Why songs and musical games are so important to young children.
Children can start on a musical journey from a very young age. Several studies have shown the benefits of early musical experiences to a child’s wellbeing, cognitive function and development. What I want to talk about now is how singing and action songs can give your babies a strong foundation should they wish to learn an instrument, or study music as they grow.
There are so many skills involved in playing a musical instrument and building on these skills can happen from a very young age. I designed Music with Henry, our baby and toddler programme to be full of fun songs that, whilst being fun, each have a ‘purpose’, whether musical or otherwise and help prepare babies for musical experiences. I’m going to outline some of the skills that can be developed through simple songs and actions with your child.
Violinists, pianists, drummers and wind players all need strong fingers that can stand up and curve. It can be a challenge for a young child to stretch their fingers across keys if they have not had much practise building up finger strength. I wrote the Music with Henry Finger Song, for just this purpose, to encourage the ability to isolate one finger at a time. The ability to cover holes, press down a key and lift a single finger. The song ‘STOP’ can also be adapted for improving finger strength if, instead of running around the room, you play it on the table with your fingers.
There are of course other ways to improve finger strength. Build with bricks that need pressing, pick up pencils and wooden spoons from the table, make spiders that tickle with curved fingers. Open and shut the fingers, play games touching each finger on the thumb. Lay them flat then stand them up. Make ‘owl eyes’ with circles of thumb and each finger.
Coordination is another key skill, especially for pianists and drummers! You cannot do enough clapping or hand crossing moving songs if you want your child to be able to enjoy playing an instrument.
Songs like Hands Together, Stepping In and Stepping out and Let us Go to Stave House are all going to help those messages travel form little brains to little hands. These songs build a very strong sense of pulse and teach the child to listen for the beat.
Tuned percussionists, such as marimba players need good coordination as they play with both hands. If your child struggles with coordination, the piano may not be the best way forward unless you want to learn it as a way of helping develop coordination. If this is the case, the emphasis of the lesson structure will be quite different, and the teacher and the parent will need to alter expectations.
Stamina plays quite a role in many instruments; A violinist needs to stand up for long periods of time without sagging down or needs to sit up straight in an orchestra situation. Tuba players need to be able to sit up straight to open the diaphragm. Activities like yoga and general physical exercise can help develop your child’s stamina to hold or play an instrument for periods of time. Vocalists too use the strength of the back and the muscles in the diaphragm and need to be able to stand up tall and straight for their warm up. You can help this from the start by singing songs that require children to move. To crouch, then stretch tall. Our ‘high and low’ songs serve this purpose.
The ability to listen is crucial and to glean information from a score of some kind. Sing songs that require repetition or imitation between you and your child. Listen for sounds as you’re out and about. ‘Sounds All Around’ was written for this reason. You can also play games searching for things in books – can you find the duck? Can you find the squirrel? Encourage your child to look independently – it will help with reading notation later. Our songs teach a concept of pitch, and how to hear high and low notes as well as melody lines and harmonic structure.
The body needs to feel pulse and rhythm to play anything, so do as many dancing songs, clapping songs, moving songs as you can. All of these will provide a wonderful platform for your baby’s musical development.
If a child begins instrumental or vocal lessons without the foundation of singing, moving, clapping, listening, learning to wait before coming in, then the teacher will have to build this foundation for them before they can really go on to play anything. If you as a parent take this on yourself, you are building them a wonderful springboard from which they can jump and fly.
You may think the baby songs are sweet and they may feel a little trite but believe me they are the fundamental layers for a musical life!
Lifetime membership to the Music with Henry programme is available for a limited lockdown price of £5. You receive a pack with songs, sheet music and access to a Facebook Group where you can watch Ruth explain how to use the songs with your child and download the tracks. New songs added all the time. Visit the link to join https://stavehouse.co.uk/product/music-with-henry-membership/