“Music helps and increases the ability of concentration. It adds a new element to the child’s acquisition of inner order and psychological balance.”- Maria Montessori
Greetings Toddler 1 Families,
This weekend, as a part of our ongoing training, all the Toddler teachers attended a seminar focused on Music and Art in the Infant Community. It was a wonderful learning opportunity, and we came back refreshed and full of new ideas. We wanted to share with you a bit about what we learned.
Music is vital in constructing a harmonious and secure environment for the young child. Through music and play, bonding and attachment are fostered. Music gives us a confident way to comfort, console, and stimulate the children in our care. Musical play lays the foundation for children to continue acquiring music as a developing second language. Everything we know about language acquisition can be applied to music acquisition.
Much of the seminar focused on the Gordon Music Learning Theory, which is an age specific method of teaching music to young children. This method is based on research and field testing. For the young child, there are 8 melodic patterns and 8 rhythmic patterns that children can learn from infancy and carry through to their youth and adolescence. These patterns need to be sung during the first years of life. We have begun incorporating these melodic and rhythmic patterns into our daily singing in the classroom, so you will most likely hear them at home within the next few weeks.
Music in the Montessori classroom includes singing, audiation (hearing a sequence of pitches in your head), music theory and ear training, eurhythmics, composition, music production (playing instruments), history and literature. The Montessori Music curriculum is special because various aspects of music are isolated to bring them to conscious levels.
The following aspects of music are included:
1. Pitch (highness or lowness)
2. Rhythm (long or shortness)
3. Intensity (loudness or softness)
4. Timbre (color of the sound)
5. Form (structural outline of a piece of music)
6. Style (The different eras in music history or music of a geographical region)
Now that we have gone through this seminar, we are planning to add some new sets of instruments to the classroom. We need to have enough of each set so that all the children will have the same instrument to play. If you are interested in helping us to purchase some instruments for the classroom, please email us and let us know!
Very best,
Mrs. Maitlen and Ms. Small
