The Children's Music Studio: A Reggio-inspired Approach [1 ed.] 0199384797, 9780199384792

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The Children’s Music Studio

The Children’s Music Studio A REGGIO-INSPIRED APPROACH

Wendell Hanna

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Wendell Hanna 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hanna, Wendell, author.

Title: The children’s music studio : a Reggio-inspired approach / Wendell Hanna.

Description: New York : Oxford University Press, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016018977 | ISBN 9780199384792 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780199384785 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780199384815 (companion website) | eISBN 9780190632076

Subjects: LCSH: Music—Instruction and study. | Education, Elementary. | Reggio Emilia approach (Early childhood education)

Classification: LCC MT32 .H36 2016 | DDC 372.87/044—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016018977

Cloth 978–0–19–938478–5

Paper 978–0–19–938479–2

UPDF 978–0–19–938480–8

EPUB 978–0–19–063903–7

Companion Website 978–0–19–938481–5

CONTENTS List of Figures List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments About the Companion Website PART I THE ROLES OF THE STUDIO TEACHER 1 The Studio Approach 2 Studio Teacher as Co-learner 3 Studio Teacher as Researcher 4 Studio Teacher as Artist PART II FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE IN THE STUDIO 5 Guiding Learning in the Studio 6 Music Studios in Action 7 A Theoretical Music Learning Framework PART III MUSIC STUDIO PROPOSALS 8 Music Studio Proposals: Responding 9 Music Studio Proposals: Performing 10 Music Studio Proposals: Creating 11 Music Studio Proposals: Connecting 12 The Studio Approach in Secondary Classrooms References

Index

LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Roles of the Studio Teacher 5.1 The Languages of Food Atelier: Variations of Pasta 5.2 Pasta from Languages of Food Atelier 5.3 Digital Landscapes Atelier: Shoreline 5.4 Digital Landscapes Atelier: Coral Reef 5.5 Human Figure Between Bidimensional and Tridimensional Atelier 5.6 Ray of Light Atelier 5.7 Secrets of Paper Atelier 6.1 Balducci School, Reggio Emilia, Italy 6.2 Tempo Studio: Playing xylophones 6.3 Tempo Studio: Deconstructed instrument 6.4 Tempo Studio: Monkey puppets 6.5 Tempo Studio: Picnic on the Grass 6.6 Tempo Studio: Kids Doodle 6.7 Tempo Studio: Fast Slow Movie 6.8 Tempo Studio: Shadows on the Wall 6.9 Rhythm Studio: Drums, drums, drums 6.10 Rhythm Studio: Monkey Drum 6.11 Rhythm Studio: Talking keyboard 6.12 Rhythm Studio: Dinosaur Movie 6.13 Dynamics Studio: Loud Soft Instrument Exploration 6.14 Dynamics Studio: Sound Wave Drawing 6.15 Dynamics Studio: Puppet Show 6.16 Dynamics Studio: Multiple Instrument Exploration 6.17 Timbre Studio: Instrument Hiding Game 6.18 Timbre Studio: Sound Box 6.19 Timbre Studio: Water Colors 6.20 Timbre Studio: More Water Colors 6.21 Melody Studio: Jars and Glockenspiels 6.22 Melody Studio: Jars and Boomwackers 6.23 Melody Studio: Jars on the Table 6.24 Melody Studio: Bars on the Table 6.25 Melody Studio: Running dance 6.26 Texture Studio: Drum Set 6.27 Texture Studio: “Look, We are Guitars!”

6.28 Texture Studio: Dancing projections 8.1 “Doggie, Doggie”—Music Example 9.1 “Kagome”—Music example 9.2 “See Saw”—Music example 10.1 Conducting gesture, 24 10.2 Conducting gesture, 34 10.3 Conducting gesture,44 10.4 Conducting gesture, mixed meter 10.5 “Star Light, Star Bright”—Music example 10.6 Music texture graphic 1—Symbol/instrument key 10.7 Music texture graphic 2—Textural score

LIST OF TABLES 1.1 Theoretical Framework for the Music Studio 2.1 Central Tenets of the Reggio Approach 3.1 Features of Documentation 3.2 Music and Language: Cross-Domain Stages 4.1 Shared Characteristics in Art and Music 5.1 Steps for Guiding Constructivist Learning in the Studio 5.2 Types of Studio Proposals 7.1 Selected Materials of Music 7.2 Music Studio Processes 7.3 Theoretical Framework for the Music Studio 8.1 Studio Proposals: Materials and Processes 12.1 Studio Proposals for Secondary Music Classrooms 12.2 World Rhythms

PREFACE Starting in 2005, I began working as a music specialist at the childcare center for Genentech, a biotechnology corporation in South San Francisco, California. On my first day, I was surprised to see classroom teachers taking many photographs of children in the music class, as well as writing copious notes that captured the children’s actions and commentaries. Obviously I was very curious why these teachers were engaging in such intense observation and documentation of these music classroom activities. Querying them on their rationale, teachers told me the curriculum they followed was “emergent” and inspired by the Reggio approach. Since I was unfamiliar with this approach to early childhood education, I immersed myself in researching this unique pedagogy. What I found particularly interesting was that the visual arts were a centerpiece of the Reggio approach, which made me wonder how music might function, in similar ways, as did art in the approach. As time progressed, I began experimenting with and applying a Reggio-inspired philosophy in my music teaching. These experiences in turn challenged many of my cherished assumptions about what it meant to be a teacher and how children learn. In my twenty-five year career of teaching music to young children, encountering this approach unsettled my sense of professional identity as a teacher, but, ultimately, in a good way. The joy of music learning, I had always believed, should be oriented toward musical proficiencies, such as pitch matching, beat competency, and improvisational skills and should also instill creative sensitivities. When children strayed from these goals, my job, or so I thought, was to skillfully bring them back. My self-esteem and effectiveness as a music teacher had been heavily invested in developing a systematic and consistent set of objectives in the cause of music learning.

What I discovered through repeated use of Reggio-inspired ideas, however, was that I was not, by any means, an expert in how children best learn and appreciate music. Rather, the children were the experts in music learning. My role was that of an active listener and follower. Indeed, I needed to learn how to listen to children and follow their lead. It was a dance of sorts—where I could suggest an idea and they would take that idea, but move it in a new direction. Over the next five years at the Genentech’s 2nd Generation childcare centers, I taught and experimented with a Reggio-inspired music curriculum with over five hundred children, including infants and toddlers. In addition, I worked as a music specialist in a smaller program, at San Francisco State University’s Children’s Campus child-care center. In 2011, I took an academic sabbatical from my university teaching to undertake a major research project on music and the Reggio approach. I was well aware that the literature on the use of arts education in the Reggio approach was primarily focused on the visual arts. However, I did not expect to discover during my researching that there was a dearth of significant studies or substantive work on the Reggio studio approach applied to music education. I finally decided to take the pilgrimage to the charming town of Reggio Emilia, Italy in 2013, to ask the question: Where’s the music in the Reggio approach? While on this international study tour of the Reggio schools, I met the Reggio school’s first full-time music teacher, Filippo Chieli. I was not only fortunate to have the opportunity to closely observe Filippo work with children in his music atelier (studio classroom). This fieldwork proved invaluable in formulating my own ideas for extending Reggio-inspired ideas to early childhood music education. The journey of writing this book has taken me from ignorance to awakening and from safety to experimentation. A Reggio-inspired approach to early childhood music education is relatively new and what I have put forth in this book is a modest theoretical framework for a music studio approach. I do not pretend that I have found the definitive framework or that the theories I discuss in this book would work in all situations. Instead, my intention is to share theories and practices that worked well for children in the settings in which I

taught. My hope is that the reader will take what is offered here and make it useful and appropriate to their own unique circumstances. This book is written primarily for early childhood and elementary music teachers and is not confined to a fixed methodology. Any methods, such as Orff, Kodály, Gordon’s Music Learning Theory, or Dalcroze, will work well within the music studio approach. Nonmusician educators and parents involved with Reggio-inspired schools will also find this book a useful guide to developing an appreciation for the “language” of music and can use it to discover cross-domain connections between music and visual arts, dance, drama, poetry, photography, and non-arts subjects. Part I, “The Roles of the Studio Teacher,” explains the studio approach and the multiple roles of the studio teacher. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the music studio approach, the specific roles of the studio teacher, and the music-learning framework used throughout the book. Chapter 2 details the role of the studio teacheras-co-learner and connects the Reggio approach with music education research in the areas of child-centered learning, musical play, and constructivism as well as the influence of social interactions on music learning. Chapter 3 considers the role of the studio teacher-as-researcher and reviews the research on early stages of musical development and the relationship between language and music learning. Chapter 4 discusses the role of the studio teacher-as-artist and in particular how visual arts specialists work in the Reggio schools. Using visual arts as a model, commonalities are drawn between elements of visual arts and music and seven “materials” of music learning are proposed as a “vocabulary” for the music studio. Part II, “From Theory to Practice in the Studio” delves into the theory and practice of using music in Reggio-inspired music studios and outlines practical steps for guiding learning in the studio. In Chapter 5, I examine how the arts specialist guides learning in the studio. This chapter also chronicles my own personal experiences of working with the Reggio Emilia school atelieristas in five arts ateliers during an international study group. In Chapter 6, authentic music studio documentation from the first dedicated music/sound exploration atelier offered in Reggio Emilia schools is presented.

This chapter also provides examples of music studio documentation gathered at the San Francisco State University’s Children’s Campus. Chapter 7 details a theoretical framework for using music in the studio based on music materials, musical modalities, and processes. In Part III, “Music Studio Proposals,” I demonstrate how the music materials, musical modalities, and processes might be introduced to children through initial music studio experiences. Chapter 8 suggests early childhood studio proposals for responding to music. Chapter 9 offers early childhood studio proposals for performing music. Chapter 10 presents early childhood studio proposals for creating music. Chapter 11 provides early childhood studio proposals for connecting with music. Finally, in chapter 12, I discuss the use of the studio approach in secondary classrooms. Proposals are then presented for studio learning in general music, choral, and instrumental middle and high school classrooms that focus on the processes of responding, performing, creating, and connecting.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the children, parents, staff, and teachers at Genentech’s 2nd Generation Child Care Center. Your infants, toddlers, and preschool children were the impetus and inspiration for writing this book. I would also like to thank the children, parents, staff, and teachers at San Francisco State University’s Children’s Campus for allowing me to propose and document children working in Reggio-inspired music studios. I am particularly grateful to the parents who provided permission to document and share the work of their children in the book chapters and videos on the companion website. My visit to Reggio Children and the Malaguzzi Center in Reggio Emilia, Italy, was instrumental to observing and understanding the Reggio approach to early childhood education. Their sponsorship of the international study group, “Atelier, Creativity, Citizenship: The Culture of the Atelier between Thinking and Acting,” proved invaluable in formulating ideas for this book. I would like to especially thank my editor, Norman Hirschy at Oxford University Press for his positive encouragement and expert guidance in the development of the book. His knowledge and enthusiasm was a shining light which lead me through the darkness of the writing process. Thanks also to the following individuals, who without their inspiration and support, this book would not have been written: Frank Heuser, Lily Chen-Hafteck, Becky Sampias Cubba and Mary Lou Van Rysselberghe. Most importantly of all, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my life partner, Ron Purser, who listened to me whine and worry endlessly while turning my pedestrian writing into readable prose. Your support of my ideas and your expertise in the written word constantly wows me and inspires me to continually grow as a person and an academic.

ABOUT THE COMPANION WEBSITE www.oup.com/us/thechildrensmusicstudio Oxford has created a website to accompany The Children’s Music Studio: A Reggio-inspired Approach. This site features videos that complement the text and provide examples of tempo, rhythm, dynamics, timbre, melody, and texture for three- and four-year-olds. Readers are encouraged to explore the site’s additional content in conjunction with the content of this book. Website content is marked throughout the book with the play symbol [ ].

