Creativity in music and children learning in 3-5 years - Annotated Bibliography Example

Part Why Music Is an Important Element for Children Creativity makes children form original ideas, through exploration and discovery. When children are allowed to be creative, they expand their knowledge. Giving a child a chance to come up with his or her own version of music, makes the activity for the child. Examples of these songs are songs on courage. They make camping lessons fun for children. They help children avoid paranoia when the camping involves adventure. The songs make the kids have fun in these activities. Creativity in music helps children build their confidence. Children learn to be independent by taking the initiative of forming their own songs. This could be with the help of their parents or their teachers. Examples of these songs are songs on responsibility. The songs help children face the world by making them know their talents count. Creativity in music helps enhance the quality of a child’s life. This is by enabling the child express his or her ideas and experiences by the use of music. Examples of these songs are songs on trust. These songs help guard a child around strangers. A child will remember the message in the song and know what to do when a stranger talks to him or her. Creativity in music allows a child to express his or her feelings through music. When children are given a chance to be creative, they can openly say what they feel or think confidently. Examples of these songs are the ones on compassion. These songs teach them how to behave and how to handle themselves around grownups and around their friends. Part 2 Annotated Bibliography Bluestine, E. (2000). The ways children learn music: An introduction and practical guide to music learning theory. Chicago: GIA. The book explains that if kindergarten children are sitting still during an activity, they are not getting anything out of the lesson. The author explains that children and music are like partners. Flemington, K., Hart-Hewins, L., & Villiers, U. (2011). Journey to literacy: No worksheets required. Markham, Ont: Pembroke Publishers. The book shows why children love animation. They tend to identify themselves with certain cartoons. This is a way of introducing music to a child. Gordon, E. (2007). Learning sequences in music: A contemporary music learning theory. Chicago: GIA Publications. The book explains why the outdoor activities of a child are important. When children play, they love singing. Hatch, J. A. (2005). Teaching in the new kindergarten. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning. The book discusses how children learn music fast and how they are attracted to musical instruments. The author discusses how music is an important tool in teaching kindergarten children. Jacobs, G., & Crowley, K. (2010). Reaching standards and beyond in kindergarten: Nurturing childrens sense of wonder and joy in learning. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Corwin. This book explains how an instructor can make a child find joy in the process of learning. This is done by introducing music in their lessons. MacDonell, C. (2007). Project-based inquiry units for young children: First steps to research for grades pre-K-2. Columbus, Ohio: Linworth Pub. This book explains that children love sound. They will listen to any sound, they may not know the song but they will still enjoy the rhythm in the song. McGee, L. M., & Richgels, D. J. (2003). Designing early literacy programs: Strategies for at-risk preschool and kindergarten children. New York: Guilford Press. The book explains that by teaching a child through music, the child will hold on to the ideas from the music than by teaching the child through theory. Raines, S. C., & Canady, R. J. (1990). The whole language kindergarten. New York: Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University. This book explains that nurturing a child’s talent at an early age is important. Children can use their musical talents to earn a living when they grow up. This leaflet targets children from three to 5 years. At these stages, children are usually curious and they are always looking for answers. This stage is not of serious study and exposing a child to critical theory, makes him or her loose the desire to learn. When asking a child, what he or she learnt in school, it is possible that the child will not have a clue of a hint (Jacobs, 2010). Asking a child the song she or he learnt will be easy than what was taught in theory. Parents can help children understand by singing along to their songs. It is essential for parents to understand the songs there children learn in school, this helps the child to learn faster. The teachers play a vital role in early education of children, since they are the ones who guide the early education foundation of children (McGee, 2003). The teachers spend more time with the kids on a daily basis than the parents. As children grow, they listen more to the teachers than to other people. A child will not sing a particular song because the teacher says the song is a poor choice for his or her age. At the kindergarten stage, teachers should be gentle. When a kid does not want to participate in a dancing or singing lesson, the teacher should not use force. Kindergarten teachers should be patient people. Children learn in steps and have a short