This music series has been delightful! Thanks for all of your comments and emails. Can you believe that I initially thought I could cover music in Montessori in just one post? I should know better by now.
I thought it would be helpful to put all the music links in once place; here you’ll find all [...]
Movement is a great way for kids to experience music – not only is it enjoyable, it burns lots of energy. Moving to music helps kids internalize concepts like rhythm and tempo; it also gives them body awareness and increases coordination and large motor skills.
Dancing is an obvious way to move to music. There [...]
As with all of these topics, it helps to first define what music theory is. Music theory is the study of all the elements that make up music, the most basic of which are rhythm, melody, harmony, and notation. In a classroom setting, I consider basic music theory to be note-reading and the knowledge of [...]
This is the next in the music series posts, and probably one of my favorite ways of studying music: learning about musical instruments.
A delightful way to introduce kids to musical instruments is to have them make some themselves. This can be as simple as putting beads in a container and shaking it, or as [...]
Along with rhythm, pitch is a basic part of music and one that kids respond to readily. As always, it helps to define what “pitch” is. At a scientific level, pitch is the frequency of sound. In the context of music education, it’s basically whether or not a note sounds high or low.
There are [...]
One of the most basic musical components is rhythm. I often catch my kids tapping or hitting things in a steady beat. Kids seem to instinctively be drawn to rhythmic sounds. So, it’s a great place to start when doing music activities.
What is rhythm? There are a couple of definitions. Here is a quick [...]
I’m surprised that I haven’t blogged about this yet, but it’s just been sitting in the back of my mind for awhile. When it comes to music (and art, generally) in Montessori, I feel some shame. It’s an underdeveloped area that doesn’t have the same thoughtfully-laid-out curriculum that other areas have.
Truth is, none of [...]
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