The Children’s Music Studio

 PART  I  The Roles of the Studio Teacher “I am an ant,” says Aurora. “I am a trap door spider,” exclaims Levi. “I am a stink bug,” boasts Liam. I am teaching a Reggio-inspired music class with preschoolers who are, at the moment, intensely fascinated with bugs. So we pretend to be bugs that dig tunnels underground with slow plodding music to accompany our movements. I listen to the children and comment on their movements. “Aurora, you are a fast ant. Are you moving fast because of something you heard in the music?” “Levi you are digging your trap door so carefully, what are you going to catch in your trap?” “Wow, everyone look at how Liam is digging his tunnel up and down. Why do you think he is making his tunnel so curvy?” A classroom teacher takes photos and videos, and records their responses as “documentation” that will be reviewed later. In a different group, the children are interested in playing the drums. Cora turns her drum upside down and uses the mallet to stir a pot. Other children follow suit and pretend to eat out of their drums. I ask, “Noah, what are you eating?” Noah responds, “I’m eating chocolate cake.” I ask him, “Yum, chocolate cake, how did you make it?” I suggest to the children that by singing a special song we can make up our own recipe for something delicious. I sing and model the motions, “Chop, chop, choppity, chop. Let’s add something to the pot.” I then ask the children for ideas of new motions and for what we can chop to add in the pot. Sophia blurts out, “popcorn.” We sing and perform new motions. “Chop, chop, choppity, chop, add the popcorn to the pot.” We pretend to all taste it, make comments, and decide what else we should put in the pot for our song. At the end of a different music group, Max asks me if we can do Star Wars music next time and the other children enthusiastically

agree with his idea. Max adds, “We can use the boomwackers (tuned percussion tubes) as light sabers!” The next week we listen to Star Wars music, create stories, choose characters, and act them out, armed with light sabers in hand. In Reggio-inspired settings, the role of the teacher is dramatically different from traditional music classroom teaching. In the past, I would have viewed these requests by the children as pesky diversions and interruptions. Now, such scenarios are treated as opportunities for learning and exploration. By following the children’s interests, and playing along with them, I have come to discover the beauty of teaching music by following the children’s interests.

1 The Studio Approach An arts studio is traditionally a place where apprentices learn under the tutelage of a professional artist or craftsperson. It is a workspace where one can practice and refine artistic techniques. Studios are typically messy and busy places. Indeed, Loris Malaguzzi, the philosophical founder of the Reggio approach, was adamant that “schools should be made of spaces where the hands of children could be active for messing about. With no possibility of boredom, hands and minds would engage each other with great liberating merriment in a way ordained by biology and evolution” (Malaguzzi, 1998, pp. 73–74). The Reggio studio is first and foremost a learning environment. It is not a curriculum, a technique, nor a sequence for building skills toward desired and pre-established outcomes. In a Reggio-inspired music studio, acquiring such skills as pitch matching, beat acquisition, rhythmic ability, and melodic accuracy are important, but these abilities are not the goal of studio activities. The music studio is based on the philosophical assumption that all children have a natural capacity to develop musical skills and abilities therefore, these talents can be developed naturally while practicing and refining the art. In Reggio terms, the studio is where children build an artistic vocabulary. This vocabulary is built by introducing key elements and processes of a particular art. As children become comfortable and familiar with the elements and processes, they begin to gain the ability to express ideas more fluently through the medium of that artistic language. In addition, aesthetics are particularly important for studio learning. Art studios, referred to in Italian as “ateliers,” are carefully set up to

look inviting and pleasing to the eye, because in Reggio terms, the environment is the “third teacher.” The position of an arts specialist in the Reggio schools is multifaceted. The arts specialist must maintain a balance between several different roles at the same time. As seen in Figure 1.1, one of the roles of the studio teacher is a co-learner working alongside children and other adults. As a co-learner, the studio teacher is an equal participant in a child-centered learning environment, open to emergent and often divergent directions that may occur. Another role of the studio teacher is that of a researcher. The teacher-as-researcher carefully documents the children’s work, formulates theories of learning in consultation with others, and then proposes new ideas for learning activities in the studio. A third, more traditional role, is that of an artist with professional training and experience who is able to demonstrate and instruct ways to work with artistic materials using varied techniques. The balancing of these three roles is essential to the work of a studio teacher in a Reggio-inspired studio setting.

Figure 1.1

Roles of the Studio Teacher

Studio Teacher as Co-learner The Reggio learning environment is a place of child-centered learning, where emergent learning experiences are prized and valued. The children are considered protagonists of their learning and adults are co-learners on an equal playing field with children in the studio. This may be the most difficult and challenging aspect of teaching in a Reggio-inspired environment. Letting go of expectations for children’s learning outcomes can be especially challenging for the highly trained teacher. Once the studio has been set up for a particular direction for learning, the studio teacher steps back to allow

the children to explore and practice with the materials in ways that the children find interesting. That is not to say the teacher cannot make comments and suggestions as the children work with the materials, but these suggestions are not privileged or authoritative. Other adults and children in the learning environment have an equal say. The teacher as co-learner also must be actively open and attentive to the interests of the children. For example, if children express interest and curiosity in rain puddles, because a recent downpour just occurred that week, they could be encouraged to form their own imaginary musical rain puddles, perhaps out of balls of string. Once such a scenario begins, children might then imagine that they are stepping around puddles. The children might be prompted to think of sound effects they could create to accompany their puddle adventure. Some children might choose to walk around the puddle to the sound of the woodblock (sounding like footsteps), while others might choose to splash into the puddle with the sound of the cymbal. Some children might choose to sit down in the puddle to the glissando of a slide whistle, while others might imagine splashing their hands in the puddle with the accompaniment of a shaker sound. The development of a Reggio-inspired studio requires that children and adults work together to build upon their existing knowledge and interests, encouraging the emergence of new learning. The Reggioinspired studio is therefore orthogonal to rote, mechanical learning, which can require a major paradigm shift in the learning culture for the traditionally trained teacher.

Studio Teacher-as-Researcher A second role that the studio teacher balances is that of a researcher. In the Reggio Emilia schools in Italy there is a dedicated research division that is referred to as the Reggio Children that works closely with all teachers. This division oversees the application of pedagogy in the schools focusing on three main areas central to research in the Reggio approach: (1) the child, (2) the environment, and (3) the atelier. The child is central to all research. Adults listen, watch and carefully document what the children say and do. This documentation

is, in turn, used to generate practical theories about the children’s knowledge formation and to create further child-centered activities and materials for learning. The design of learning environments is a second focus in Reggio Emilia schools. This can be clearly seen in the design of the schools that are open and welcoming, as well as aesthetically pleasing. The interior designs in all Reggio schools aim to highlight the natural beauty of the outdoor world inside the school. Finally, the atelier is a key aspect of research in the schools. All schools have both large and mini-ateliers. School “pedagogistas,” as well as senior teachers in the Reggio municipality and researchers in Reggio Children, oversee work in the ateliers. The atelier is considered a laboratory of sorts, where children encounter many types of materials, expressive languages and points of view, and where their work can be studied, analyzed, and valid conclusions can be ascertained regarding their learning. The role of studio teacher-as-researcher entails closely observing the children as they explore materials, noticing comments children make, observing ways in which they use the materials and interact with others, and most importantly, documenting “aha” moments in the studio. Examples of documentation in the music studio could be recorded performances of children singing or playing instruments, a spontaneous dance interpretation to a particular piece of music, an original music composition, a dramatic play with musical sound effects, or a vocal or instrumental improvisation produced by children. Documentation in the studio can be as simple as having adults take handwritten notes about what children say and do during the course of their activities. More technological methods of documentation might include taking photographs and video recordings. In addition, studio teachers can also incorporate more sophisticated technological audio recording capabilities by using digital piano keyboards that interface with computers or iPad music applications (such as Garage Band) that have virtual instruments that can record what children create. Using such various technologies for documenting children’s learning is a key component of a Reggio-inspired approach. Later this recorded documentation can be displayed on computer or video screens or played back on audio devices. Utilizing the school’s

website page also provides easy access for teachers, parents, and other children who could then contribute constructive comments. Music and video document files can be sent electronically to children’s homes or the educational community with technology such as Dropbox.com. Just as a child’s drawing can hang on the family refrigerator, a child’s musical performance can be displayed on the family computer or played in the car for listening while driving. Once documentation has been gathered and shared, new ideas for how studio learning might evolve are discussed and negotiated. The studio teacher is only one voice in the decision-making process on how studio experiences might change in new directions. Children, teachers, parents, and community members are all encouraged to participate in forming studio-learning theories. Inviting and including different perspectives facilitates deeper understanding of how children are learning, but can also lead to disagreements. The Italians refer to this process as confronto, or disagreement between stakeholders. Confronto, however, is vital for creating a powerful learning environment for children. During this process it is important for all participants to remind themselves that children’s musical documentation can appear musically precocious. However, these documentation products should not be considered formal “performances” reflecting musical expertise. Early childhood music expert Donna Fox cautions: When we label a two-year-old an artist, we don’t expect this child to paint landscapes and create large sculptures; instead, we acknowledge the physical demands of controlling the crayons and creating the lines and circles known to us as scribbles (but fiercely defended by youngsters as “pictures”). In the same way, identifying a two-year-old as a “musician” should not be based on expectations of precocious demonstrations of adult musical behaviors. (Fox, 1991, p. 42)

In other words, developing musical ability, or “talent,” is not the aim in the Reggio studio. Rather, musical products are documents intended to express a child’s perspective, feelings, ideas and imagination.

Studio Teacher-as-Professional Artist

The role of the studio teacher in the Reggio-inspired approach is also that of a professional artist. Professional artists are hired to train their young apprentices in the arts studio as they themselves were trained. Professional artists in Reggio studios do not water down their instruction or practices just because they are working with children. The professional artist-teacher is instead trusted to share studio experiences and artistic ideas that are meaningful for them as artists, guiding their young apprentices in developing the skills and concepts of art at the highest levels. Arts in the Reggio schools are taught with the finest materials available and with the same aesthetic flair of a professional, adult-centered art studio. Arts specialists are first and foremost artists. In the Reggio schools atelieristas have extensive formal training in art but require no certification in education. In the role of professional artist, the studio teacher uses his or her background as an artist over any training in education. This should not be an issue for music teachers as in college, music majors received intensive training on vocal and instrumental techniques, theory, ear training, and compositional techniques, well before they entered the specific methodological training they may be using in the classroom today. Any subsequent advanced training and certification in music education methodologies only strengthen musical abilities and training as professional musicians. The role of artist is inclusive of personal style, artistic preference, and methodological training and background but first and foremost this role emphasizes deep artistic perspectives over specific pedagogies.

Table 1.1 Theoretical Framework for the Music Studio

The Music Studio: A Music-Learning Framework The majority of Reggio-inspired schools, both in Italy and throughout the world, emphasize the visual arts over music. Indeed, there is a paucity of research on how music and the performing arts can be used in a Reggio-inspired studio. This book presents a pedagogical framework based on my own teaching experience of having worked with children in Reggio-inspired settings, along with my participant observations of the Reggio Emilia, Italy, schools that have recently introduced music learning into their studios. As shown in Table 1.1, the Reggio music-learning framework I am presenting here is based on a combination of modalities, musical

materials, and processes. The modalities and materials I have selected are by no means exhaustive. I offer these materials because I personally found these musical materials accessible and engaging for children. I have also included the processes of responding, performing, creating and connecting. While these processes are also not comprehensive, they were chosen because I believe they represent important aspects of musical engagement. These processes also correlate with the new American Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The framework may appear to be organized in a sequential manner, but that is not its intent. Because adults follow the interests of the children, the process of learning is rarely sequential in nature. For example, children may enjoy responding to instrumental timbres through creative movement for a short period of time and then move to exploring a new and completely unrelated area. Studio experiences can start at any place and continue in any direction or for any length of time. For example, children might elect to work with performing rhythm for several months and never seem to lose interest. This is perfectly fine. In the Reggio Emilia schools, artistic projects can last from one week up to several years. The music-learning framework can serve as a guide for identifying areas of musical learning and helps teachers hypothesize how to best support new discoveries and skill development. The framework can guide the studio teacher to act as a “stealth” educator, placing interesting objects, activities, and materials in the studio based on theories regarding what the children might discover, however keeping in mind that the studio teacher really never knows in advance what the children will actually discover. The music-learning framework could be considered a map that helps to navigate research, theory development, and new studio proposal ideas. It can also guide the studio teacher to reveal the processes and modalities where the children are strong, and other areas where there may be gaps in their knowledge and skill base. An important caveat is that any theoretical structure should be specifically drawn from one’s own educational community and their children’s interests, culture and knowledge base. The music-learning framework that I am presenting is just one possible template that might be used in the studio setting. Reggio-

inspired music studio teachers would best be served by developing their own theorectical frameworks that match their own artistic backgrounds and the educational settings in which they currently work.

