USING MUSICAL TERMINOLOGY WITH PRESCHOOLERS

As a music teacher, I must admit that I am a bit obsessive about having my students use correct musical terminology, even with very young children.  It seems to me that, in American society, the only things we teach our children to use pseudonyms for are the private parts of our bodies and musical words.  Now, I'm not saying that it's not helpful to tell a 3 year old that "piano" means to be as quiet as a mouse and  "forte" means to use our big lion voice.  These analogies are very helpful and help to provide a framework of understanding for abstract concepts.  But when a 5 or 6 year old sees the symbol for "forte" and tells you that the "f" in music means lion, or to roar like a lion, or something to that effect, then, in my humble opinion, there is a problem.

I am not without guilt in this arena.  I've been known to use a mouse and a lion puppet when introducing the concepts of loud and soft to my young students; I still do this with my very youngest students. The children do understand quickly that when you hold up the lion puppet, then they should sing loudly and when you hold up the mouse puppet that they should sing quietly.  I even call the puppets Forte Lion and Piano Mouse.  When I run into trouble is when I don't simultaneously introduce the correct musical words for loud and soft along with the puppets.  Believe me - children are very smart and the groundwork you lay when you first introduce a musical concept is what the children will hold on to.

Young children are capable of learning correct musical terminology and we should encourage the development of their musical vocabulary.  Here are a few words and concepts that I use with my own students:

Forte (for-tay) -   loud
Piano -  softly
Allegro (a-lay-grow) -    fast
Adagio (a-daw-ghi-o) -    very slowly, gracefully
Andante (ahn-dahn-tay) -   walking tempo
composer - a person who writes music

Even if these terms do not become a part of a child's every day vocabulary, a seed has been planted in their minds and I guarantee that one day, in an elementary music class or in a piano or violin lesson, the children will recall what they were taught as preschoolers.

CHAMBER MUSIC FOR PRESCHOOLERS

This past weekend I attended the Bluegrass Chamber Music Festival held at Shaker Village in Harrodsburg, KY.  The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center gave concerts and lectures and treated the concert goers to some truly beautiful, difficult, intricate and rousing selections of music.  Some of the music was rather familiar, like Saint-Seans' "The Swan" and Mozart's Quartet in E Flat Major, and some of it was lesser known.  But it was all expertly played and was varied enough to give the listener an idea of the range and complexity of chamber music.

Today, I am going to recommend some music that I heard this weekend that would be good music to introduce to your preschoolers. I don't view any of these selections (except one) as appropriate for use in a formal music class for preschoolers,  Rather, these are songs that will be good for passive listening with them.  Our young children need to be encouraged to listen to high quality music and to learn at an early age that not all 'classical' music sounds alike.

So, pull out your CD-R and get ready to burn a CD of wonderful chamber music to share with your students!

The Swan by Camille Saint-Saens  This song from The Carnival of the Animals is the one song from this group that I would use for a formal  music lesson with preschoolers.

Some ideas for this song:

• Print off pictures of a cello and piano and talk about the different sounds of the two instruments
• Have a high school or college cellist come to your class and play this song for your students (My 15 year old daughter just learned it (she's been playing 3 years), so a serious high school student could pay this). Ask local music schools, high school orchestra teachers or local youth orchestra directors for recommendations.
• Have the children create a Swan Dance!  Improvise slow, graceful movements that depict a swan gliding through the water.
• For younger students (18 months - young 3's), pull out the scarves and let the children dance with the scarves while the music plays.
• Talk about Forte sounds (loud) and Piano sounds (soft).  Is this song Forte or Piano?  Gentle or Foot Stomping?  Have children go around the room and say "I love to eat___________", first in a loud voice (remind them Forte does not mean to scream!) and then in a Piano voice (Our Swan Voice!).

Quartet in E Flat Major, 1st Movement: Mozart

Trio in f minor, Op. 65, 3rd Movement:  Dvorak

Suite, Op. 34, 3rd Movement:  Tournier - a perfect song for getting the kids to settle down.  Beware - this song is so beautiful it may make you want to cry!

