Trains and rocket ships!
Here at Do Re Mi, we work with tiny babies right up to year
6 children who are age 11 and everyone in between. Our Musical Learning baby classes
welcome babies who are only a few weeks old, our nursery caters for older
babies up to age four, and our after-school musicianship classes continue the
musical journey right through the primary school years. I love the challenge of
working across such a huge age range, as it means every day is different!
We have a huge bank of songs and resources, and I will
always choose material appropriate for the age group I’m working with. However,
it is often possible to use the same song and adapt it in different ways, which
is great as it retains that familiarity which is so important for young
children. Using one song in a variety of different ways is something I find
particularly interesting, and I thought I’d share a couple of examples as it gives
a real insight into how we work musically with the children.
Up like a rocket
One of our favourite songs at Do Re Mi is “Up like a rocket”
which we use in the baby room, lifting the babies gently up, down, forwards and
backwards in time to the beat. This physical movement in time to the beat helps
them to develop a sense of pulse. Once mobile, we use this rhyme in our Diddies
and Explorers room, and our Musical Learning classes, where the children are encouraged
to jump up and down independently, helping with both physical and musical development.
By the preschool room, we play around with the rhyme, often challenging ourselves
to perform the actions without saying the words and seeing if we can stay in
time with the beat!
Engine engine number nine
Another example is the rhyme “Engine engine number nine” which
is also our rhyme of the week this week. If you haven’t already seen the video of
some of our preschool children performing this beautifully, check it out on our
Facebook page. We introduce this rhyme with our little ones around about age two,
as it has a strong beat and a lovely rhyming structure that they can tune in
to. Our Diddies and Explorers love to pretend to be a train in a circle and
listen to us chanting the rhyme clearly, joining in with more and more words as
they develop.
By the time we reach the preschool room, the rhyme is so
familiar that we can start playing around with it to encourage more musical
development. We perform it quietly or loudly, fast or slow, and we can change
our destination to keep us on our toes. We also introduce the train whistle at
this age, to enable the children to explore different timbres and have a go at playing
a simple instrument in time to the beat (and most importantly, trains whistles
are great fun!).
In our school age musicianship classes, we use this rhyme to
discuss the difference between the pulse of the music that never changes, and
the rhythmic patterns that lay over the top which can change. We tap or stamp
the beat, but we clap the final line “yes, no, maybe so” and identify the rhythmic
pattern on a rhythm card. This forms the beginnings of reading musical notation.
Hopefully this blog has given a little insight into how we
can take a simple song or rhyme, introduce it at a young age to bring
familiarity and confidence, gradually developing different activities and techniques
that mean our primary age children can begin to read and write music for themselves.
That’s the Do Re Mi difference!
As always, if you’d like any more information about anything
here at Do Re Mi, please do get in touch.
Lizzie x