2 Studio Teacher as Co-learner After World War II, local educators, parents, and community members in the town of Reggio Emilia, Italy, came together with aspirations to create the most desirable preschool system for their children. After several years of experimentation, the town invited Loris Malaguzzi, a well-known Italian educational pedagogue, to assist them in developing an innovative pedagogy for their schools. Together, community members developed an approach that combined theories from Dewey, Montessori, Piaget, Vygotsky, and others. Twenty-two community preschools and thirteen infant/toddler centers were created that focused on a social constructivist approach to learning (Malaguzzi, 1998). Over the years the Reggio approach has become increasingly popular and is now considered one of the best preschool educational approaches in the world (Kantrowitz and Wingert, 1991). The Reggio approach, as it is practiced in Reggio Emilia, Italy, cannot be exactly replicated. This is because the practice is based on the current interests, knowledge base, and culture of the children in a particular school. In addition, there is currently no professional certification or training available for the Reggio approach. Only teachers who are actually employed in Reggio Emilia preschools are authorized to teach the Reggio approach. Preschools that emulate Reggio approaches and practices are therefore considered “Reggioinspired.”

Philosophical Origins of the Reggio Approach

Johann Pestalozzi, Friedrich Froebel, and Maria Montessori—the European pioneers of early childhood education—significantly influenced the development of the Reggio philosophy. Pestalozzi’s educational approach was highly influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1979), whose philosophy promoted the education of the whole person and the prizing of children for their innate creative abilities. Indeed, Pestalozzi applied Rousseau’s philosophy, believing that children were special in their own right and not just “little adults.” For Pestalozzi, children were innocent and open; they learned best through sensory exploration and in natural environments (Pestalozzi Holland, Cooke, Robinson and Green, 1977). Expanding on Pestalozzian ideas, Froebel created the kindergarten (Froebel, 1899)—a playful environment where children could manipulate woodblocks and balls, sew, fold paper, and merrily sing and play games. Froebel advocated the manipulation of materials and physical activity as a means to help children in forming abstract and spiritual concepts. For example, children could come to form abstract concepts such as “unity in the universe” and “opposites can be combined together” (Froebel, 1885). Montessori, like Froebel, also created schools for young children centered on manipulating objects and playing games. However, Montessori spent a great deal of time carefully studying children’s natural play behaviors. This led her to discover that through the manipulation of objects, children could understand physical properties, categories, and important concepts such as colors, sizes, and shapes (Montessori and Gutek, 2004). Johann Pestalozzi, Friedrich Froebel, and Maria Montessori all came to the discovery that children learn best in natural, exploratory, and playful ways. The Reggio approach builds on their discoveries and experimentations. In contrast to these European thinkers, in Colonial America, children’s play was considered undesirable, unproductive, and childish. The less children play, it was thought, the more grown-up and responsible they would become. It was American philosopher, John Dewey, who strongly disagreed with this belief. For Dewey, children’s play was highly desirable because play expresses a child’s current experience and understanding of the world. Dewey proposed

that during play children learn to reconstruct their experiences and find meaning. Moreover, Dewey was convinced that a teacher’s role was to create a stimulating and playful environment for children to flourish mentally and morally. Dewey’s educational philosophy of experiential learning emphasized the active role of children in their own education (Dewey, 1903). Dewey’s ideas influenced constructivist-learning theory, which is foundational to the Reggio approach. Lev Vygotsky, known for his “zone of proximal development,” took Dewey’s ideas one step further. For Vygotsky, cognitive development needed to take place within a social context. Social engagement and collaboration with others are necessary in order to transform children’s thinking. Make-believe play is especially important as it allows children to interpret interpersonal roles, as well as to better understand how objects operate in the world. Vygotsky claimed that symbolic and dramatic play was essential for abstract thinking and cognitive and emotional development (Vygotsky, 1978). His ideas also strongly inform the Reggio approach. The theory of “meta-communication,” promoted by Gregory Bateson, was especially important to Malaguzzi in developing the Reggio schools’ use of the arts as a cornerstone of the approach. Bateson’s theory proposes that meaning is derived from interaction with others; in other words, meaning is not dependent solely on literal verbal meaning (Bateson and Bateson, 2000). For Bateson, the intensity and inflection of the voice, facial expressions, accompanying gestures, and secondary signals, as well as the verbal content of the communication, determine meaning during communication. In other words, when children interact, complex layers of communication occur simultaneously that are not always visible. Because Bateson believed that multiple layers of learning provide the best type of education, Malaguzzi translated this belief to mean that nonverbal means of communication, like visual art, would be especially valuable educational mediums. The famous adage, “the map is not the territory,” illustrates Malaguzzi’s belief that traditional education is often flat in comparison to an artistic curriculum that can embrace subjectivity, curiosity, and creativity. Malaguzzi also subscribed to Bateson’s idea of “double description,”

a term that signified a new vision of education through the combining of multiple perspectives. A complex, multi-layered educational environment produces a more complete picture of knowledge (Bateson, 1982). This is why the Reggio approach values multiple perspectives of learning. Table 2.1 Central Tenets of the Reggio Approach Child as Learner Teacher as Collaborator

Emergent Knowledge

The learner is an active The instructor is a collaborator Knowledge is socially constructor of and co-learner along with the constructed. knowledge. child. The learner is a social being.

The instructor is a guide and facilitator.

The learner possesses The instructor is a researcher. rights.

Knowledge encompasses multiple forms of knowing. Knowledge is comprised of meaningful wholes.

Reggio’s unique educational theory and practice is indebted to Pestalozzi, Froebel, Montessori, Dewey, Vygotsky, and Bateson. These seminal influences provided the philosophical underpinnings of the Reggio approach and its view of the child as protagonist, the importance of shared and negotiated learning, and the teacher’s role as co-learner.

Central Tenets of the Reggio Approach Shown in Table 2.1, children’s ability to learn, adult’s roles in facilitating children’s learning, and how knowledge is most naturally constructed, are central aspects of the Reggio approach. The Reggio philosophy views the child as the protagonist of his or her own learning. “It embodies Reggio educators’ belief that children are resourceful, curious, competent, imaginative, and have a desire to interact with and communicate with others” (Rinaldi, 1998, p. 114). The child is seen as fully capable of understanding and learning in the same way as an adult learns. Learning experiences do not need to be modified for children; rather, children need environments which support “complex, varied, sustained, and changing relationships

between people, the world of experience, ideas, and the many ways of expressing ideas” (Cadwell, 2003, p. 93).

Studio Teacher as Co-learner The first role of the studio teacher is of a co-learner. Since children are viewed as fully capable of learning, if provided the necessary materials and guidance, then the studio teacher’s main job is to provide the space, time, and support for learning opportunities to occur. The studio teacher will not know ahead of time in what direction the learning will evolve so, in effect, the studio teacher is learning alongside the children, moment to moment. There are no lesson plans, no predetermined objectives or achievement goals. The studio teacher as co-learner is as curious as the children what discoveries will be made. In order for discoveries to be made, it is essential to create engaging and rich music learning environments. These environments should support how children most naturally learn and provide materials that challenge children’s thought processes and creativity. The studio teacher as co-learner should have a basic understanding of music research and best practices in early childhood music education in order to plan rich, child-centered music learning enviroments. This chapter will therefore look at best practices in early childhood music learning and how they relate to the Reggio view of the child as a constructor of knowledge, the child as a social being, and the child’s rights as a learner.

The Child as a Constructor of Knowledge During the child study movement of the early 20th century, children’s behaviors were studied in order to understand how children most naturally learn. A number of these studies were in the specific area of music learning. The Pillsbury studies were the first long-term observational studies of children’s free music exploration. From 1937 to 1948, a developmental psychologist, in collaboration with a musician-composer, conducted studies at the Pillsbury Foundation School in Santa Barbara, California. This classic study

followed children from two to eight years of age and explored music activities, such as spontaneous improvisation on instruments, with very little adult intervention (Moorhead and Pond, 1978). Based on their observations, Moorhead and Pond found that: 1) all children had the ability and interest to experiment both with instruments and their voices to create music; 2) there was a strong relationship between the use of rhythm and speech; and 3) children naturally use movement and dramatization to embody their music-making. The Pillsbury studies were groundbreaking in the field of music education because they revealed that even without formal instruction, children were able to improvise and create semi-structured musical pieces. More recently, a study was conducted involving children ages ten to thirty months where children were left alone to play with a variety of instruments. Video analysis revealed that children took great pleasure in producing sounds, displayed particular styles of performing, and used repetition and variations during improvised performances (Delalande, 2009). Another long-term study, the InCanto project, documented children’s musical development from in utero through school age. During this period, all participating families attended regular music enrichment classes and were encouraged to engage in music-making at home. This study found that many children were able to sing in tune, create whole musical phrases, and sing entire songs by themselves by age two (Tafuri, 2008). These studies make it quite evident that a children’s innate musical potential is often underestimated. In addition, children’s music engagement, without adult intervention in everyday settings such as the playground or at home, has been observed to contain complex expressions of children’s understandings of the world around them (Marsh, 2008). Children are naturally able to use music in many ways: for emotional expression, aesthetic enjoyment, entertainment, communication, physical response, and conformity to social norms and rituals (Campbell, 2010). While engaging in music, children have also been observed to be in a flow experience, which has been defined as an optimal state of learning, balanced between skill level and challenge (Custodero, 2005). Flow can be seen when children are highly engaged, laughing

and smiling, yet working with high levels of concentration and cooperation.

Constructivism and Music Learning Constructivism is the theory that knowledge is best formed from the interaction of experiences and ideas. In music education, constructivism has been considered central to many creative processes and often involves social learning, learning through doing, and child-centered learning (Burnard, 2006; Hickey and Webster 2001; Scott, 2011). Activities such as free improvisation (Hickey, 2009), and composition are particularly constructivist and creative because they are divergent as well as convergent (Webster, 2009). Jackie Wiggins, a proponent of constructivist processes in music learning, states that prior listening and music making experiences are essential to current musical experiencing. Because new knowledge is always constructed from the starting place of former knowledge, the “bigger picture” is built from both new and old knowledge (Wiggins, 2001, 2015). While much of what has been written regarding constructivism in music education is related to older children, these ideas are still relevant the younger learners. Maude Hickey (2012) outlined constructivist ideas for using composition in general music classrooms, which includes open nongraded assignments, group and individual tasks, long term projects, invented notation, and the use of technology for even the youngest of children. Other music educators encourage constructivist practices such as using invented notation as a natural way to learn to read and write music (Smithrim and Upitis, 2005; Upitis, 1987) and the use of technology as a constructivist tool for composing (Thibeault, 2010; Upitis, 1989). Some constructivist approaches to music education have been also been referred to by terms such as discovery learning (O’Hagin, 1998), deep learning (Scott, 2006), and minds-on learning (Scott, 2009). Some scholars have questioned whether traditional band, orchestra, or choir curriculum is constructivist enough given the lack of student-initiated contribution and critical thought required of students (Allsup, 2012; Doyle, 2014; Kratus, 2007; Scott, 2011,

2012; Williams, 2011). Heuser (2011) points out this may be due to large ensemble instruction that tends to be “teacher directed, and relies on styles from the Western canon, and exhibits little concern for musical interests of students” (p. 293). In addition, Allsup and Benedict (2008) point to a lack of self-reflection or inquiry in most American band programs. By focusing on active student participation through large and small group composing and improvising, large ensemble instruction might become more constructivist and engaging for students (Holsberg, 2009; Morford, 2007). Benedict (2012) states that many students bring “multiple literacies” to school with an already developed range of sophisticated musical understandings and technological abilities. A number of music educators believe “informal” (popular) music learning is the answer to creating a constructivist-learning environment (Conway and Jaffurs, 2004; Green, 2009; Jaffurs, 2004), while others have called for a balance between traditional large ensemble learning and small student-centered informal studies in music classrooms (Folkestad, 2006). In anycase, there appears to be a shared view that children are fully capable of engaging in constructivist musical learning. The music education research appears to support the Reggio approach’s emphasis on child-centered learning and children’s ability to naturally construct knowledge with little intervention from adults.