ONE ELEPHANT WENT OUT TO PLAY

One elephant went out to play
Upon a spider's web one day
He found it such enormous fun
That he called for another elephant to come


Two elephants...
Three elephants...
Four elephants...


Five elephants went out to play
Upon a spider's web one day
They found it such enormous fun
But there weren't any more elephants to come


This is a fun rhyme that can be either sung or chanted.  It's one of those songs that can go on for an eternity.  If you have a large class, I would recommend dividing the class into two groups, otherwise the kiddos might get a little restless and you know what happens when the kiddos get restless...

WHAT TO DO:

Sit the class down in a circle or a half-circle and pick one student to be the first elephant.  He/she walks around the circle while everyone else sings or chants.  At the end of the verse, Elephant #1 picks another student to join him in the circle.  Continue adding "elephants" until everyone has had a turn.  When the very last "elephant" has been picked, the children all shrug their shoulders on "but there weren't any more elephants to come".

EXPAND THE IDEA:

• Make a spider web out of yarn that the children have to walk on when they become an elephant
• Have the children walk in different ways:  tiptoe, giant steps, wobbly, swinging their elephant trunks, on all fours like an elephant, etc.
• This is a wonderful song to incorporate into other learning areas as well:  math/adding, elephants, pretend and real (can an elephant really walk on a spider's web?), friendship, working together.

For a recording of One Elephant Went Out to Play, I recommend the one by the C.R.S. Players.  The kids looovve the bass singer's contribution to the song!

TRAIN SONGS FOR PRESCHOOLERS

Chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga, whooo, hoooo!

How about putting together a music lesson centered around trains?  There are some wonderful songs you can use and with just a little bit of imagination you can have a whole lot of fun with this theme.

I've Been Working on the Railroad
Divide the class into 3 groups, each group will act out a section of this well known song.
Group One:  Pretends to hammer at the railroad until the words "Dinah blow your horn"
Group Two:  Pretends to pull the steam whistle until the words "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah"
Group Three:  Pretends to play the banjo until the end of the song.

You can add costumes for each group if you like.  Group One can wear a bandanna, Group Two can wear a Conductor's hat and Group Three can wear aprons (since they're in the kitchen).  Explain to the boys that the cooks on the trains were almost always men!

Activities like this help to improve critical listening skills and encourages group cooperation.

Down By the Station
Show preschoolers how to move their arms in a train motions and them let them "pull" the train whistle at "chug, chug, whoo, whoo, off we go!".

Get On Board, Little Children
Get on Board, Little Children
These two recordings are perfect for introducing preschoolers to the concept of vocal range.  One recording is the beautiful bass sound of Paul Robeson and the second is from a children's album that uses a mezzo soparano soloist and several children's voices.  The idea of high/low is somewhat difficult for young children to understand, but we can help their ears recognize these differences by allowing them to hear songs sung by singers with differing ranges and timbres.

WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THIS??!!

This weekend my piano students participated in the Piano Guild Auditions.  The Guild auditions provide a non-competitive atmosphere for students to perform 2- 20 songs in front of a judge for evaluation, critique and feedback.  It's a way for students to push themselves musically, learn about setting goals and to improve their performance skills.  I encourage all of my students to participate in the Guild auditions - and most of them do.

The one question I seem to get the most from my students in the months leading up to the Guild auditions is, "Why do we have to do this?"  There are no big prizes to win that day- no scholarships, no monetary prizes.  Yes, the students all receive a certificate and lapel pin and some students may receive a plaque or statuette, but in today's age of instant gratification and "everyone receives a trophy simply for participating" mentality, the Guild auditions can seem a bit unsatisfactory from a 10 year old's viewpoint.

I tell my students the following when they ask the "Why" question:

1.  Doing this will make you a better pianist.  Having to memorize and perform an entire program of music pushes young pianists to excel. Most piano students are accustomed to preparing one or two songs for a recital once or twice a year,  but not 4, 7 10, or 20 songs fully memorized and perfected.  It's a challenge and it helps them to realize that they can do more than they think they can.

