Have You Heard Of Audiation?

Audiation is the ability to "hear" music when no musical sound is present. When you audiate, you have internalized music and are "thinking" music. For example, have you ever found yourself with a song "going through your head?" That is one demonstration that you're audiating. Being able to hear music in this way is an important part of musical literacy, just as thinking thoughts without speaking them aloud is an important feat in language and thought development.

Audiation First Steps

Music learning theorist Edwin Gordon, who coined the term audiation, identifies several stages of audiation typical for very young children from birth to age two to four. They are:

"1 ABSORBTION : hears and aurally collects the sounds of music in the environment.

2 RANDOM RESPONSE : moves and babbles in response to, but without relation to, sounds of music in the environment.

3 PURPOSEFUL RESPONSE : tries to relate movement and babble to the sounds of music in the environment."

~~A Music Learning Theory for Newborn and Young Children, by Edwin Gordon, p.38.

Perhaps you've noticed some of these behaviors in your child. You can enjoy observing your baby's responses to music and knowing that his musical growth is in evidence. Being able to audiate will benefit Baby as he grows and learns. Music can help him relax, cope with feelings, celebrate, create, and express. Audiation will allow him to carry these benefits and the gift of music with him wherever he goes!


An Invitation to Audiate

Omitting parts of familiar songs is one of the simplest ways to help children begin to "fill in the blanks" and hear music internally. Eg. In the "Sarasponda" activity, as the song grows familiar, add in an audiation twist. Leave off the final "oh!" of the song; then stop completely and observe and listen to Baby to note her reactions, Allow Baby several opportunities to offer the conclusion. Regardless of her response, you can be sure that this fun activity is engaging her listening and cognitive skills.

Audiating Activities at Home

Fill your child's day with music!
Whether you're a shower time singer or a trained musician, there is much that you can do at home to support and encourage your baby's musical development.

- Sing to your baby. When Baby is distressed sing a soothing song. Baby will begin to internalize the song, and someday she may be able to think about or hum the song on her own to comfort herself when she is distressed.

- Play music often. Put Kindermusik Home Cd in to play at every opportunity. You may begin to see some of the stages of audiation as Baby becomes familiar with the songs.

- While playing with Baby, sing a familiar song and leave out a key word or sound. Pause and watch for Baby's reaction. As Baby begins to audiate and learns to react this can become a fun game and the source of lots of giggles!

- While riding in the car, participate in family sing-alongs. Perhaps the adults can leave out some words that the children can fill in. Baby will want to be part of the fun, too! 

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Selamat Hari Raya Haji

^^ Here at Lirico Music School, we want to wish all our Muslim students, customers and friends Selamat Hari Raya Haji ^^

~~ Wishing all Malaysians a safe and happy holiday with yr loved ones ~~

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What Makes A Child SCHooL-ReADy?

MUSIC and ....... Social - Emotional Skills

by : Molis Dumbleton, MA, M.A and Heidi Gilman Bennett

Every elementary school teacher knows (and child development experts confirm) that "school-readiness" involves more than just knowing your ABCs. Just as essential to accademic success is a set of skills that enables children to recognize and manage their emotions, build positive relationships, and control their impulse and behavior sufficiently to get along in a group of children and take advantage of group instruction. These skills, collectively, are called social-emotional skills.

Studies point to a specific cluster of social-emotional skills ---- called self-regulation skills ---- as particularly important for a variety of school successes. Children who display strong self-regulation are better able to control their impulses, pay attention, work flexibly toward goals, and show an ability to plan and organize their actions. A self-regulated child, for example, will be able to wait his or her turn in line without frustration, will resist blurting out answers when other children have been asked a question, and might even be obeserved suggesting fair solutions to a play-ground problem.

But . . . . . . . won't children just learn these skills when they get older? Or do we actually need to devote time specifically to developing children's social-emotional skills? Well, actually . . . . . . .  no and no.

Kindermusik-style Activities

Try these Kindermusik-style activities that promote social-emotional skill development :
  

• Create a game out of stopping. It takes a lot of self-regulation for a young child to stop what he or she is doing. Try a follow-the-leader game that goes something like this (you be the "caller" --- your child will have to listen to you for cues) : Hop, hop, hop, hop, hop, hop,hop aaaaaand STOP. (Pause for a couple seconds.) Cow wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, aaaaaand STOP. (You get the idea. Boy is it hard to stop! But boy, is it good practice.)

•  Pass an instrument around the dinner table, giving each person a turn to play it.

• If you can gather a couple friends, try a circle dance. Choreograph movements that require children to cooperate, move in sync with a group and/or partners, and listen to and follow oral instrution.

• Next time it's clean-up time at your house, make up a clean-up song. Then use your clean-up song any time you want to stop an activity and shift your child into clean-up time at your house, make up a clean-up song. Then use your clean-up song any time you want to stop an activity and shift your child into clean-up mode. Using music as an indicator of routines and transitions is remarkably effective. And who knew "self-regulation" could be fun? 

Early childhood is the time to infuse social-emotional skills into a child's learning, not when school begins. Children  who begin school already able to interact positively with others are statistically already at a great advantage.

But social-emotional skills don't need their own "class time". This kind of learning can and should be woven organically into the other experiences and content-learning children are engaging in.

So . . . . . . . wanna know something neat?

Music and music instruction have been revealed as natural means for promoting self-regulation. Studies have linked participation in music lessons with significant increases in attention and perseverance. In fact, one study measured three- and four-year-old children enrolled in Kindermusik against those not enrolled in Kindermusik. The Kindermusik children performed consistently higher on four separate age-appropriate tasks designed specifically to measure self-regulation skills.

For years, parents have indicated that one of their top reasons for attending Kindermusik classes with their children is the social aspect of the gathering. At last (and, it seems, as always?), science has caught up with parents' intuition. The benefits of gathering with other children for Kindermusik instruction enabling this set of essential school-readiness skills to develop and thrive --- is perhaps even greater than we knew.

Enroll for a Kindermusik Class Today

or Sign Up for a FREE TRIAL CLASS

You can enroll at any point in the year at Lirico Music School. Tuition Fee will be prorated

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