From JewishMontessori
Infants brains are sensitive and responsive to musical sounds and it remains strongly receptive to music through the preschool years until the age of six.
Studies say that exposure to music has a beneficial effect for pre-schoolers. Musical training can improve their problem solving skills, physical coordination, poise, concentration, and memory, visual, oral and language skills, self discipline and self confidence and ability to learn.
Playing music provide children with a creative outlet for self expression relieving stress and anxiety.
Musical training helps develop and exercise a child’s abstract reasoning skills. Music lessons can significantly enhance the kind of intelligence that is utilized for math and science. For the child to get the maximum benefit from musical training they should start before the age of five to increase and strengthen the number of neural bridges. this facilitates a child’s intellectual growth.
Developing Listening skills
The learning environment should be free of auditory distractions. Music should not be played in the background during the lessons.
What children say is always important and it should be regarded as so, the adult should speak clearly, precisely and consistently to the children.
To capture the children’s attention the adult rings a bell, as the children gather; this will help the child increase control and refine their auditory sensitivity. One should give lessons about talking softly, listening and waiting while the other speaks.
Materials used are designed to develop the child’s learning and sensitivity to different sounds. Also sound games, name lessons, story telling and conversational sessions aid the children in language development.
The Montessori environment encourages children to speak freely.
Sitting symmetrically with their hand on their laps helps them be relaxed.
The teacher should avoid eye contact during the lesson so that the children focus on auditory stimuli.
Silence induces calmness and aids contemplation; by focusing on silence children are able to hear once unnoticed soft sounds. This activity is a good exercise for improving a child’s observational skills and patience.
Montessori Music Program
The music program gives the child the ability to express himself through music, to develop communication without words. By the child using the sense of hearing for music he develops good listening skills for a solid education. Through listening to music the child starts to use creative self expression.
By recognizing, absorbing and understanding the composition the child recognizes that there is way of expressing his inner self wholly, having the self esteem to master other important skills.
Musical Enrichment in the Home
A parent is the most influential role model to a child, he relies on the parent for intellectual and creative stimulation and to be encourage through different experiences.
The parent should observe and respond to the child’s voice or sense of melody letting the child recognize and react to this response.
By doing different activities the child can prepare for listening to music, like letting the child notice shifts in our environment from silence to sound.
During listening sessions the child should speak about the music and what effect is having on him . the lesson should end with a piece of music that he knows.
Music and Movement
The Montessori environment helps the child develop control over movement. the music program should include movement. Moving to music gives a child a sense of self worth allowing his creative nature to shine.
Movement involves good listening skills allowing coordination and understanding how the human body works.
Movement enhances the learning experience having an affect in other areas of development. It’s important to have music and movement daily, changing the music and improvising actions and dances.
Movement while listening, singing and playing instruments increases self confidence.
The Silence Game
Silence is a profound experience. Montessori uses silent exercises to teach the child the meaning of silence; this requires self control, attention and coordination of muscles.
During the exercise, the teacher should check the child’s hearing and listening skills.
The silent game prepares the child for other listening experiences, letting the child practice self control, encouraging emotional strengths. It also lets the child differentiate between independence, cooperation, control and grace of movement.
The children follow the teachers lead by sitting and gathering around; she will then light a candle and darken the room; a bell is rung softly while the teacher plays a relaxing tape without a particular rhythm, like animal sounds. Then reduce the sound until silent letting the child hear the natural sounds in their atmosphere; call each child by name to open their eyes. The children may want to share their experience during this game. Finish the game slowly and quietly.
This game should only be played after they have a sense of trust within the class, they appreciate routine, rules, and each other.
Visualization techniques can also be used. The child benefits by noticing particular sounds in his environment making him concentrate and refine his auditory sense, it’s also calming for the child letting him be able to clear his mind to center his thoughts.
Singing
The teacher can prepare the child by first saying the song as a poem choosing a short easy to sing song, she sings the whole song in the same pitch several times to the children and with the children, trying to use the names of the children during the song to reinforce the sense of self.
The teacher should also try to accompany singing with instruments introducing different types of music also songs with actions and movements. Short songs about real life and songs that catch the child’s imagination can have an impact on the child.
