One
of the common technology tools that are used in my centre is the musical
instruments. I believe that they play an important part of technology tool in
young children’s lives. Back in the day I believe that children did not have
the right equipment to play music because they did not have enough money or any
funding to supply musical instruments. However, today’s society children are
lucky enough to be funded with proper musical instruments that could assist
them in furthering their knowledge and experiences in learning music. Music is
an integral part that provides children opportunities of interest which allows
them to learn how to play with music and not only that but listen to the music
and understand the rhythm and sound towards the music. The most popular music
activity that children love to do is to sing, dance and playing with the
musical instruments (Yim & Ebbeck, 2009).
“Teachers
need to encourage and model creativity in the classroom” (Beghetto, 2007, p.
1). In my centre a lot of the children enjoy listening to the sound of music
and it also sets children’s dispositions where they behave in certain ways as
they listen to music, some are happy, excited and active. Music can bring
different types of moods depending on the sound and the lyric and as children
hear the music they automatically jump with excitement as they get ready to
dance, sing or grab an instrument. I believe that it is evident that teachers
role model positive behaviours as they encourage children to sing or dance
along with the music (Ministry of Education, 1996). One of the examples in my
centre is when children are playing in the outdoors, I thought of having some
music in the background so I brought the radio outside so that children could
play and at the same time listen to music. This was exciting as children loved
the music and they would come towards the music and dance. It was truly good to
see the smile on children’s faces and their excitement about dancing. Other
children will go and grab instruments such as the microphones and drums and
pretend to sing and drum along to the music. This is a great way of children
exploring music in a fun environmental learning space (Ministry of Education,
1996). I believe that children were able to inhabit relationships with other
children in singing and dancing together. Music can also be a way of motivating
children physical fitness which can be social or physical. As children are
singing along to the music they will be able to memorise the words and dancing
children are moving their body to the beat. So without children noticing they
are also exercising their muscles in their body.
Furthermore, children can be more
advantage in music as they are able to learn at a very young age as they get
older and move towards primary and so forth. Teachers play an instrumental role
in assisting children to develop their abilities in music (Beghetto, 2007). Children
will start to have grasp knowledge of music and will be able to identify all
the musical instruments and also the songs. Children may also want to take a
path in the musical industry and pursue it as a courier which is happening to a
lot of children in today’s generation where they favour singing as their talent
or dancing or playing a musical instrument. Children can also be inspired by music
and the lyric where they are able to learn and maybe compose their own music. As
stated in craft “Fostering children’s possibility thinking can be seen as
building their resilience and confidence and reinforcing their capabilities as
confident explorers, meaning-makers and decision-makers” (2002, p. 1).
References
Craft, A. (2002) Creativity and Early Years Education. London: Continuum.
Beghetto, R. J. (2007). Creativity in Teaching. Ideational
Code-Switching: Walking the talk about supporting Student Creativity in the Classroom: Roeper Review; Summer 2007; 29, 4; Academic Research Library
pg.265
Hey Veronica, I enjoyed reading your blog. I agree that music indeed is an essential part of children’s life as it provides them with a range of opportunities. Music helps develop children’s social development skills as well as language development. Playing with musical instruments encourages social play, as children get involved in creating music alongside each other. It also creates opportunities for pretend play as children get in groups and pretend to be in bands. These activities develop children’s social developments as they are given the opportunity to play alongside each other (Ministry of Education, 1996).
ReplyDeleteDoing activities such as playing musical instruments and listening to music can help foster language development as children develop language skills by listening to others (Campbell, 2000). This was emphasised by Vygotsky’s theory as he believed that language is developed as a result of social interactions. These interactions can include participation with teachers and peers through music and dancing (Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2007).
Te Whāriki also states that children should be given the opportunity to develop and enhance their abilities and interests in a range of area’s including visual, linguistic and musical area’s (Ministry of Education, 1996).
I like how you’ve referred this learning experience to the past in regards to the musical instruments being less advanced and basic due to the lack of funding for resources. As for today, children are provided with more opportunities because of how technical our society has become and budgets are more reasonable “Children experiment freely with ‘music makers” (Sometset, 2000). I believe children love music! I have encountered the same experiences with the children in my room. The excitement that full’s the rooms when you turn music on, the craziest dance moves and most energy I’ve ever seen at one time, it’s an awesome feeling! Some rhythms are not imitations but original expressions of a child’s feelings (Somerset, 2000). I also like how you’ve stated the different stages of age when developing the sound and recognition for music, and I too agree that children that are musically in tuned from a young age eventually grow up and pursue a career in it.
ReplyDeleteI like how you took the radio outside and play the music for children. It encourages children to explore things in different way. In my centre, children can assess the radio whenever they like, I think this is a very good way for children to learn the new technology skills. As children have the opportunity to use technology, children are more likely develop the ability and confidence to using technology it their play. According to Te Whaariki (1996), children develop both the ability and confidence to use technology when they experience an environment that allows their active exploration. However, musical instruments provides children with the opportunity to learn to play cooperatively, children also develop an understanding of how to respond to instructions and guidance regarding when to start and when to stop. Children’s physical development have been advanced when they develop the ability to move rhythmically and learning to link music to dance and movement (Beaver, Brewster, Green, Neaum, Sheppard, Tallack, & Walker, 2008)
ReplyDeleteI believe that musical instruments are one of the common technological tools that children enjoy everyday. However children today are very lucky to have the variety of new technological instruments. This allows children to be creative with sounds and make their own music, it also helps them develop their fine motor skills. This is supported by Ministry of Education (1996) which states "Children develop an ability to be creative and expressive through a variety of activities, such as pretend play, carpentry, story-telling, drama, and making music" (p.80).
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how you said that music can bring different types of moods depending on the sound and the lyrics.