Using Handbells With Preschoolers

One of my students' favorite musical activity is playing handbells.  They love the immediate gratification of hearing the tone with just a simple shake of the bell.  I am a big fan of the Kids Play handbells.  They are the perfect size for a preschooler's hands and have been perfectly tuned, so that a bell rings true to pitch. If you are familiar with church hand bells, you know that you have to give a quick flick of your wrist to have the bell ring clearly, but the Kids Play handbells do not require that type of movement.  All the child has to do is shake the bell for a clear tone to be produced.  Using the bells teaches children to play as an ensemble, to pay attention to the director, enhances critical listening skills (like hearing chord changes), and can be used to teach colors, letters, building and singing scales, notes on the staff and improvisation skills.

I have used the bells with 3, 4 and 5 year old students, and have even used them with some of my older piano students to teach the concept of building a scale.  I will list a couple of ideas that I use with my preschool classes.  If you are interested in purchasing a set of these bells, here is the link for the Kids Play handbells: http://www.kidsplaymusic.com/

1.  Before I pass out the bells, I tell the kids that they are to hold the bell like an ice cream cone, to never touch the colored part because the bell won't ring pretty if they do, and to NEVER, EVER, EVER touch the clacker.  If I see them touch the clacker, I will take the bell away from them.  I also explain that touching the clacker could break the bell and we want to be able to use the bells for a long time.  When I pass out the bells I require the children to be seated on the floor and put their hands on their heads.  Keeping their hands on their heads removes the temptation to play the bells until everyone has one.  The kids know that I won't give them a bell until I see their hands on top of their heads and that I will take it away from them if I hear their bell ring.  After the bells are passed out I will tell them to give the bell a good shake (which they love) and then when I say Fine (fee- nay, the musical word for stop), they have to put the bell in rest position on the floor.  Practice saying, "Play" and "Fine" 3 or 4 times until the kids get the hang of play position/ rest position.

2.  Before using the bells, you will want to make laminated cards of each of the following colors:  Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Light Blue, Dark Blue, and Purple.  Simple cut a piece of construction paper in half and laminate, one card for each color.  Tell the students that when they play the bells they must keep their eyes on the cards.  Then hold up one colored card; the students with the bells that match the card must play their bell.  When a color changes, they put their bell in rest position and the new color rings.  This is lesson number one in bell playing.  They need to learn to watch the cards.  The cards will tell them when to play and when to rest.

Keys skills for these lesons:  color recognition, enhanced listening, group cooperation.

Tomorrow, I will give you two more ideas on how to use the handbells with your preschoolers.

First Post

Welcome to my blog!  I hope you will find the information I post here useful. 

As a music teacher, I have seen so much conflicting information about music and children, that sometimes it's enough to confuse me!  Do we force our kids into music lessons?  Should an expectant mom pipe Mozart into headphones placed around her belly so that the unborn child can "listen" to classical music?  Suzuki, Traditional, Dalcroze, Orff - which style of teaching is the best?  At what age do we start music lessons?  Sometimes the information is so confusing that we don't know which way to turn.

When it comes to wading through all the research and information that is out there, I am especially sympathetic to ECE directors and teachers.  I have talked to dozens of ECE educators who want to be able to provide a quality music curriculum to their students, but just don't know how to get started.  Sometimes teachers feel that they are not qualified to teach music to their students and so directors look to an outside source (like my program) to provide music instruction.  And sometimes the budget is so tight at a childcare center, that even if a director wants to hire an outside source to teach music, the funds just aren't there to pay someone.

Let me offer a bit of encouragement here:  You don't have to be a trained musician to teach the fundamentals of music to a 3 year old!  Do you have to be a professional Biologist to teach a preschooler about animals?  Do you need a math degree to teach children to add and subtract? Do you need to understand complex literature to teach little ones Sight Words?  Well, neither do you need to be a professional musician to teach the basics of music.  If you can keep a steady beat, sing in tune, can act a little silly, are willing to learn something new, and have access to a wide variety of music, you can successfully integrate music into your curriculum.  Just take it one step at a time and soon you will be creating music lessons on your own!