D. N., Spieker, S., & MacKain, K. (1982). Intonation contours as signals in
maternal speech to prelinguistic infants. Developmental Psychology, 18(5), 727-735.

Trehab, S. E., Unyk, A. M., Kamenetsky, S. B., Hill, D. S., Trainor, L. J., Henderson,
J. L., & Saraza, M.  (1997). Mothers’ and fathers’ singing to infants. Developmental Psychology, 33(3), 500-507.
Trehab, S. E., Unyk, A. M., & Trainor, L. J. (1993). Maternal singing in cross-cultural
perspective. Infant Behavior and Development, 16, 285-295