Early childhood
Tips for musical parenting for the Under 5s
Dr Peter de Vries is the Music Council of Australia’s early childhood music education expert. Here are his tips for engaging your young child in music and making music part of your family life together.
- Sing sing sing! From birth onwards (or even before) sing to your child. Look your child in the eye and move with them as you sing.
- Get into musical “play” with your child. Respond to what your child initiates musically. This could be musical babbling from a newborn, part of a song for a toddler, or a whole song from an older child. Praise your child’s music-making, smile and join in. If a young child picks up a wooden spoon and starts striking it on the table, don’t tell them to stop – encourage them! Join in! Sing with them as they bang! This is music.
- Encourage your child to move to music – either as you sing, or to recorded music (warning: don’t have “background” music on all the time – young children will end up blocking this out). Again, join in and encourage them to make up their own movement sequences.
- Expose children to musical instruments. Even infants can grab a rattle or bells and make sounds from them. Listen to what older children do when they play instruments – that way they interweave their instrument play with singing, speaking and dramatic play.
International link: Parent's Music Room
Britain's BBC hosts a terrific site for parents called 'Parents' Music Room'. Take a look for research about the benefits of music on a child's development, - from birth through to late teens; tips on choosing the best instrument for your child and how to decide when they're ready to learn, ways to encourage practise (even if you're not a musician yourself!) and lots more great stuff.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/parents/yourchild/not_musical.shtml
‘All Together Now’
Young children LOVE the Music. Play for Life song
Download it here. Learn it. Sing it.
Peter de Vries’ MCA submission on early childhood. An overview of early childhood music education research, by Monash University’s Dr Peter de Vries and Greg Hurworth.
ISME has an early childhood commission. Click here for more
MCA’s Knowledge Base is a rich resource for early childhood music-related research and information. More
Seven inspiring case studies highlight the work of music therapists. Read and download at the Making Music Being Well website. More
Help the campaign deliver on its mission to get more Australians making music, in schools and communities. Donations are tax deductible! More
