Music Together: Rhythm, Blues, and Baby

My afternoon mother-child class inspired me to write about something I have found completely amazing: Music Together (www.musictogether.com).  Music Together is an early childhood music program (from babies to seven years of age and all learning styles and abilities), designed to teach music to children in a developmental manner and engage parents in musical interactions with their children.  The idea is that children are drawn to music but learn best from the modeling of their care-givers.  The program teaches more than just fun songs, but uses movement and instruments along with the songs to highlight rhythm, tempo, tone, melody, variation, pitch, and so much more.  Essentially, it's a musical development gold mine.

I was first drawn to the Music Together classroom in my area because I needed something to do with my son during the day and, as a stay-at-home mom, I was desperate for contact with the outside world.  Yes, I was secretly hoping to meet someone and begin mommy play-dating.  I knew about Music Together from my work as a Montessori teacher as my previous school used the program.   Having stayed in touch, I knew that the former music teacher (who left my school around the same time I did) was teaching the Music Together classes locally.  So, I went on the website and found her class.  You can find a class in any area on their website, and they have classes on both weekdays and weekends.  It's a little bit pricey (around $200 for an 8 week session), but I knew it was completely worth it.  In fact, my son has been experiencing the program since the womb since I was still teaching at the school and attending the music classes while I was pregnant.  Throughout the early months of his life, we noticed he has been extremely drawn to music.  Now, at seven months, he is still fascinated by it, so the class seemed like the perfect fit.  Now, even on his fussiest days, he has a great time.

What I love the most about the class (besides my child's ability to interact with and model other children) is how much it shows me how to engage musically with my son.  The songs in the program (you get two CDs and a music book each session) are haunting in that the melodies and rhythms just get stuck in your head.  And then you can use them for anything.  I can sing about cooking dinner or putting on clothes while accessing an array of melodies to play with.  I can also pound out rhythms on objects or make rhythms out of the sounds my son makes (which he loves!).  The class has enriched our musical experience as a family, and now my husband and I will find ourselves singing or clapping out rhythms together just to see the joy on our son's face.  As he begins to learn to clap, it's amazing to watch him get excited and join in.

There is such value to music development in a child's life.  Musical intelligence translates to logic and helps enrich one's mathematical, linguistic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and interpersonal intelligences.  The making of music is an inherent and basic skill, essential to learning and cultural relating.  Music increases concentration, coordination, relaxation, patience, and self-confidence.  It's strong effect on intellectual skills and emotional skills is well documented.

All children are born with musical potential.  Research has shown, however, that children do not express music the way adults do.  It is similar to language development in that it starts out in a "babble" stage.  The same way that children learn language by distinguishing its individual sounds, children learn music by distinguishing its pitches, tempo, and rhythms.  To develop basic musical competence, they learn best from music in a predictable manner that focuses on simple tunes and beats.  In the same way children need an environment rich in language to learn it, they need an environment rich in music to learn that.  Additionally, in the same way that children learn language by modeling others, they learn music by modeling others.  And, in the same way children learn all things, they learn music best by actively participating and moving.

Music Together is a research-driven program that satisfies all the requirements of musical development in children.  If you are looking for a way to connect with other families, it is a great choice for an activity.  However, if price or time is an issue, it is possible to create a music-enriched environment for your child in your own home.  Here are a few ways to do that:

Find simple music that excites your child rhythmically and melodically.  Music Togetherdoes sell a CD of family favorites that you can purchase without joining the program, so it's a good place to start.  While classical music or music that you love as an adult are great to expose your child to, it's also important to find children's music that is more simple and broken down for your child.

Have instruments in the house.  My husband picked up the guitar a few years ago and I play the piano and the violin.  I also recently began to learn to play the mandolin.  So, we have a lot of instruments around.  We noticed my little guy loves the guitar; it always soothed him as a child.  Now, he wants to strum it and my husband makes different chords for him to explore.  I will also sit him in front of the piano.  At first he explored it tentatively, but now he will bang away and attempt to make sounds like he is singing.

But, even if you don't play an instrument, you can always purchase small instruments for your child to explore.  In addition to our instruments, I purchased a small wooden music set for my son.  While it says "three years and up" on the box, I ignored that and have allowed him to explore all the instruments.  Our kit includes shaking bells, maracas, castanets, a tambourine, and a mini xylophone.  He took to the bells and maracas right away.  He just recently discovered how to use the tambourine and he's starting to understand the castanets.  We also bought some inexpensive shaker eggs that he loves to play with.  It's a lot of fun to watch him explore.

And if you don't want to buy instruments...make them out of anything in your house.  Bang on pots and pans or turn vitamin bottles into shakers.  There are no limits on what you can make music with!

SING.  SING.  SING.  Once you have a few melodies your child likes, use them in different ways and sing about anything you can.  Sing words, or nonsense babble, or mimic your child's sounds.  Sing about what you are doing.  Sing when you are telling your child something.  Change the song and come up with new ideas for it with your child (if he/she is old enough).  Whatever it is, just sing it.  And don't worry, not everything has to rhyme!

Move.  When exploring music with your child, find ways to move.  Dance to the music, sway scarves to the music, act the story line of the song out, play instruments.  Move slow when the music is slow and fast when it is fast.  Crawl on the ground when the music is in a low register and dance on tiptoes when the music is in a high register.  Watch how the music moves your child and move in the same way.  Jump, bounce, run, skip, hop, or twirl.  Clap.  Highlight the beats you hear.  Clap different rhythms.  Have a partner clap a pattern while you clap the beat.  Let the music move you.

So go, I implore you, be musical with your kids!  They will thank you one day.