Non-musical mama needs some advice

[Leersia]

Here I am again, lapping up at this incredible font of information! I have two four-year-old boys who seem to like experimenting with our rinky-dink collection of musical instruments (old-beater banjo, recorder, harmonica, many types of percussive things). We are a music-loving family, but I can't play anything or read music without laboriously mentally converting all the notes to letters in my head, and my husband only occasionally plays his guitar. I've sent them to KinderMusik, and they really did seem to like it, but I have some reservations (expense, etc.). I am wondering what the most appropriate things are to do with children this age, if one is interested in fostering any latent musical predilections, or just having more fun with music. Take them to see more live music? Sing more songs with them (not easy for me, as most of the lyrics I have memorized are 70s TV themes songs or ad jingles)? Get some more instruments for them to experiment with? Or something more structured either with me or a real music teacher? (Miranda, if you're reading this, I hope you have some advice - I know from your posts that you have musical kids)

FWIW, they are in a Waldorf preschool 2x/week where they do LOTS of singing, but next year I plan to HS, and this will be the most difficult area for me (I think).

Thanks!

Sue

[PJsmomma]

Hi I'm a pianist and former piano teacher so hopefully I can qualify

I think that fostering a love of music is similar to fostering a love of books.
Provide an environment rich in music.

Listen to all types of music. Perhaps for a week or two listen to one type then switch.

Have lots of instruments around to play with.

Sing together

Dance to music

Teach them to identify what instrument they are hearing in the music.
I did this just by saying "Oh I love hearing that clarinet" etc
etc.

[moominmamma]

I honestly think you're already doing everything right. Music learning at this stage should be in the form of a musically-rich environment, unstructured, and encouraging in creative experimentation.

The only thing I'd add to what you're already doing would be to include some repetitive listening to good music of a variety of styles and timbres. Just as we simplify our vocabulary with infants to allow for the repetition that breeds the familiarity and pattern-recognition that aids language acquisition, so I think we should simplify (though not impoverish!) some of the musical diet we give our young children.

I made my kids compilation CD's or tapes ... three or four hours' worth of music, and those collections contained tuneful simple compositions -- "hummable" music, the kind that runs through your head after it's gone from your ears. I chose pieces I loved, and separated them into "lively" and "calm" to use at different times of day. I included lots of baroque and simple classical music by guys like Bach, Handel and Mozart, some sweet impressionist piano pieces, some choral stuff, movements of oboe, clarinet, and horn concertos and some nice folk songs. My kids listened to those recordings several times a week (most often at bedtime) for years. Much as I hate the "Mozart Effect" marketing ploy, some of their compilations are pretty good if you are looking for something pre-packaged. The Classical Kids CDs of stories and music were also very popular with my kids at around the ages of 4-5. Hallelujah Handel, Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery, and so on.

My kids developed really intense affinity and fondness for much of the music they heard hundreds of times over their early months and years. They came to recognize musical styles and themes, pieces, composers and instruments. I really think repetitive listening, far beyond the point of familiarity, into the realm of imprinted memory, makes music "yours" and gives you a place to build intuitive musical understanding.

Interestingly, one of the cassettes I made for my eldest when she was an infant got eaten by a nasty car stereo when she was about 3 years old. I never replaced it but for some reason kept the cassette box and liner. I suppose I though I might recompile it again, but I never did. Six months ago her violin teacher asked her to choose her first Mozart violin concerto to learn, and she sat down and listened to all six and immediately chose the G Major as the one she loved far beyond the others. As far as I can recall, she'd only heard the A Major over the preceeding 9 years. But I was able to check the old cassette liner and confirm that the G major was the one she'd been exposed to as a baby. She plays it beautifully now.

Miranda

[Leersia]

Thanks PJsmomma and Miranda, you come through as always! I'm could be doing a LOT more with recorded music and repeated listenings of different genres. Miranda, great story about the Mozart violin concerto . . .

Sue