2.  You will receive invaluable feedback from someone other than me.  It's good for students to receive critique from another professional.  The Guild adjudicators are always mindful of a student's age, level and ability and give appropriate, gentle critique that is meant to encourage, not discourage, a student's playing.

3.  It makes me a better teacher.  As a teacher, it's easy to fall into a routine.  Having my students participate in the Guild auditions puts me on the line as a teacher.  I want to send my students into any performance opportunity knowing that I have prepared them well - how well the students do is a reflection on me and my teaching skills and knowing that someone else is evaluating my "work" encourages me to keep growing and learning as a teacher.

4.  You will always be glad that you did this and will always regret not doing it.  No matter how well a student plays on audition day, there is always a sense of pride in doing it.  Even when nerves get the best of a student and their memory fails them or they suddenly forget how to play a C Major scale or they forget to bring a music book with them or even if they are suddenly faced with the reality that they should've practiced more, afterwards, most students are glad that they participated.   If they had a dismal audition, they are often motivated to make some changes in their practicing habits and vow to themselves that they will NEVER let that happen again, and if they had a fabulous audition, they are motivated to keep up the hard work and are often willing to challenge themselves with a more difficult program for next year.

Guild auditions, local music festivals, solo and ensemble competitions, studio recitals - these are all events that help to make students into better musicians and help to build a child's self-confidence.  No matter if we are teaching the next Horowitz or if we have a studio full of average students who will not pursue music as a career, the lessons we teach in the music studio are life lessons that can be taken to high school, college and into life and will help make our world a more beautiful place to live.

FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS

Almost everyone knows the rhyme Five Little Monkeys.  This is a great little rhyme to use for both music and dramatic play.  Rhymes help preschoolers develop a sense of beat - keeping a steady beat as well as being able to feel the internal pulse of music. Because of the simple, repetitive nature of Five Little Monkeys, this rhyme makes learning the words of the song/rhyme very easy.

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Momma called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed"

Four little monkeys...
Three little monkeys...
Two little monkeys...
One little monkey...

When you first introduce this song, instruct the children to patsch their legs in time to the beat.  Once they are comfortable with speaking and patsching, you can introduce rhythm sticks, hand drums or wood blocks for the beat keeping.

When the children are comfortable with speaking the rhyme, it's time to make a simple play out of it.  You will need:

• 5 children to be the monkeys (of course, you can always modify this number - 6, 7, 10 monkeys, whatever you need!)
• 1 Momma
• 1 doctor

Designate a space to be the bed and if possible, have a couple of play phones for the doctor and Momma.  If phones aren't available, no problem, just let the children pretend to speak on the phone.  You can make this as simple or as elaborate as you like.  Costumes?  Up to you.  Props?  Up to you.  I like to keep things as simple as possible because it encourages children to develop their imagination more - but I'm not opposed to making it more elaborate either, especially if you want to do a special presentation for parents.

You will want to establish some rules for safety.

• Monkeys must keep their hands and feet to themselves
• When you "fall" off the bed, you must do it gently so no one gets hurt
• Once a monkey is off the bed have an area that they can go so that they will be out of the way of the other monkeys falling off the bed

If you want a recording of this song, let me recommend this one by Old Town School of Folk Music

Five Little Monkeys from the CD Songs for Wiggleworms

And of course, there are several picture books that you can use at story time:

The Original Five Little Monkeys by David Martin

Five Little Monkeys with CD from Twin Sisters Productions

Music Audition Tips

As my daughter is preparing for a cello scholarship audition and my piano students are preparing for the Piano Guild auditions this weekend, I am reminded of how nerve-racking the audition process can be.  Playing in front of people can be intimidating enough, but knowing that you are being judged by the people you are playing for can make the whole process even worse.  So, here are a few tips for facing that dreaded audition with confidence:

1.  Practice, Practice, Practice.  Know your music inside and out.  This may sound obvious, but you'd be surprised at how many people think they can 'wing it' on audition day.  As you practice, you want to know the starting points of different sections of music so that if you have a memory lapse, you can simply move on to the next section.  This tip is especially helpful for pianists and singers who are most likely to be required to memorize their audition music.  

