How do we use music, song and dance to support child development in the Early Years?
Each of our children bring their sense of musicality with them to our homely nursery setting and we develop from their home experiences with our dedication to keeping their time with us full of music and movement.
Our parents love the way we connect with the children using music, singing and movement and we are always open to exploring a range of musical styles to keep broadening the children’s experiences. This is important to allow them to explore what they like, what they don’t like, and discover new music that they love!
This blog is to show just some of the ways into music that we use to support child development, as well as giving you some links for ideas you can use at home too.
Why is music important for early years children?
Responding to sound allows the children to connect their vocabulary with their emotions. It helps them to develop self-awareness as they learn to understand how they are responding to different sounds in their surroundings and in music.
Music provides a pathway for self-expression. They see the Little Dragon’s team responding to music through song and dance, and they see that they are allowed this freedom of expression too.
There is nothing quite like the moment you see one of our children starting to move, finding their body and enjoying moving with their nursery friends. The joy on their faces is a milestone moment for us and is just one of the many reasons we do what we do! We love playing music from a range of styles (of course always checking for appropriate lyric content!) and seeing how children interpret this through their singing and dancing.
How do music and movement link together?
Our commitment to using effective teaching techniques means that our staff training is based upon educational theories. We love an educational theory to demonstrate the positive effects our work with children has! With Music, the benefits extend to their physical, emotional, social and academic wellbeing through the approaches we use.
Emile Jacques Dalcroze (1921) is a leading theorist in music education, advocating for the need for physical connection to sound, combining music and movement. Dalcrose activities encourage this connection, for example through playing music and the children walk in time to the beat, stopping the music and clapping using their ‘thinking voices’, aiming to keep a steady beat before playing the music again (Dalcrose 1921). His theories connect well with the approaches used in modern early years settings, focusing on establishing the children’s sense of the beat, or the pulse of the music. Karl Orff also supports much of this approach to musical development and the connection between music and the mind, combining the arts together through music, dance and drama to allow children to express themselves through creative avenues. Orff’s approach was all about exploration- another key approach in the Early years and a perfect alignment with our ethos at Little Dragon’s too.
Are nursery rhymes important?
Nursery rhymes are simple musical structures that support the children’s understanding of how a song works. It allows them to use their voices in simple melodies, changing the pitch and volume as they tell a story through song.
They are learning without realising it. They soak up the songs and internalise the musical patterns, listening to the adults, listening to their friends and learning how to make music as part of a group.
All of these musical skills and knowledge eventually feed into the National curriculum when they are at school, beginning from Year 1 (age 5-6). The curriculum teaches them to understand the interrelated dimensions of music (follow the link to find out more).
Using nursery rhymes allows us to support the children to feel the beat, to clap along, to add instruments and to change words and create their own versions too. They are versatile teaching tools, and we love to show the children different styles of music, including reggae versions of their favourite nursery rhymes.
What can we do at home?
There is so much you can do at home! Always remember that, even if you don’t think of yourself as a singer, you are role modelling to your child through the way you engage with anything in life- and music is no different! Sing your heart out in the car, or sit quietly singing lullabies, make junk instruments and play along to the beat of music or songs such as nursery rhymes.
Talk about music, share your thoughts and feelings about different styles and build up the way the children talk about music and extend their vocabulary to support their speech and language development.
Keep an open mind as to what they will like as it may be different to your own tastes. Be open-minded and encourage them to try new music and to be allowed to change their mind.
Links to other ideas and references
Links to other Ideas:
Find out more about music education theories
More about the Orff Approach to music education
References:
Dalcroze, E. (1921) Rhythm, Music And Education. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Orff, C. (1963). The Schulwerk: Its Origin and Aims. Music Educators Journal, 49(5), 69–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/3389951
Contact us