The Child as a Social Being Play is also an important aspect for children’s learning in the Reggio schools and reflects the idea of the child as a social being. Playbased music learning is sometimes referred to as “musical play” (Fox and Liu 2012). Musical play is considered highly appropriate for young children (Marsh 2008; Marsh and Young 2006) and has been shown to increase auditory discrimination and attention (Putkinen, Tervaniemi and Huotilainen, 2013) and heighten musical skill development (Valerio, Seaman, Yap, Santucci and Tu, 2006). When adults participate alongside children in musical play, the benefits are increased even further (Acker, Nyland, and Ferris, 2010; Acker and Nyland, 2012; Cooper and Cardany 2011; Koops, 2012).

Musical play has been studied in music education research and has been found to be a natural way of engaging with music (Smith and Montgomery, 2007). Throughout history, educators and psychologists, such as Jean Piaget, Maria Montessori, Lev Vygotsky, and Jerome Bruner have strongly advocated the inclusion of play in educational settings. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) asserts that play gives children the opportunity to interact socially, learn how to be patient, take turns, and to cooperate (Berk and Winsler, 1995). Play encourages emotional development, allowing children to give expression to their feelings, while also coping with difficult emotions. Donna Fox (1991) aligned Piaget’s theory of cognitive play to musical play by showing how Piaget’s four types of children’s play— functional, constructive, dramatic play and playing games with rules —are related to musical engagement. Functional musical play occurs when children primarily use their bodies to sing, clap, play instruments, and move to music. In constructive musical play, children utilize objects to create structures or forms, such as choosing sand blocks to create the sound of the train moving on a track. In dramatic musical play, children might act out a character or event in a story by playing drums for the stomping of dinosaurs, or woodblocks for the trotting of ponies. Musical games with rules— such as freeze dance, musical chairs, or “Ring Around the Rosie”— are common examples of musical play with rules. In Finland, music engagement and free play have been combined in the schools with great success. Music teaching in Finland uses a small dose of music training combined with a large quantity of free play. The Finns, according to the Programme for International Assessment (PISA) tests, are among the top performing students in the world. Finnish mother and music teacher, Liisa HenrikssonMacaulay (2014) notes, “We must not forget that our children often learn the most when they are engaging in free play and discovering the world for themselves” (p.1). Music educators have identified several benefits of play-based music learning including social, affective, and cognitive development (Hargreaves, Marshal and North, 2003), as well as gross and fine motor control and eye-hand coordination. In addition, play-based

music learning encourages problem solving, concept development, divergent thinking, and language improvement (Tarnowski, 1999).

The Rights of Children In the Reggio approach, all children, as well as adults, have rights; the right to safety, care and welfare, the right to be involved and the right to grow intellectually. Children should be considered as active citizens with rights, as contributing members, with their families and their local community. Many in music education also believe that children have rights in regards to their music making. Benedict and Schmidt (2011; 2015) propose that agency, critical thinking, decision-making, and independence are what students need in music classrooms and teachers should take great care to be “mindful” in their teaching. Randall Allsup (2011) calls for “musical citizenship” in the music classroom where cooperative engagement between teachers and students is the norm and education is communal, public-spirited, experimental, historically engaged, socially responsible, multicultural, and forward-looking. In addition, Allsup calls for “democracy” in music learning and teaching (Allsup, 2007; Woodford, 2005). Such an educational democracy would respect the inherent rights and capabilities of children learning alongside adults.

Adult Influences on Children’s Learning Music learning research also points to the importance of adult’s attitudes and involvement as critical for developing musical skills and knowledge in young children. Adult influences are essential for optimal music learning and research has consistently shown that adult attitudes toward music learning have a direct influence on children’s musical development (Acker, Nyland, Deans and Ferris, 2012; Greer, Dorow, Wachhaus and White, 1973, Zdzinski, 2013). Teachers’ attitudes towards music are particularly influential on children’s music learning. One case study found that the development of children’s interest in music depends on the teachers’

expression of interest in music activities (Denac, 2008). Other studies on the effect of exposure to classical music on the musical preferences of preschool children found that musical repetition, modeling, and social reinforcement influences young children’s musical preference (Peery and Peery, 1986). Teachers who demonstrate active interest and affect during children’s music listening experiences influences the length of time children listen to music, as well as the amount that they remembered about the music (Sims, 1986). Some studies have found a strong need for the improvement of nonmusically trained teacher’s music skills and attitudes in preschools (Garvis, 2012; McArdle, 2012). Regular classroom teachers often feel unprepared to deliver meaningful music instruction. In addition to singing songs, listening to music, dancing, drawing to music, and free play on instruments, nonmusically trained teachers expressed a desire to provide more complex and meaningful music experiences. “Music is more often background for some other activity rather than the foreground activity,” said one teacher. Another teacher noted, “This year we have spent weeks at a time discovering the elements of art including line, color, patterns, and textures. After completing this survey we are reminded that the same integrity is owed to our music domain” (Nardo, Custodero, Persellin, and Fox, 2006, p. 288). Gillespie and Glider (2010) found only 14 percent of an average school day is designated for music and movement in early-childhood classrooms. Quality resources are needed for teachers lacking music training (Bond, 2012). The influence of parents’ attitudes on children’s musical learning have also been the subject of other studies. A Brazilian study showed that parents who spent more time interacting musically with their children at home had children who were more musically advanced (Ilari, Moura, and Bourscheidt, 2011). Similarly, Taiwanese parents who valued music learning had children who took their music learning more seriously (Leu, 2008). In a study of online social networking, American parents whose children were in music classes showed a direct correlation between parental attitudes and children’s motivation for music learning (Koops, 2012). In a cross-cultural study of early-childhood music practices in Canada, Italy, Brazil, and

England (Young and Ilari, 2012), there was a strong consensus that more time needed to be devoted to music making at home. Numerous studies on the role of parental influences have consistently shown that musically able children had higher levels of parental support (Davidson, Howe, Moore, and Sloboda, 1996; Howe and Sloboda, 1991). A biographical study of musical excellence found that parents of talented musicians had taken an active role in supervising and encouraging the child’s musical progress when they were young (Sloboda and Howe, 1991). Other research has confirmed that in addition to positive attitudes toward music learning, parents who actively participate in musical activities at home with their children affected their musical development (Williams, Barrett, Welch, Abad, and Broughton, 2015). Custodero (2006) found that singing was a key to maintaining family traditions and Denac (2008) discovered that children preferred listening, singing, and dancing activities with their parents rather than playing instruments in the home. These studies highlight the important role of adults in influencing children’s musical learning. Teachers, parents, and adult community members all have important influences on children’s potential for music learning and should be directly involved as co-learners in creating positive learning experiences for children.

Conclusion The role of studio teacher as co-learner is an essential aspect of working in a Reggio-inspired setting with children. In order to understand how to work in this role, we discussed best practices and research in early childhood music learning and how these related to the Reggio view of the child as a constructor of knowledge, the child as a social being, and the child’s rights as a learner. Indeed, the music research strongly supports the central tenets of the Reggio approach’s view of the child as protagonist and the adult as colearner. Respecting the child as fully capable of learning, creating educational environments for children that are natural, playful, complex, and exploratory, as well as the use of constructivist learning strategies have all been shown to be critical for meaningful

and quality music learning. The studio teacher can use this knowledge to create engaging and rich music learning environments. Once the studio has been set, the musician-teacher can freely act as a co-learner and can enthusiastically participate alongside the children in their musical explorations and actively support and encourage their discoveries.

3 Studio Teacher as Researcher Research is a key concept of the Reggio approach. The role of the studio teacher as researcher involves gathering rich documentation, analyzing the documentation with the help of other’s perspectives, and proposing new studio explorations based on careful reflection and analysis of the documentation. Research in the Reggio perspective could be considered more as innovation rather than scientific investigation or a way of thinking and approaching knowledge oriented to the future (Edwards and Gandini, 2015). As seen in Table 3.1, there are five features for using documentation in the studio. These features are key to guiding learning in the studio. First, questions are used to test assumptions. Such questions are the basis for the epistemology of the Reggio approach. Questions are further explored through multiple languages using various media and symbol systems. These multiple representations are displayed for public viewing; children’s learning products are made visible and become a shared process of discussion and reflection. This process evolves over time involving both children and adults. The process is both retrospective and prospective in nature. Documents are retrospective because they are considered reflections of what was captured in the past and what was understood at one point in time. Documents are also prospective because they are used for analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating knowledge for the intention of shaping future learning. The purpose of shared analysis is a somewhat complex process and might be best be understood through the ancient parable of the six blind men and the elephant. In the parable, the blind man who feels a leg, describes the elephant as being like a pillar; the one who

feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk believes the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who feels the ear is sure that the elephant is like a hand fan; the man who feels the belly likens the elephant to a wall; and the blind man who feels the tusk is sure that the elephant is like a solid pipe. All are true, but only partially. Only by sharing their perspectives can they understand what an elephant actually looks like. Multiple perspectives and documentation are a core aspect to the Reggio approach. The role of researcher requires continually observing, documenting, and sharing children’s work with the larger educational community for viewing and analysis. Documentation is central to learning in Reggio-inspired settings because it takes account of children’s learning experiences not their learning achievements as does assessment in traditional educational settings. In addition, documentation also provides for a process of shared contemplation and the time and space to consider different points of view regarding children’s learning experiences. Table 3.1 Features of Documentationa

a

Adapted from Kocher, L., (2015).

Musical Documentation

The study of invented musical notations of children is a good example of how research provides insight into how children are thinking in sound. For instance, Jeanne Bamberger (1982) discovered through children’s invented notations that some children think more figuratively while others think more metrically about music (Gromko, 1994; Smithrim and Upitis, 2005; Upitis, 1987, 1991). By having children draw nonformal music notation, adults and other children were able to see, analyze, and interpret how children were hearing and understanding music. Documentation provides a window for viewing how children best describe their musical understanding—whether it is through movement, singing, improvising, or composing. Further, documenting children’s musical expressions provides a means for better understanding and theorizing how children are engaging in complex, higher-order musical thinking (Vuckovic and Nyland, 2007). The role of teacher-as-researcher requires being attentive to how children are using music as a unique symbolic system. This entails paying close attention to how music can aid in critical thinking, making decisions, and expressing meaning (O’Hagin, 2007). When analyzing documentation, it is important to have some basic knowledge of music learning theories and research (Ferris and Nyland, 2011; Isbell, 2012). While children in the Reggio-inspired classroom are considered naturally competent in learning music, it is important for the studio teacher to understand significant aspects of early years musical development. In addition to the knowledge of stages of music development, understanding how language learning and musical learning overlap is, in fact, very helpful in analyzing children’s work in the music studio. Therefore, this chapter briefly reviews both early stages of music development and the relationship between language and music in early childhood. Readers who are not familiar with the research on early childhood music learning will find this chapter particularly useful for analyzing children’s musical documentations in order to better understand children’s specific musical perspectives.