2.  Choose a Song You Can Perform Well.  If you have to choose between a difficult song you play just so-so and a slightly simpler song that you can play exceptionally - go with the simpler song.  Judges are listening for interpretation, articulation, tone color and a whole host of technical details and they would much rather hear a song that you can execute flawlessly than to hear you stumble through passages of a more challenging song.

3.  Arrive 15 Minutes Early On Audition Day.  15 minutes gives you enough time to sign in, tune, warm up and relax a little.  Arriving more than 15 -20 minutes early will mean that you will have time to start listening to and comparing yourself to other auditioners - not a good idea!

4.  Be Confident!  Walk into the audition room with your head held high, if you are spoken to, speak to the judges with a clear voice (some auditions are blind auditions where the judges do not see or speak to those  who are playing), do exactly what you've been told to do and do it with confidence!

Of course, even when you are completely prepared and you feel confident about auditioning, things can go wrong:  nerves can cause you to be timid with your bowing,  have a shaky voice or to suddenly forget everything you've been working so hard on (when I was younger, my right foot, the pedaling foot, would always shake like crazy whenever I performed in public!).  The more prepared you are, the more confident you will feel.  Audition every chance you get.  Audition for local music club scholarships, perform in MENC solo and ensemble competitions, Piano Guild, talent shows....the more you audition, the more comfortable you will be with the process and every time you audition you are building a more confident performer!

CARIBBEAN MUSIC FOR PRESCHOOLERS

One of my favorite classroom CD's for island music is Asheba's 2002 CD, "Go Itsy".   Included in this CD are recording of familiar children's songs, such as Itsy Bitsy Spider, Skip to My Lou and If You're Happy and You Know It, but I bet you've never heard them sung this way!

If you want to include some island music into your summer lessons this year, here are some great choices to use:

Limbo Rock 
Children as young as 3 can do the Limbo!

Jamaican Farewll

Day-O Banana Boat Song
Create a recurring movement to do everytime you sing "Daylight come and me wanna go home".

Brown Girl in the Ring
Make a circle and let the children go to the center of the circle one at a time and show off their dance moves.

SONGS TO SING AND READ

Some of these books have recordings of the song included.  For the ones that don't, I have provided a link to a download you can burn to a CD.  Of course, you can always sing these songs A Capella as you are reading to your children.  They won't care if you have a beautiful voice or not - so go ahead and sing out!


 1. Sunshine On My Shoulders.  Lyrics by John Denver.  Illustrations by Christopher Canyon

 2. You Are My Sunshine.  Lyrics by Jimmie Davis.  Illustrations by Caroline Church     Song  

 3.  Knick Knack Paddywhack by Paul O. Zelinski     Song

 4.  Down By the Station by Jess Stockham     Song
 This book has additional verses that are not a part of the traditional song.  This music link does not match up  lyric-wise exactly with the book, but it will give you something to sing.

 5.  Over the Rainbow by E.Y.Harburg and Eric Pubaret

 6.  Going to the Zoo by Tom Paxton and Karen Lee Schmidt      Song 

 7.  The Star Spangled Banner by Peter Spier      Song 

 8.  What a Wonderful World by George David Weiss, Bob Thiele and Ashley Bryan.    Song
   
 9.  The Ants Go Marching by Mary Gruetzke

10.  Turn! Turn! Turn! by Pete Seeger and Wendy Andersen Halperin.


And just for fun, here are some additional renditions of some of these songs.  Some are a little unexpected, but they all are a whole lot of fun and definitely worth listening to!

You Are My Sunshine by Nat King Cole

You Are my Sunshine by Box Car Willie

What a Wonderful World by Ziggy Marley

Sunshine On My Shoulders 

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