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July 2005
Keeping the Song Alive: Fostering Musical Intelligence at Home
Mrs. Donna - North Canton
 As a HeartStrings teacher, my musical repertoire is extensive, but I learned my all-time favorite song for babies long before I knew anything about WeJoySing.
Here’s a ball for Baby, big and soft and round
Here’s the Baby’s hammer, see how he can pound...
In a not-so-distant memory, I hear the voice of a white-haired woman singing to my children. Searching farther, I hear that same voice, unshaken by age, singing the song to me. Hands cupped, fingertips poised to create Baby’s beloved Ball, I mimic my grandmother’s hand-movements. The song continues...
Here’s the Baby’s trumpet, too-too-too-too-toot
Here’s the way the Baby, plays a Peak-a-Boo!
This is the essence of WeJoySing. Parent and child making JOYFUL music together. At WeJoySing, we often talk about the oral tradition: music passed from one generation to the next.
John M. Feierabend, Ph.D., a foremost authority in music and early childhood education, has interviewed many seniors over the past 20+ years. The results: those over the age of 80 had the largest repertoire of songs and games to play with a baby. “One hundred years ago many families instinctively engaged their very young children in activities that were ideal for developing musicality.” Thus, there was no need for musical classes for children and parents. Now, “instead of making music, most only consume it– and the nutritional value of much of that musical consumption has become increasingly empty.”1 Technological advancement in the past century has robbed us of a musical legacy.
Feierabend asserts that ALL adults should be able to clap their hands in time to the cheering at a sporting event or sing “Happy Birthday” in-tune. For these basics to happen, musical understanding and appreciation must be nurtured with “excellent examples of children’s music literature...”
What is this “excellent” music?
Current research supports the philosophical convictions Hungarian musician Zoltan Kodaly expressed more than fifty years ago. In early childhood, the BEST music we can offer is the traditional children’s folk song, nursery rhyme, and game of the child’s native land. These songs are, as Feierabend reminds us, “birthed out of inspiration” and are naturally wonder-full and expressive.
See the Baby’s ten pins, standing in a row
Hear the Baby’s music, clapping, clapping so...
Recently, after I presented "HeartStrings" at a public library, one mother asked me, “How can I find this [folk] music if I haven’t learned it from my parents?” I thought about referring her to books, but what if she didn’t read music? If she did, what about the heartfelt, expressive singing needed to bring the music to life? Offering a compatible CD would just be more “consumerism.” Her goal was to MAKE music with her little one.
I had to be truthful in my answer. The BEST place I know of to learn naturally wonder-full, imaginatively-playful children’s songs, if not from one’s own parent, is at WeJoySing. What parents and children learn at HeartStrings carries over to home-life, creating a bond that lasts a lifetime and beyond.
I am a child, curled on my grandmother’s lap, taking in the tender words of her song.
Here’s the Baby’s umbrella, keeps the Baby dry...
I am a mommy, with my own little ones in my lap, keeping my grandmother’s song alive...
Here’s a cradle for Baby, Rock-a-Baby-Bye
A Note from Mrs. Jo
This article is one of a series presented by WeJoySing regarding Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Musical Intelligence is obviously near and dear to our hearts at WeJoySing. Did you know that singing on a regular basis stimulates brain interconnections between the right and left hemispheres? Next month, discover ways in which MUSIC naturally contributes to the development of the other areas of Intelligence. In the mean time, keep singing!
"Sing"cerely,
Mrs. Jo
Resources and Recommended Reading:
1. Feierabend, John M. PhD. “Music and Movement for Infants and Toddlers: Naturally Wonder-full” Early Childhood Connections Fall 1996, p. 19-26.
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