Stages of Early Childhood Music Development

Careful observation of children’s musical development has shown that it is never too early for musical learning. Musical aptitude may actually begin in the womb (Chamberlain, 2013). According to music psychologist Donald Hodges (1989), there may be specific genetic instructions in the brain that make the mind and body predisposed to be musical. “Just as we are born with the means to be linguistic, to learn the language of our culture, so we are born with the means to be responsive to the music of our culture” (pp.7–22). Neuroscientists even have claimed evidence that “babies are wired for music from birth” (Trehub, 2003, p.3). This “wiring” forms as the fetus responds to outside voices, music, and sounds from deep within the womb. Newborns remember music and voices from in utero because of neural mechanisms suited specifically for processing musical information (Hodges, 2000). These neurological mechanisms may also have an embedded relationship with language (Sloboda, 1997). Neuromusical research is a field that focuses on plastic changes in brain development that are directly related to critical windows that occur early in life (Sloboda, 2004). Children can learn more easily during these important time periods because of the plasticity of the young brain (Flohr, 2010; Flohr and Persellin, 2011). As in second language learning, music learning is much easier when one is young. By providing rich musical experiences at an early age, children can become increasingly independent and able to create original songs and will naturally integrate music into their play (Barrett 2006, 2011; Tafuri, 2008).

The Musical Life of the Fetus As early as sixteen weeks a developing fetus begins to perceive the world outside the womb. Music and environmental sounds, however, are quite muffled because the mother’s body acts like a low pass filter and attenuates higher frequencies. Frequencies below 300 Hz are not attenuated and those above 300 Hz are increasingly attenuated (Abrams et. al, 1998). This accounts for why the fetus hears best the higher frequencies of the mother’s voice and louder environmental sounds (Woodward, 1993).

Changes in fetus movement and heart rate response to varying sound sources can be used to test how the fetus responds to sounds (Al-Qahtani, 2005). For example, when the fetus hears a familiar sound, such as the mother’s voice, a change in heart rate or movement by the fetus can be observed. Evidence of post-natal memory of prenatal sounds (Webb, Heller, Benson, and Lahav, 2015) and the preference of familiar tunes and the mother’s voice have been documented through research (Gerhardt and Abrams, 2000). These findings do not, however, provide evidence that music interventions should be designed for expectant parents. Contrary to the popular “Mozart effect,” there are no indications that furthering a fetus’s hearing abilities provides extra musical or cognitive benefits after birth (Trehub, 2013).

The Musical Life of Infants Infants respond to music in different ways than they respond to speech. In fact, infants respond more rhythmically to music than they do to speech (Ilari, 2015; Trevarthen, 2002; Zentner and Eerola, 2010). Infants not only seem to recognize specific rhythms and metrical structures they have heard before (Trehub and Hannon, 2006), but they also can coordinate their movements with the meter of the music (Flohr and Trevarten 2008; Malloch and Trevarthen, 2009). Infants can recognize patterns of pitches, as well as imitate exact pitches during exchanges with adults (Patel, 2008; Trehub 2006; Trehub and Trainor, 1993). In addition, infants imitate facial expressions while matching the frequency ranges of their caregivers’ voices (Malloch, 2000). Infants also appear to develop strong biases for music of their native culture within the first year of life. When given a choice of songs, infants will turn toward music and exhibit pleasure toward the music that is most similar in tonality and rhythmic structure to songs they have heard before (Hannon and Trehub, 2005). Protolanguage is a term that explains exchanges between infants and caregivers, combining musical and linguistic elements into one seamless form of communication (Fitch, 2006). The term “musical babbling” has also been used to refer to infant-caregiver musical exchange. Musical babble is characterized by the use of both higher

and wider pitch ranges, more expanded pitch contours, slower tempos, longer pauses, shorter phrases, and fewer syllables as compared to normal adult language (Papousek, 1996). Because the infant rewards these exchanges with smiles, sounds, coos, and eye contact, the caregiver is compelled to respond in return. This back and forth relationship has also been termed as “communicative musicality” (Malloch and Trevarthen, 2009). There are a variety of utterances and gestures performed in this music-like dialogue consisting of pulse, quality, and narrative. Transcriptions of these exchanges reveal specific patterns of timing, vocal timbre, and melodic gesture (Malloch, 1999). Cultural anthropologist, Ellen Dissanayake, views these exchanges as “improvised duets of mothers and infants that are a natural performance in a type of temporal ritual which creates belonging and bonding” (Dissanayake, 2000 p. 156).

Is Music a Language? Music is not technically a language, but music does have a type of cultural “vocabulary.” This vocabulary is built on an association between sounds and mental representations, which are in turn labeled with names. For instance in verbal language, “doggy,” (animal that barks with long tail) “kitty,” (smaller animal that meows) or “daddy,” (big man I love with a warm laugh) are labels for conceptual representations. Similarly, “fast,” “slow,” or “loud” are labels for conceptual representations of musical sounds. The formal study of music should not begin, therefore, until after this conceptualization stage is reached (Gordon 2007; Hodges and Gruhn, 2012). The relationship between music and language is quite complex. On one hand, both language and music share many of the same characteristics. Both music and language involve representational memory as well as the ability to combine representations by a system of rules and a social context for learning (Jackendoff, 2009). In addition, music and language both use metrical stress and the processing of sound properties such as amplitude, frequency, duration, and timbre. These properties, as well as communicative sequences such as phrases, are processed in very similar ways

(Dilley and McAuley, 2008; Ilari, 2015; Patel, 2008). Pitch experience in either music or language is thought to be able to transfer from one domain to the other (Bidelman, Gandour and Krishnan, 2011). Also, the shared properties between music and language appear to be universal and shared across cultures (Rebuschat, 2012). There is evidence to support the hypothesis that since music and language share many of the same properties, music learning helps with language development and vice versa (Papousek, 1996; Patel, 2007; Trehub, 2006). Engaging children in musical thinking activities has been shown to promote literacy development (Salmon, 2010). This may be because music is a resource that trains the brain for any type of activity that needs “auditory fitness” (Kraus and Chandrasekaran, 2010). The common strengths between language and music can be used for teaching word recognition, comprehension, reading study skills, and literary comprehension (McCarthy, 1985). Both language and music training also appear to benefit executive control tasks (Janus, Lee, Moreno, and Bialystok, 2016). The implication for educators is that in order to enhance the learning of either or both, music and language activities should be closely related (Alison, Long and Valerio. (2007). To better understand the relationship between music and language it is helpful to examine the cross-domain relationship between the two.

Cross-Domain Music and Language Development As shown in Table 3.2, a newborn progresses through five stages of cross-domain language/musical development (Chen-Hafteck, 1997). The infant begins producing basic biological noises between zero and eight weeks. These are sounds such as breathing, sucking, sneezing, burping, and crying. Next, at around eight to twenty weeks, cooing begins. Cooing consists of short vowel-like sounds preceded by consonant sounds in the back of the mouth. Vocal play begins at twenty to thirty weeks, which is heard as wide glides from high to low pitches and experimental sounds like squealing, growling, and yelling. Babbling, the repetition of syllables, rhythmic exploration, and loud/soft and timbre variations is from twenty-five to fifty weeks. Melodic utterance emerges between nine to eighteen months.

Melodic utterance consists of a wider range of melodic, rhythmic and tone variations, more variety of stress patterns and intonation contours. Finally, from one year of age, first songs and words emerge, and language differences can be heard (Chen-Hafteck and Mang, 2012). The infant’s native culture and environment greatly affect crossdomain developmental stages. Music and language enculturation naturally occur very early in life (Hannon and Trainor, 2007). The ability to distinguish between subtleties in language sounds and stylistic nuances in music and language is quite remarkable. As children grow older, however, their abilities to quickly learn the cultural subtleties of sounds begin to fade. The first years of learning, therefore, are critical for both musical and linguistic learning experiences. Table 3.2 Music and Language: Cross-Domain Stagesa CrossTime Characteristics domain Period Stage Basic biological noises

0 to 8 weeks

Sounds such as breathing, sucking sneezing, burping, crying

Cooing

8 to 20 weeks

Short vowel-like sounds preceded by consonant sounds in the back of the mouth

Vocal Play

20 to 30 weeks

Wide glides from high to low pitches and experimental sounds like squealing, growling and yelling

Babbling

25 to 50 weeks

Repetition of syllables, rhythmic exploration, and loud/soft and timbre variations

Melodic Utterance

9 to 18 months

Wider range of melodic, rhythmic and tone variations, more variety of stress patterns and intonation contours

Speech 1 year and Songs and beyond aAdapted

First songs and words emerge, and language differences can be heard

from Chen-Hafteck and Mang (2012).

After these first years, some researchers have been fascinated with how intensive music learning, such as studying a musical instrument, can benefit both language and music learning abilities.

Musical Training and Language Abilities Advances in brain imaging studies have shown practicing an instrument, such as a piano or violin, can increase fine motor skills and auditory discrimination throughout life. This is perhaps due to the fact that language and music both involve perception-action mechanisms and pre-motor coding (Hyde et al., 2009; Koelsch, 2012). Skoe and Kraus (2012) conducted a study that revealed that adults who had instrument lessons early in life performed better at language-based learning tasks compared to those who never received any musical instruction. These effects were true even for those adult subjects that were no longer musicians or performing music as adults. Because of their instrumental music skills, these adults had the ability to process the sounds of speech faster than those adults who never received music lessons at a young age (White-Schwoch, Carr, Anderson, Strait, and Kraus, 2013). Playing an instrument alongside other musicians appears to affect the same brain areas traditionally associated with verbal language syntax. In one study, a jazz pianist was placed into a functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI) scanner-machine while performing with a band in the laboratory (Donnay, Rankin, Lopez-Gonzalez, Jiradejvong and Limb, 2014). The experimental laboratory set-up was customized to allow the pianist to stretch his arms outside of the narrow entry of the machine so that he could play on a piano keyboard while being scanned. The other musicians in the band were situated just outside the fMRI machine. This innovative laboratory setup allowed for a musical “jam” session. Brain scan results showed that when the jazz pianist engaged with other musicians in spontaneous improvisation there was a strong activation in the same brain areas traditionally associated with verbal language syntax. These areas, however, were related to syntax but not the semantics (referential meaning) of language. Moreover, the meaning centers of the brain seemed to shut down, becoming inhibited during these improvisational jazz interactions with other musicians. The jazz pianist appeared to use a highly specialized musical “syntax,” but without specific referential meaning. In a review of the literature on the benefits of early music training, William Dawson concluded that:

Music training, whether instrumental or vocal, produces beneficial and longlasting changes in brain anatomy and function. Anatomic changes occur in brain areas devoted to hearing, speech, hand movements, and coordination between both sides of the brain. Functional benefits include improved sound processing and motor skills, especially in the upper extremities. (Dawson, 2014, p. 57)

Thus by practicing an instrument or using the voice, the association of motor actions with specific sound and visual patterns produces lifelong, cross-modal effects. The coordination of motor actions with the associated music schema also appears to promote musical brain plasticity across the life span (Wan and Schlaug, 2010). Such brain plasticity is created through repeated experience (Hargreaves, 1984; Zatorre and Salimpoor, 2013) and may enhance abilities beyond the domains of music and language (Oechslin et al., 2013). In addition, musical training before the age of seven years appears to thicken the corpus callosum. This is the region of the white brain matter that connects the two hemispheres of the brain, enabling increased interconnectivity between the two hemispheres (Steele, Bailey, Zatorre, and Penhune, 2013). Penhune (2011) also found that subjects with early instrumental training had enlarged connections between the right and left hemispheres; these subjects demonstrated an increase in the overall ability to listen and verbally communicate and that these abilities lasted into adulthood.

