I love my son’s Music Together class, as I’ve written before. Not only is it great for the kids, but it encourages us parents to participate in our children’s musical exploration, sharing drums, bells, scarves, shakers, and anything else that makes a sound or marks a rhythm. In how many other places would you find (as I did recently) a 40-something straight man asking his son for a silk scarf, saying “I need a scarf. I can’t dance without a scarf”?
Our teacher has lots of good ideas for helping young children learn basic musical skills. Some are things we find ourselves doing naturally, but being aware of them as learning tools helps us do them more deliberately. Here are a few of the simplest:
- Physical touch-tapping on your child, holding her and swaying, etc. helps instill a sense of rhythm.
- Even before they can speak, children will “sing” with sounds. Different children use different sounds: “la, la, la,” “da, da, da,” “ay, ay, ay,” “oo, oo, oo,” etc. Listen for what your child does, and reinforce it by “singing” back to her using the same sound.
- In a similar vein, let your child lead when using instruments. If you give him a drumstick and a drum, but he wants to beat the stick on the floor, tap along on the floor with your own stick. The point is not to teach your toddler how to play the drum, but rather how to enjoy music and feel good about his own actions.
- It doesn’t take expensive or even store-bought instruments to make a good band. As most of us know, pots, pans, and wooden spoons are just as attractive for budding musicians. A handful of small dried pasta shapes in a tightly lidded sippy cup makes a great shaker.
