Here's what I learned about how important keeping a steady beat is while taking the Kodály Early Years One Methodology module. Taken from my assignment. The skill of keeping a beat is developed in three stages: 1) experiencing the beat from a knowledgeable adult and active engagement in targeted learning experiences,[1] 2) keeping the beat independently in the upper body, and 3) walking to a steady beat. Children usually master the last stage at around age 3 to 4, therefore in the 0 to 3 age group preparation of the first two stages are vital.
Stage One: Experiencing Beat from a Knowledgeable Adult Continuity of beat is reinforced by movement and repeating songs and rhymes several times ensures children develop the ability to feel a beat over an extended period.[2] The teacher therefore needs to guide carers to keep continual movement with the beat. Movement to the beat can be bouncing on their carer’s legs like a seesaw. Older children can hold hands with their carer and rock backwards and forwards. The teacher can model these movements to carers. Relating the movements to the words gives them meaning, strengthening the children’s instincts to imitate. This also ensures the movements are no longer simply mechanical repetition.[3] The tempo of songs and rhymes is slower than normal adult speech, therefore the movements and words are slower and the adults articulate more clearly. The beat is in the text with the stress of each word on the beat so it is important to connect the movement with the natural stresses of the text. By following the rhyme with an associated song of the same meter, the beat is experienced in a different context and the children learn their voices can be used in different ways. Songs and rhymes with rhyming words which fall on the same beat of each bar, allows the children to catch the sound of, anticipate and say the rhyming words as they become familiar with them. Identifying rhyming words teaches the children how language works. Stage Two: Independent Upper Body Movement After experiencing the beat, children will start to copy the adults with an anchored upper body movement, such as tapping or large, dynamic clapping, to ensure the beat, not rhythm, is clapped and done in a continuous musical movement. This means the child does not need to balance as well as keep the beat. Guided movements while the children remain in one spot during stage one give them the opportunity to start to join in and keep the beat independently.[4] Sitting on the floor holding their carer’s hands, for ecample, is a step towards independent upper body movement and once the child has plenty of experience with this, they could move to the beat while holding onto lycra, an elastic ring or a teddy’s hands. Stage Three: Walking a Steady Beat Children’s inner beat is faster because they have shorter legs and small feet. When the children start to walk in time their natural tempo must be carefully observed and matched so that they do not lose balance. Slowly, over time they can be asked to match the beat. Why is beat keeping important, especially with regard to language? Infants from birth are rhythmically tied to the vocal and body rhythms of those around them.[5] Keeping a steady beat is an abstract concept and while children will likely have their own beat, they need to learn to keep the beat together or move to somebody else’s beat. Although seemingly simple, tapping to a beat is a specialised, complex process that calls upon a wide-ranging network of auditory, motor, and prefrontal areas of the brain.[6] It has been found that beat synchronization, or accurately tracking the beat, calls on many of the same neural networks as language.[7] Paula Tallal of Rutgers University demonstrated that certain children with dyslexia are slower at decoding the sounds of speech and developed a computer programme to slow down speech to allow children to hear every sound within each word. Rhymes and songs slow the rate of speech and elongate vowels in the same way. Nina Krauss concluded that ‘rhythm is an integral part of both music and language and the rhythm of spoken language is a crucial cue to understanding’.[8] Children feel the rhythm and intonation of speech and perceive them as an overall unit even before they can comprehend individual words separately. It is therefore important that children learning to speak use songs and rhymes traditionally rooted in their own language[9] to help them understand the formation of language, natural cadences at the ends of lines, underlying beat and natural rhythmic flow. Therefore, material must be chosen carefully to ensure the words scan correctly and match the natural rise, pitch and rhythm of normal speech. [1] Weikert, P.S., (September/October 2003) “Value for Learning and Living: Insights on the value of music and steady beat”, Child Care Information Exchange, pp 86-88, https://www.childcareexchange.com/library/5015386.pdf [2] Forrai, K. Music in Preschool, revised edition 1998, Sound Thinking Australia, ISBN 978 0 9586297 0 6, p47. [3] Ibid., p47-48 [4] Ibid., P48 [5] Condon, W.S. & Sander, L.W (1974) “Synchrony demonstrated between movements of the neonate and adult speech. Child Development”,45, 456-46, - referred to at page 6, A Model for Understanding Musical Development, Cynthia A Briggs, Music Therapy 1991, Vol.10 No.1, 1-21 [6] Chen, Penhune, & Zatorre, 2008; Chen, Zatorre, & Penhune, 2006; Penhune, Zatorre, & Evans, 1998; Pollok, Gross, Muller, Aschersleben, & Schnitzler, 2005. Quoted at The ability to tap to a beat relates to cognitive, linguistic, and perceptual skills, https://brainvolts.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/boxtrx/Tierney_2013_BrainAndLanguage.pdf [7] Nina Krauss, Rhythm, reading, and sound processing in the brain in preschool children, 29th June 2021, https://brainvolts.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Bonacina_et_al-2021-npj_Science_of_Learning.pdf . Goswami, 2011, Quoted at The ability to tap to a beat relates to cognitive, linguistic, and perceptual skills, https://brainvolts.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/boxtrx/Tierney_2013_BrainAndLanguage.pdf [8] Nina Krauss, Journal of Neuroscience, 18th September 2013, https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/515194 [9] Forrai, K. “The Influence of Music Education on the Child’s Personality in the Preschool Age,” 1974 ISME folder, Katalin Forrai Special Collection, Archives of the Zoltán Kodály Pedagogical Institute of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Kecskemét, Hungary, 4-5.
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