memory. However, some children have excellent memory at an early age, if the teacher treats such a child badly. This child will grow to despise anyone called a guide. Parents need to know the teachers of their children. Occasionally they should talk to the teachers to examine the development of their children. When teaching music to kids, teachers need to be creative. They ought to understand that there are songs for children and those that only grownups understand. When teaching them about discipline, they need to use songs that cover this topic. They need to understand that children love rhythm (Hatch, 2005). This is easy for them to understand an example is the song “black sheep” the ba ba in the song will be fun for the children to sing along to the song. For the children to remember the songs, objects in different colors should be used. Music is very instrumental for young kids because it widens children’s understanding of certain concepts. Children are very curious and eager to learn new things. When they learn through music, they will share the songs with their siblings or other children. This makes it hard for them to forget the music lessons they were taught. Introducing music in the curriculum of children makes the work of teachers and parents easy. In today’s society, people have to be hard working individuals for them to earn a living. When parents come home in the evening, they find it tiring to go through class work with their kids (Flemington, 2011). Some leave the work of the kids unchecked until they get time to go through what the kids have learnt. By introducing music to kindergarten, children such parents can sing along to the music their children learnt in school. This not only helps the children to remember what they were taught, it also helps the parents to relax. When a child is introduced to subjects that are taught in class, he or she may end up getting confused, therefore, it is necessary to introduce the subjects in music form. During counting lessons, the teacher should try to get a rhythm that will go with the numbers. This can also be achieved by making the students clap in repeatedly to produce different sounds. This will be fun for the kids but most importantly, they will be learning (Raines, 1990). The other way is by patting when an even number has been mentioned and snapping when the number mentioned is an odd one. This is an excellent foundation for kids. As a child grows, he or she starts solving real math, and if the Childs foundation were good, math would not be a problem for the child. This also applies to their manners and their vocabulary use. At an early age a child learns etiquette, this helps the child to interact with other kids. The child learns how to treat his or her friend in with respect. Children are good in expressing themselves through dialogue. As much as they are innocent, they are aware of what is happening around them. As they learn songs, they get to understand the difference in the songs. There are sad songs, happy songs and ordinary songs. When parents listen to the songs that their kids are singing they will be able to understand the mood of a child. The child may have tried to talk to the parent but she or he was not impressed with the feedback. If this child understands music even though she or he may not get the words of the song, the child will hum the melody of the song (Bluestine, 2000). Some children are not good in expressing themselves. Children may use music to express their emotions. Parents should be keen for them to understand the songs sung by children. This helps parents understand their kids. Kids are also poor in hiding their emotions. A parent or a teacher may ask a child the song he or she wants to sing. This will help identify the mood of the child. Music helps children in learning family and life values. Children understand what is acceptable and what not acceptable through music (MacDonell, 2007). These lessons are in terms of greed, impatience and gratitude. The lesson on greed can be derived from the song of the greedy hyena. It teaches kids to avoid being greedy because greed leads to self-destruction. Regarding impatience, they are taught about how patient people get the best out of life and on gratitude, fictional songs like a girl who got her hands chopped for not having the courtesy to give thanks are used. These songs instill proper manners in children at an early age. As the kids grow, they hold on to these values. This helps parents in instilling discipline in children. Kindergarten children should not be disciplined using cane or hard punishments since at this age, certain fictional stories help in attaining this and a cane will only cause resentment and fear. Introducing music in curriculums also helps identify children with potential in the art of music thus helping nurture the talent they have (Raines, 1990). Their parents can register the kids with an art in music to musical academies. Talents are a way of earning a living in today’s society. Many people have been successful in life through their talents. Therefore, it is vital for these talents to be identified, and nurtured. Kids that love music tend to sing along to all songs they can hear and these kids love musical instruments. Parents should never shut up a singing child, doing this kill’s the spirit of fun in a child. 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