Conclusion While there is still much more research that needs to be done with regard to the relationship between music and language, there are some things we can conclude. We know that music and language are both symbolic systems that communicate through sound. We also know that both language and music are important aspects of our evolutionary history and are deeply rooted in our biological nature (Mithen, 2005) and since music is influenced by culture and our biology, it should be no surprise why we enjoy music. Because of the many similarities between music and language acquisition in the early years, the purposeful guiding of music learning, alongside language learning, makes perfect sense. Given that music and language

learning occur at the very beginning of life, both parents and teachers can work together to help foster musical and language development in young children. In reviewing the research literature on stages of development in music and language, we found that they are closely intertwined in the first few years. While music and language development split paths as a child grows, many of the same features of syntax remain. In conclusion, musical literacy and language acquisition are mutually beneficial in the early years and beyond. In addition, music training on an instrument, or the voice, positively influences verbal skills and other mental abilities into adulthood. The studio teacher-as-researcher is actively searching and closely observing how new relationships and learning experiences occur through children’s interaction with musical activities and materials. Indeed, in the Reggio studio, musical learning is viewed as a vehicle for developing music literacy, higher order thinking, and communication abilities (Vuckovic and Nyland, 2007). Documentation is one way in which children are carefully listened to and provided sensitively crafted feedback regarding their learning experiences (Reynolds, Long, and Valerio, 2007). Analysis of documentation validates the children’s experiences in the studio and makes learning visible. It is through reflection and discussion of documentation, and through knowledge of music learning theories and research, the studio teacher-as-researcher can form hypotheses that can later be proposed for new learning experiences in the studio.

4 Studio Teacher as Artist One of the signature traits of teachers in Reggio schools is that they encourage the development of the poetic languages. The poetic languages are forms of expression that we typically think of as the visual arts, instrumental music, song, dance, drama, or photography. The poetic languages are considered cornerstones in the Reggio approach. Developing children’s poetic language abilities is both a pragmatic and creative process. The studio teacher-as-artist provides instruction in how to use the tools, techniques, and materials for developing a particular poetic language. Over time, children begin to think like artists, but it is important not to hold children to the same standards as professional artists. From the Reggio perspective every child has, metaphorically at least, “one hundred languages” available to them for expressing perspectives of the world. Loris Malaguzzi proposed that in all languages there is an “alphabet,” and as the child learns and practices this alphabet over an extended period of time, the child becomes increasingly fluent in that language (Cadwell, 2003). Vea Vecchi explains how working with art enables children to construct an artistic alphabet: The children acquire a large spectrum of knowledge about materials and this gives them the chance to use different alphabets in their individual process of representation and give shape to their own ideas. By transforming a material to communicate (paper, paint, clay, etc.) we structure a language; each language has a communicative system … As children use their minds and hands to act on material using gestures and tools and begin to acquire skills, experience, strategies, and rules, structures, developed with the child—this can be considered a sort of alphabet or grammar (Gandini, 2005, p. 14 and 15).

Dr. Howard Gardner, psychologist and professor of cognition and education at Harvard Graduate School, has been a pioneer in theorizing the multiple ways children have in communicating and understanding the world. In Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Gardner, 1985), he outlined nine specific types of intelligences, one of which is music. Gardner contends that each person has a unique combination, or profile of multiple intelligences, with no two individuals having the same exact configuration of intelligences. There are many similarities between Malaguzzi’s idea of the hundred languages and Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory. In fact, Gardner was so fascinated with the Reggio approach that he has visited the schools in Italy many times. Malaguzzi and Gardner became close friends and colleagues; they both agreed the multiple intelligences in children should be valued as a core aspect of education. Gardner wrote in his forward to The Hundred Languages of Children that, “Nowhere else in the world is there such a seamless and symbiotic relationship between a school’s progressive philosophy and its practices than in Reggio Emilia” (Edwards, Gandini and Forman, 1998, p. xvi). Creating a theory is easy, Gardner admitted, but actualizing a theory in practice is a rare accomplishment and the Reggio approach has done this.

The Role of the Teacher as Artist In Reggio-inspired schools, the studio teacher is hired as a trained artist. This role requires extensive background and experience as a skilled artist. In this role the studio teacher shares his or her expertise and perspective, drawing from extensive study and countless hours of practice. The role of artist is to help shape children’s skills and sensitivities by providing quality artistic experiences while allowing time for refinement and expansion of skills and knowledge. As in language learning, children learn best through a gradual and natural process (Brandt, Gebrian and Slevc, 2012; Patel, 2003). Even though techniques and ideas are proposed by the studio teacher, it is important that he or she quickly step back to listen and watch how the children are understanding and interpreting the materials on their own (Edwards, Gandini and Forman 2012). Learning through artistic

processes takes time; in group learning processes of the studio, sufficient time is needed if a multiplicity of ideas is to be expressed (Espeland, 2010). The role of the skilled artist in the Reggio schools is both hands-on and hands-off. There are times when it is appropriate for the studio teacher to model and instruct, and other times for the teacher to stand back, observe, and do nothing but document what is occurring. However, Reggio-inspired schools have often been misunderstood. A key misconception is that creative play is encouraged over teacherdirected learning in the studio. This simply is not true. Veteran atelierista, Vea Vecchi, was the first to work closely with Malaguzzi. She tells a poignant story of a school she once visited where teachers took the notion of creative play to an extreme. Vecchi recollects: There was a small room with glass walls and a group of 15 to 24-month-old, naked children using their hands and bodies to play with colored paint. The children were covered in paint, their expressions not the least happy, and they observed each other and us with an air of perplexity, and one or two were crying. (Vecchi, 2010, p. 111)

The Reggio approach to artistic learning is not an unstructured, laissez-faire, free-for-all. Rather, the role of artist is to sensibly introduce artistic techniques and processes to the children. As Vecchi explains further: I am unsympathetic to terms used in curricula such as “painting-drawing experiences” and “creative-sound possibilities.” To me, it seems they represent an obsolete way of working and the results are rather careless and ugly (Vecchi 2010, p.49). More than once Malaguzzi, perhaps fearing I might overdo expressiveness and imagination, reminded me that with children we need to “know how to lower the sails” at the opportune moment, because children also love very concrete situations (p. 117).

From Visual Arts to Music Most Reggio-inspired schools have been focused on the visual arts discipline where children utilize physical materials to create works of art. For example, children are provided with paint, brushes, and easels for producing visual arts products. In addition, they need to

know how to handle the materials, how to mix paint and hold the paintbrush, as well as techniques for learning different strokes on the canvas. The studio teacher-as-artist introduces these techniques and guides the learning, not as an educator, but as an artist who is mentoring others in understanding the art form from an artist’s perspective. The musician-studio teacher is no different. The musician-studio teacher guides quality musical experiences, models musical techniques and then steps back to allow children to practice using the musical materials. The studio teacher utilizes such musical materials as melody, rhythm, timbre, dynamics, tempo, texture, and harmony. As children learn how to work with these musical materials, their expressions may take the form of chanting, singing, movement, listening, composing, and performing on instruments.

Relationships Between Visual Arts and Music For the most part, Reggio-inspired schools have used the visual arts in studio projects. Malaguzzi, however, believed that the Reggio ateliers should continue to evolve, be open to innovation, and move beyond the original template of visual arts. Recently schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, are beginning to introduce dedicated music ateliers and employ music atelieristas. In addition, throughout the Reggio Emilia schools there is a strong emphasis on the interweaving of languages. For example, in the visual art studio there is ample room for singing and dancing; little separation is made between these modes of thinking and expression. Since the Reggio approach values the interweaving of languages, exploring the commonalities between visual art and music can contribute to our understanding of how musical “materials” might be used for music studio learning.

Commonalities Between Visual Art and Music The most striking commonality between music and visual art is that both are nonverbal languages. Table 4.1 below shows possible analogous elements between visual art and music.

The seven standard visual art elements are line, color, texture, value, space, shape and form. These seven elements in the visual arts atelier correlate with elements in music in interesting ways. Line in art is similar to melody in music. Children understand that lines in art make “pictures” and the melodies in music make the “song.” Line and melody are both linear and stand-alone; they start at a given point and continue until they end. Table 4.1 Shared Characteristics in Art and Music

Color in visual art is quite similar to timbre in music. Timbre, or “sound color,” in music is something that children are hardwired to detect. Indeed, Trehub (2006) has shown that from birth, babies are able to differentiate between many different sounds. Color in art is

considered a combination of hue, chroma, and value; in music, musical timbre is determined by a set of frequencies sounded with a characteristic attack, decay, and release. Though this sounds scientifically complex, color and timbre are both easily recognizable to children and children often have a favorite color or sound that they love. Texture in art is similar to texture in music. In art, texture is seen, but also felt by children through touching and feeling. Texture could be rough, smooth, bumpy, scratchy, hard, or soft. In music, texture is heard as the way sounds interact. When voices and instruments move at the same time and direction, the texture is smooth; when voices and instruments move at different times and directions, the texture is perceived as rough. Few voices and instruments create a thin texture; multiple voices and instruments create a thicker texture. In art, value is a given point on a continuum between dark and light. In music, a specific dynamic is a point on a continuum between loud and soft. And a specific musical tempo is a point on a continuum between fast and slow. Value, dynamics, and tempo are particularly important for affective expression in both art and music. The use of space in art has a comparable role in music’s use of rhythm. In art, space refers to distances or areas around, between, or within components of a piece. For example, there are physical materials such as paper, canvas, clay, or wire, upon which space in art is created. In music, the material upon which music is placed is time. Rhythms are varying durations of sounds and silences placed within the canvas of time. Shape in art resembles phrases in music. In art, shape is an enclosed form in a two-dimensional or flat surface. A shape is created when a line reconnects with itself. In music, phrases are recognizable melodic fragments such as “Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.” Contrast and repetition of phrases make music interesting, just as repetition and contrasts in shapes give art its visual appeal. Form in art has three dimensions: length, width, and depth. Similarly, harmony in music is created when two or more pitches are sounded simultaneously and is also multidimensional. Separate pitches in music come together through harmony in distinct new ways, and it is often difficult to hear the separate pitches when they

are played together as complex “sound-forms” known as musical chords.

Conclusion The seven elements and the commonalities between art and music could be considered a starting point for a “vocabulary” for studio learning. Through explorations and sustained practice, children would become immersed in these elements and eventually become fluent enough to use music and/or art as media for communication and expression. Teachers who are already comfortable working with the visual arts may find it interesting to explore the interweaving the visual and musical arts. Musicians can also benefit by looking towards the visual art atelier for ideas for creating unique atelier explorations. The role of the studio teacher-as-artist is to select materials and techniques that allow children to explore, practice, and refine specific artistic skills and conceptual understandings. By drawing upon their artistic training, studio teachers-as-artists can propose qualitylearning experiences. While working with children, the studio teacheras-artist is constantly observing how children make use of artistic materials, while thinking of how children’s knowledge can be improved and what new artistic techniques and concepts might be introduced into subsequent studio projects to further their artistic learning.

 PART  II  From Theory to Practice in the Studio

5 Guiding Learning in the Studio Guiding constructivist learning in the studio requires the teacher to constantly shift between the roles of artist, researcher and co-learner. While it appears there is no “tried and true” or exact method for doing this, I have outlined a few steps for analyzing current knowledge and proposing new learning in the studio. A primary idea of studio learning is that learners “construct,” or assemble, their own knowledge on the basis of what they already know. As seen in Table 5.1, the first step is therefore to carefully observe what children understand at any given point in time. The next step is to document with artifacts that are a reflection of children’s current state of knowledge. The third step is to share this documentation and negotiate, with others, ideas for introducing new learning activities that naturally build upon the existing knowledge base. Once a new proposal has been decided on, the studio teacher introduces new activity ideas and materials into the studio. Then the process of observation and documentation becomes iterative, repeating for another cycle. Subsequent viewings of documentation focus on the analysis of inconsistencies between children’s current understanding and their new experiences. Narrowing in on gaps between old and new knowledge theoretically grounds constructivist processes and guides new learning in the studio.

