Can preschool music lesson plans really teach musical form? You bet they can, and the classes I taught today were living proof!
Let me take a step back.
If there is one thing that I have built my music education career around it is this: NEVER underestimate a child’s ability to learn music! Many of my preschool music students are “reading” music long before they are reading words – even if they don’t know it!
It can be as simple as this activity I have been doing in my preschool music classes for years. I create notecards with music notes on them, keeping things as simple as possible, So I put a card that says “ta” in front of them, representing a quarter note. Then I make sure, through repetition, to teach them the value of this note.
I’ll lay out several of these in front of them until they get the concept. When I think they are ready, I will introduce something else. A rest is always a good first addition. Maybe “Ta, REST!”
And then eventually, “Ta…ta…ta…REST.”
You are going to be amazed at what happens from here. I can’t tell you how many parents come up to me and say their kids won’t stop talking about ta’s and ti ti’s! I LOVE hearing this, because it proves that we are on our way to lighting a musical spark!
After all, that is what preschool music education is all about, isn’t it?
We are trying to use music to make connections. And to me, there is no more powerful connecting force in the world than music. When we teach even our youngest music students a concept, we are helping them make a connection to music, and in the process creating a building block that will ultimately allow them to use music to connect with their thoughts, their emotions, and with the people around them!
I know, it’s a long way from ta, ta, rest to there! But believing it can happen is the first step to making it happen!
One great way to teach and reinforce this content is through Hello Songs, which you can find here. Our Creative Music Room original, “The Beats are Saying Hello To You” is a great way of teaching and reinforcing these beginner rhythms.
Once you feel like the kids have a basic handle on these beginner rhythms, I like to up the game for my preschool music students by introducing more complex rhythms. For instance, I might add rhythms like “ta-ta-ti-ti-ta” or even “ta-ta-tri-ple-it” ta.
I’ve had some preschool music education professionals tell me that this is too complex for these young developing minds. But I think they are putting the emphasis too much on “young” and not enough on “developing.”
Their whole lives are about learning at this point, and there is no reason not to push music and music education up toward the front of the line! Remember, the minute you say a child CAN’T do something, you are ensuring that they won’t.
When it comes to teaching preschool music, or any other subject for that matter, CAN is always a much better option. It’s the foundation of everything I do and believe as a music teacher, and the reason I am so passionate about sharing Creative Music Room and these preschool music lesson plans with teachers all over the world.
And speaking of all over the world…right now I have a two-year-old student who recently arrived in the country from Sudan. At this point, she can understand some English, but speaks only in Arabic. She LOVES music class and is always the first to “speak” up when shouting out her rhythms! There is a reason music is often referred to as the universal language, and even in our little preschool music class, you can see her using music to make connections!
And when you start supplementing these rhythm lessons with movement, then you are really going to get somewhere fast! Just this morning I tried out the newest CMR lesson plan for preschool called Form Lesson Plan.
In this plan I sang to the kids the very familiar song “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. Now, usually when I sing this I use standard hand motions that we all tend to use, but this time I decided to use just two sets of movements. One set was for the first and last sections (that repeat) and then a separate one for the middle section. Then, I asked the kids if they noticed the difference in what my hands were doing. Of course, they did!
This is the first step in showing them ABA form. You may not get farther than this on the first day, but don’t worry, when you come back next time, they will remember what you did and they will be ready to move on to the next step.
Here is the complete lesson plan. I hope you have fun trying it for yourself. There is really no end to how you can build on and adapt this for your preschool music classes. Add a few props to the mix and you’ll really be in business. Just watch those creative sparks fly!
