How Children Learn When They Learn Music

How do children learn music? And how can music teachers help children to become independent and self-sufficient musical thinkers? Author Eric Bluestine sheds light on these issues in music education.

Children are inherently musical. They respond to music and learn through music. Music expresses children's identity and heritage, teaches them to belong to a culture, and develops their cognitive well-being and inner self worth. As professional instructors, childcare workers, or students looking forward to a career working with children, we should continuously search for ways to tap into children's natural reservoir of enthusiasm for singing, moving and experimenting with instruments. But how, you might ask? What music is appropriate for the children I'm working with? How can music help inspire a well-rounded child? How do I reach and teach children musically? Most importantly perhaps, how can I incorporate music into a curriculum that marginalizes the arts?This book explores a holistic, artistic, and integrated approach to understanding the developmental connections between music and children. This book guides professionals to work through music, harnessing the processes that underlie music learning, and outlining developmentally appropriate methods to understand the role of music in children's lives through play, games, creativity, and movement. Additionally, the book explores ways of applying music-making to benefit the whole child, i.e., socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively, and linguistically.

Music Learning Theory for Newborn and Young Children (2003 Edition) treats the most critical learning period in every individual's musical life: birth to age five. Written for parents and early childhood music teachers, this latest revision is the most authoritative of its kind by the man many consider the leading educator and researcher in music education. Professor Gordon shares insights and research from almost twenty-five years of guiding young children in music learning.

In early childhood, the most important period of learning and human development, young children often achieve developmental milestones in a short time. Learning from Young Children: Research in Early Childhood Music presents research on the importance of fostering musical growth during this period. These studies discuss: · applying brain research to young children's musical growth · music in the home and child-care contexts · musical characteristics of the young child · language acquisition as a lens on music learning · music as a foundation for communication · parental conceptions of the role of music in early childhood · music as a pathway for building community · using music to elicit vocalizations in children with special needs With research designs ranging from statistical, mixed methods, survey, content analysis, and case study, to philosophical inquiry, this book will help practitioners base their practice in research and offers a wide range of information for scholars and researchers studying early childhood music learning and development.

Is my singing good enough? What should I do with instruments? How can I create a rich and exciting musical environment which will allow for both child and adult led musical activity? Singing, dancing and music-making comes naturally to young children, but we as adults often lack confidence in our musical ability. This easily accessible book will help you to realise that everyone can be a creative music-maker with young children. It aims to inspire you to take young children’s enthusiasm for music and create a musically rich environment that supports all areas of learning and development and at the same time celebrate music for music’s sake. Packed with activities, songs and musical games, this book includes: Recognising musical development in young children and the benefits of music-making in the early years Advice on inclusive practice Guidance on using musical instruments Ways to develop your own musicality Help with planning and assessment Chapters linking musical activities to each area of learning and development How to create a balance between adult-led and child-initiated activities Music for Early Learning also includes downloadable resources containing 23 songs and listening activities linked to each area of development which can be used as a standalone resource or alongside the music manuscript and Guitar and Ukulele tabs provided, as well as lyrics to each of the songs. This practical text will help you to realise the wonderful opportunities that music can offer young children and is an ideal resource for Early Years Practitioners, Early Years consultants and trainnee teachers, as well as those on Nursery Nursing and Childcare courses at Further and Higher education levels.

This valuable resource is designed to give elementary teachers with no formal music training all the tools they need to help their students develop an understanding of and appreciation for music. This book includes lessons, reproducible games, worksheets and puzzles. Also included are MP3 files that feature over 60 minutes of music and a complete PowerPoint presentation. The book follows a well-sequenced curriculum based on the National Standards for Music Education in the United States and the Ontario Curriculum for the Arts in Canada.

Music is wonderful for bringing out creativity and encouraging learning in kids. They love to sing and dance, and they love it when adults sing and dance along with them. Appropriate for families, teachers, day care providers, and camp leaders, this book presents lively music games that children and adults can play together. Using popular songs, easy rhythms, and musical recordings, the games in this book help children develop creative, personal, and social skills. They also learn about music and sound. The games are not competitive, they encourage and reward children for participating, not for winning.

Exploring and expanding upon current understandings of early childhood music education, this book provides a much-needed response to the rapid social, cultural and technological developments affecting children’s experience of music today. Critical New Perspectives in Early Childhood Music returns to the core question of how children engage, participate and learn through music, and how we are to best harness musical resources to their benefit. Chapters move beyond conservative or traditional models of practice and draw upon new and emerging insights from the fields of childhood studies, neuroscience, psychology and sociology. In-depth analysis of research and real examples from practice illustrate the strengths and possible shortcomings of each approach and acknowledge the diverse impacts of digitisation, increased child autonomy, intensive parenting practices, and cultural and economic diversity on the child’s experience of music. An invaluable theoretical overview of current thinking in relation to contemporary musical childhoods, this book will support and challenge students and early childhood music educators as they rethink practice for the present day.