Proposing New Ideas for Music Studio Learning There are a variety of ways of designing studios. As seen in Table 5.2, some studios can be designed to focus on on musical skill development through music problem solving, others can be proposed

by the children themselves based on their current interests and lastly, broader musical concepts can be explored which challenge children in more complex intellectual levels. A music studio, for instance, can be intended to develop musical concepts through solving musical problems. For example, a studio teacher may encourage children to explore possible ways of performing pitches and percussive sounds on musical instruments by first demonstrating a glissando performed on a xylophone then quickly turn to the children to find their own ways of exploring the making of sounds on the xylophone. Once children begin to engage in experimentation, the studio teacher switches to the role of researcher and co-learner. The studio teacher is then in a position to comment on their work, ask probing questions, and query them to articulate their artistic choices. The studio teacher must always keep in mind that the children’s musical explorations are their “work.” When children feel that their contributions are worthy of our adult acknowledgment and respect, children feel valued and will wish to explore learning even further. Table 5.1 Steps for Guiding Constructivist Learning in the Studio

Table 5.2 Types of Studio Proposals and Possible Resources Problem Solving Interest-based Concept-based Fast/slow Metronome, rulers, tree rings, paper with grids, stories about fast/slow animals and objects, variety of instruments, scarves, ribbons, and puppets that dance

Once Upon a Time Books of fairy tales and folklore, assorted instruments and microphone, dress-up costumes, a stage area, recording device

What Makes Sound? Microphone, sound effect device. Sound wave visualizing iPad application, large drum with coins or rice, assorted instruments, drawing supplies, strings and ropes

Loud/soft Objects and instruments that make loud/soft sounds, pictures of natural events (i.e., thunderstorm, rain drops), painting and drawing materials

Rock Star Band/DJ Party Drum set, electronic keyboard, microphone, electric guitar, and other instruments, DJ table, videos of rock band performances, dress-up costumes

How Does Music Talk? Rhythm instruments, music recordings in call and response form, stories about questions and answers, monkey drum iPad application

Timbre (sound color) Objects hidden in containers, variety of instruments, watercolors, colored scarves and ribbons, stories about sounds, Garage Band application

Transportation Music Music about trucks, trains, airplanes, race cars etc., assorted instruments, video and audio recording devices

How Can We Dance a Story? Recordings of interesting classical and world music, storybooks that children love, dress-up costumes, large space for dancing

Melody Glass jars with water, xylophones, boomwackers, melody instruments, pipe cleaners, yarn, and puppets with mouths, microphones playlist of favorite songs or karaoke

Star Wars Adventure Recordings and videos from the Star Wars movies, variety of acoustic and electronic instruments, dress-up costumes and props, stage or room for movement

Tell Me How You Feel Instruments and microphone, pictures and stories about different feelings, assorted painting and drawing materials, recording devices

The children themselves, based on their current interests and passions, might initiate a second type of studio such as Star wars or favorite fairytales. A third type of studio might be based on broader

musical concepts such as “what makes sound” or learning themes such as “how does music talk.” After such provocations are introduced, along with introducing the available materials, children are left to their own devices to explore the materials, and the teacher’s role shifts to documenting their work. For teachers socialized in more traditional school environments, giving up this much control can sometimes be a difficult transition. Indeed, the Reggio-inspired music studio challenges not only children, but teachers as well. As trained artists we know that we are experts in our fields, so we feel compelled to impart this knowledge to children. In reality, children are more creative and intelligent than we often realize. We need to allow them the time, space, and materials to work without our interference. In the Reggio studio, the musician teacher-as-researcher is not obsessed with skill development. Rather, the emphasis is on nurturing the children’s conceptual process, by leveraging and reflecting back their own discoveries. Like investigative news reporters, we ask questions and probe the children about their thought processes, encouraging them to trust their explorations and innate creativity.

How the Atelieristas Guide Learning in the Reggio Emilia Schools In Reggio Emilia the atelierista is the central figure for guiding learning in the studio. In the Reggio schools atelieristas are considered organizers, interpreters, and research collaborators. Malaguzzi was fascinated with the way learning was guided by atelieristas in the Reggio schools. Vea Vecchi, who worked closely with Malaguzzi explains: The way one should examine what children do [with art] is very different from the evaluation adult artwork. It happens very often that children do products that are so original that one wants to compare them with the work of famous artists. To make comparisons that go beyond simple and playful resemblance shows how little one understands either children or artists. (Vecchi, 1998, pp. 145–146)

Reggio studios have evolved to become “complex organizations of expressive languages that spread throughout the school” (Gandini, 2005, p. 10). As children were guided in the use of art materials to express their thoughts and feelings, artistic expression also became a secondary language for them. The art that children produce may be beautiful or stir deep emotion, but the purpose goes beyond creating beautiful artifacts. The art works and projects that children produce are considered documents of their learning processes.

International Study Group: The Culture of the Atelier During my 2013 visit to Reggio Emilia, Italy, for the study group “Atelier, Creativity, Citizenship: The Culture of the Atelier between Thinking and Acting,” Vea Vecchi discussed the process of moving from theory to practice in the art studio. She explained to our study group that when we work in the atelier it is analogous to “walking on threads of silk.” Her metaphor emphasizes that at any given moment in the studio there are delicate and subtle opportunities for observation and documentation. Loris Malaguzzi and Via Vecchi both promoted the use of poetic languages as a revolutionary idea. Malaguzzi noted that children often betray us in our expectations, we need to constantly listen and change our goals accordingly. Vea Vecchi advised that ateliers should first and foremost be inviting to children, providing the necessary tools for expanding children’s emotional intelligence and expression. As the children work with these materials, the atelierista is constantly examining children’s actions to discover possible hypotheses as to why the children are thinking and feeling the way they do. New theories are then formulated which are the basis for new provocations that are later presented to the children. Vea Vecchi was adamant that it is imperative to know the language of the atelier in order to interpret children’s work correctly. A teacher that is not trained in visual art, for example, might view a child’s painting and make statements on how it resembles a Matisse painting. However, a trained visual artist would simply view the child’s picture as a set of colored stick figures that reflects the child’s thought

processes, having nothing to do with knowledge of impressionism. To illustrate this point, Vea Vecchi showed us a drawing from one of her children in the studio where she had been teaching. The child’s drawing depicted a human body figure in which the buttocks were facing in the front instead of in the rear. Vea Vecchi immediately realized the child had a mental rotation of the figure; she intuitively knew the child needed many more opportunities to draw body figures from different points of view. In moving from theory to practice, Vea Vecchi reminded us that the aesthetic dimension of learning cannot be compartmentalized to the art studio and that, in fact, aesthetics pervades every aspect of the Reggio school. We must always stop to look for beauty in all things and that we should refuse to be indifferent to ugliness, “for to be indifferent to ugliness creates anger at the world.” In fact the role of the studio is to make all things beautiful during the learning process. This means all areas of learning, including math and science, contain aesthetic qualities. The constant interweaving of these languages is important because the brain naturally works through interconnections; the boundary between domains of knowledge is arbitrary and nebulous. Vea Vecchi firmly believes that the work that children do in the atelier can become a positive virus—as she puts it—a virus that can positively infect the world. By creating aesthetic and meaningful learning for children, their education will be based on solidarity, empathy, and equality—never settling for mediocrity. A good education, regardless of culture, emphasizes ethical values and is, according to Vecchi, “the opposite of indifference.” Through deep and intense relationships with studio materials and what Vecchi refers to as the “dance of interacting parts” and there is a tension between a feeling of reaching out and a feeling of fullness. Never having personally experienced working in an authentic Reggio Emilia atelier, much of what I have read previously was abstract. This is why Reggio Children organization insists on study group participants immersing themselves first hand in Reggio ateliers. Under the watchful and encouraging eyes of the atelieristas I was able to acquire a more in-depth understanding of the Reggio approach to working intensively with art in the studio. My

observations of these ateliers have influenced my understanding of artistic work in the Reggio approach. The following section is my first person account of my experiences of working in authentic Reggio Emilia ateliers with the atelieristas that originally created them.

Figure 5.1

The Languages of Food Atelier: Variations of Pasta

Atelier Experiences at the Loris Malaguzzi Centre The international study group began on a Sunday evening at the Reggio Children Loris Malaguzzi Centre. To our surprise, upon arrival we were given aprons and hairnets and told to wash our hands to prepare for our first atelier experience. The Languages of Food Atelier: Variations of Pasta was the beginning of our atelier study group experience. The Reggio school’s cooks, dressed in white dresses and hairnets, welcomed us with smiles and traditional Italian kisses on the cheeks.

Standing besides them were long stainless steel tables filled with various tools and food items. We were split into small groups and guided in the first steps of making pasta from scratch. The cooks demonstrated for us how to nest a raw egg in a pile of semolina flour and then knead it into pasta dough. After the cooks demonstrated this technique, it was our turn to do so. In this first immersion atelier experience, for three hours we kneaded, rolled, sliced, stuffed, and flavored at least fifty different pastas. To my surprise, I was struck that this atelier was not simply a free exploration experience as I expected. On the contrary, we were guided in learning specific techniques by experts in that area and then encouraged to practice and demonstrate our skills. Some of my questions were already beginning to be answered. The philosophy of the atelier was readily apparent. It was a hands-on learning experience, requiring minimal instruction, and lots of trial and error. The atelier was also a social learning experience. We helped each other during the process and only asked for guidance from the cooks when we were completely lost. The result was a beautiful array of handmade authentic pastas.

Figure 5.2

Pasta picture

“Why is our first experience of the atelier making pasta?” I asked. Because food, we were told by the group leaders, is one of the most beautiful human experiences people can share. And Italians, of course, take their food very seriously. Even the preschool lunches at Reggio schools are one hour long. The children are involved in the preparation of lunch, including helping the cooks, setting the dining ware, and decorating the tables. The food is healthy and delicious,

served over multiple courses; lunchtime is a ritual, one example of the care and quality afforded to many aspects that are central to the Reggio schools. The next day study group participants were split into small groups in order to experience various ateliers as the children might experience them. Five ateliers were staged for our participation: 1) Ray of Light, 2) Digital Landscapes, 3) The Human Figure Between Bi-dimensional and Tri-dimensional, 4) The Secrets of Paper, 5) The Life of Living Organisms: Faded Beauty. The first atelier that I explored was Digital Landscapes. Guided by the atelieristas who created it and have worked with children in that atelier, participants were asked to walk around the displays and interact with the materials. In this atelier the materials were projections of moving images such as fish swimming in a coral reef or ocean waves crashing onto a beach. Large and small objects were placed between the projection and the screen, which would create effects such as blocking, twisting and reflecting the projection’s images in interesting ways.

Figure 5.3

Digital landscapes atelier

The objects were different sizes of white three-dimensional objects, mirrors, and soft building blocks of various sizes. In addition, there were colored gels and cutouts that could be applied directly to the projection device to change the color and feel of the projected images themselves. In my small group we moved the objects around to see how that might change the “landscape.” The atelieristas observed us closely and documented what we were doing, or saying, by taking notes and photos. We were confused about what we were supposed to be doing in this atelier. When we asked for clarification, the atelieristas simply told us to enjoy exploring in any way we wished. I began to understand that by moving objects within the installations we were creating our own variations and “experiments” with the materials provided.

Figure 5.4

Fish backwards

After some initial experimentation, I posed a “hypothesis” to the group: What might happen if we turned the video projector upside down? Would the fish then be swimming backwards? I asked the atelierista if I could turn the projector upside down, and of course, she said I was free to do so. Indeed, the result was odd; the fish looked strange in the way they were swimming though they were not really swimming backward. For three hours we moved objects around to change the “digital landscape.” Because of my background in music, I began to compare visual ideas with musical concepts. I shared with the group that pitch and durational relationships in music could be thought of as similar to the visual relationship between distances and sizes of the objects. For example, larger objects could represent longer durations of sounds, and smaller objects might represent shorter sounds. In addition, the distance between the objects could be considered silence (rests) between these sound events. I asked the atelierista if this was strange for me to see music in visual art? “Not at all,” she said, the “interweaving” of poetic languages is always encouraged in the atelier. I then began thinking more seriously about music in relation to the visual perspective. I noticed that, depending on how you arranged the materials, they were either in the foreground or in the background. Music also has a foreground or background perspective. A featured instrument or voice is the “foreground” with accompaniment in the background. At the conclusion of this atelier, all the small groups gathered with the atelieristas who shared their documentation of our work. While there were no specific learning outcomes expected, teachers and students were learning together simutaneously. The atelieristas shared what they observed from us and then solicited our perspective on the documentation they had shared with us. This was a very iterative, back-and-forth process that kept building on the ideas and observations that were discussed. During the remainder of the week we explored the other ateliers. The Human Figure: Between Bi-dimensional and Tri-dimensional,

was intentionally designed to challenge children at very complex conceptual levels. This atelier used a combination of media. There were wire and clay sculptures, photography, digital projections and live webcam images interwoven in various ways. We were prompted to explore the interrelationships between the human figure in both two and three-dimensional space. My small group used a webcam to record original video, and then manipulated video recordings into our own unique “digital landscape.” Our group decided to point our webcam out a window into the side yard of the Malaguzzi Center. Several of us went outside and “acted” for the camera. We climbed and hung from branches in a tree, we danced, we walked backward and we made strange shapes by connecting our bodies in different ways. Using a video editing computer program to choose clips, we manipulated the images with different effects and created an original video loop for the installation. We then displayed our video and, as in the last atelier, we moved objects to reflect the projections and were able to curve and stretch the moving images in interesting ways. Using the webcam technology was both fun and powerful. Our group worked hard to complete the project in three hours, but the atelierista reminded us that there was no hurry because a final product is not the purpose of the atelier. As in the previous atelier, the atelieristas gathered us together and shared their documentation of our work. We discussed the following questions: 1) What is the relationship between two-dimensional and three-dimensional? 2) How is it that a flat digital image projected in space can become three-dimensional? 3) What is the relationship between virtual and real, being and seeing, and transformation? and 4) How did graphics, photography, wire, and clay interrelate and/or blur the relationship between real and virtual boundaries?

Figure 5.5

The Human Figure Between Bi-dimensional and Tri-dimensional atelier

The Ray of Light was one of the most beautiful and interesting of the ateliers. Many rooms were filled with different uses of light to explore. There were numerous objects that could be moved and placed in different positions, light tables, colored light projections and labyrinth-like areas to explore. This atelier highlighted concepts related to the physics of light through a hands-on discovery processes. The atelier’s main guiding question was, “how do we interpret what is going on in front of our eyes?” The Secrets of Paper was designed to explore the possibilities of paper. Walking into the room, it was jam-packed with every type of paper imaginable. The atelier exemplified the Reggio philosophy by creating an encounter with new materials, unguided exploration and discovery. Different textures and weaves of the paper often

transformed when they came into contact with other “languages” such as light, photographs, moving images, or a webcam. The Life of Living Organisms: Faded Beauty atelier consisted of a collection of nature objects in different stages of decomposition. This atelier focused on researching different phases in the life of a living organism. Our task was to explore different life stages of living organisms. We were given vegetables, fruits, and plants, as well as various examination tools such as magnifying glasses, light tables, or microscopes. We were then invited to reflect upon our explorations and discoveries through drawing, sculpting, and photography. A variety of materials were available for us to use such as digital cameras, video cameras, and webcams. Those participating in this atelier came to a shared revelation that even decaying life was beautiful in its own way.

Figure 5.6

Ray of Light atelier

Through first-hand experience of working in these ateliers, I came to appreciate and respect the power of the small group to facilitate constructivist, artistic learning. I received a small glimpse of how children experience the Reggio school ateliers, in particular how atelier learning is a slow and careful education where children learn

by trying out ideas, making mistakes, shifting thinking, and exploring materials at their own pace. The atelier experiences were designed to be pleasurable, yet children are encouraged children to work diligently. During all of these atelier experiences I was struck by how the atelieristas gave us such genuine respect for our ideas and spirit of exploration. I also realized that the atelier is a slow education experience, very different from the “learning outcome”–based education in America that is dominant today.

Figure 5.7

Secrets of Paper atelier

City Ateliers During the study group week, I was also able to take part in and observe the City Atelier project. It is quite similar to an “open house” night. Citizens of Reggio Emilia are invited to the Malaguzzi Center to experience the Reggio schools ateliers. I observed Reggio Emilia citizens—from old retired couples to young families—congregate in the lobby for coffee and juice and to partake in the local spinach erbazzone pastry in the Malaguzzi center café. After leisurely conversations, they migrated to explore the atelier exhibitions. Children eagerly pulled their parents into the installations, enthusiastically demonstrating how they might manipulate materials. Watching the parents, children, and community members interacting in the city ateliers reflected to me the vitality, culture, and spirit of the people of Reggio Emilia, Italy. My first hand experiences of observing and working in authentic Reggio ateliers were invaluable for me in appreciating the role of the studio teacher. I now understood, in a meaningful way, how multiple perspectives, current knowledge, and new experiences come together to create new learning opportunities in the atelier.

Conclusion In this chapter we have discussed how the studio teacher uses documentation to analyze children’s learning and create new ideas for further studio learning. The next chapter moves from theory to practice, providing examples of documentation of children’s work in actual studios, in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and San Francisco, California. It is hoped that by providing examples of actual documentation of children working in music studios this should further help in understanding how to set up studios in your own educational settings.

6 Music Studios in Action Perhaps the best way to understand how an educational approach works is to actually observe it in practice. Gaining access to Reggioinspired music studios, however, is difficult as most Reggio-inspired schools still focus almost exclusively on the visual arts. Early childhood music specialist, Barbara Andress (1998), first asked the question, “Where’s the music in Reggio Emilia?” arguing that musical play is fully congruent with the Reggio approach. Since there are few music ateliers to observe, some music educators have theorized how music ateliers might be constructed in Reggio-inspired schools. For example, O’Hagin (2007) describes how a music atelier might be developed using a large spatial area with carefully selected and deliberately placed musical materials for problem solving and discovery-making. Smith (2011) has documented a case in which a North American Reggio preschool successfully incorporated music into their curriculum. Similarly, Bond (2012) describes how music can be included in Reggio-inspired preschools and found that music projects can be taught in just as engaging ways as the visual arts. Feris and Nyland (2007) outlined ways in which music, combined with the Reggio approach, could foster citizenship in preschools. In Melbourne, Australia, music was integrated successfully through Reggio-inspired musical “learning stories” in which the children were the protagonists in each story (Acker and Nyland, 2012) and in North America, Wiens (2009) explored how Reggio-inspired ideas might work within an Orff approach music classroom. Burgess (2013) examined school-wide collaboration with music specialists in Reggio-inspired preschool settings and Matthews (2000) highlighted the unique strategies for Reggio-inspired music learning as having “no known destination.”

Because there are so many visual arts ateliers and very few established music ateliers, I proposed (Hanna, 2014) that Reggioinspired visual arts ateliers could be expanded to include music by looking at the commonalities between visual art and music. Further, by utilizing the well-developed visual-arts atelier as a model, a more authentic music atelier might be constructed. It was for this reason that in December, 2013, I attended the international study group in Reggio Emilia, Italy titled, “Atelier, Creativity, Citizenship: The Culture of the Atelier between Thinking and Acting.” This study group focused exclusively on the atelier and was sponsored by Reggio Children, the research branch of the Reggio Emilia schools. I believed this was my best opportunity see and experience what Reggio ateliers were really all about and to directly ask the question at the source: Where’s the music in the Reggio approach? Fortunately during my international study group tour I gained access to the Balducci School, which is the first Reggio school that has established a dedicated music atelier. This chapter describes my observations of the Balducci School and children working in its music atelier. Then later in this chapter I explain and document how, after returning from Reggio Emilia, Italy, I used these observations to shape my own music studio work with children.

Observations of Reggio Emilia’s First Music Atelier Shown in Figure 6.1, the exterior of the Balducci School was nothing special, much like any other elementary school, but looks are deceiving. Once inside the school I noticed the strikingly colorful displays hung on the walls and various three-dimensional sculptures hanging from the ceilings and balconies surrounding the central “piazza” square. Directly off the piazza was a large, all glass music atelier, and adjacent to it was a sparkling glass greenhouse that allowed in natural lighting brimming with many colorful varietals and greenery. The dining area opened directly across from the piazza, reminding me of an open-air café. The entire school was awashed with a large assortment of plants. One of the teachers later explained that this architectural and interior design was quite intentional. The

aesthetic principle of “bringing the outside to the inside” of the school was highly valued as a way of enhancing the relationship between natural and human worlds. Indeed, one of the guiding principles of the Reggio philosophy is that “the environment is the third teacher.” This aesthetic guides all school design planning; in fact, each Reggio school is specifically designed for optimal aesthetic value. When our group arrived at the Balducci School, we were given an introductory overview on how the school operated. We were told that teachers and families are directly involved in both managing the school and producing documentation. As we walked the hallways, documentation products of children’s learning were on display. These took the form of pictures, videos, notebook documentations and visual displays. Documentations in Reggio schools, we were told, are collaboratively produced. The production, however, is often accompanied by strong disagreements, or what they refer passionately as “confronto.” Confronto is welcomed as an important way of coming to terms with multiple interpretations of the Reggio learning process. A typical day in the life of a child at the Balducci School is a balance between play and structure. In the morning, there is free time to play until all the children have arrived, which is usually around 9:00am. The structured part of the day begins with a short discussion by teachers and children regarding the plans for the day over a fruit snack. Children then begin their work in atelier groups. The teachers try to match children’s interests and preferences for which groups they work in. If a child wants to switch to another atelier, the teacher will usually accommodate their request. By 11:15am lunch preparation begins. Some children set the tables, others create decorations and some help the cooks with final preparation of the food. Lunch involves multiple courses and casual conversations while eating. After lunch there is a nap, some free play outside and then the children go back to their atelier projects they started in the morning until the end of the school day.

Figure 6.1

Balducci School, Reggio Emilia

Atelier project ideas, or provocations, can originate from either children or teachers. There are also municipal-wide projects that schools are required to participate in, and these projects are announced at the beginning of each school year. A senior team of teachers set the yearly themes; they also oversee the curricula management for all thirty-two schools in Reggio Emilia. For example, one of the themes, “Sounds,” was a music project occurring in seven Reggio Emilia schools and occured over a two year period. Professional development is required.  All teachers meet with their pedagogy supervisor two and a half hours each week. Teachers are also expected to have at least two hours per week of parent conferencing on documentation projects. These parent conferences are not comparative; teachers rarely discuss how a particular child is doing in relation to other children. This is because “progress reports” do not exist in Reggio schools; learning is viewed as a shared experience and never about individual children. Filippo Cheili is Reggio Emilia’s first full-time music atelierista. Filippo Cheili explained that he was a “new generation” of atelieristas. Many classroom teachers have become quite skilled in using the visual arts over the years, but now atelieristas with other competencies, like music, are emerging. Filippo clarified that the music atelier we would be observing was actually working with sound, not music. This atelier was set up to convey a broad landscape of sound experiences, such as sound “spatialization,” or the interrelationship between sound, space, and movement. Sound, Filippo explained, is a three-dimensional experience. Children are invited to experiment with movements in space as a means of exploring their active embodiment of sound and within the common matrix connecting sound, space, and movement.

The Balducci School Ateliers After the orientation, our group had free time to walk around the school and observe the children working on various atelier projects, including:

1) Three-year-olds exploring what it means to work on a “team.” 2) Three- and four-year-olds using photography, video, and artworks to explore spiders and creating webs made out of clay. 3) Four-year-olds working in a music atelier project called “Resonances.” In this atelier, children used voice and movement, exploring how to transform the voice with a microphone and special effects. This atelier I will describe later in detail. 4) Five-year-olds drawing portraits of a child who posed for them. 5) Five-year-olds creating different types of writing to create original messages. 6) Two children working on a webcam project in the greenhouse area.

The Balducci Music Atelier This atelier was situated in a glass-walled room looking out into the central piazza, adjacent to the greenhouse area. An electronic piano sat on one side of the room and a variety of percussion instruments sat on a shelf on the other side. Filippo Cheili had a desk with a computer in one corner, chairs with tables occupied the center of the room, along with a long table to the front of the room. A spiral staircase winded down into the room that lead to the balcony level. I observed a small group of four-year-olds as they entered the atelier. The children sat around the round table and were invited to explore microphone sounds with various effects. Filippo Cheili passed the microphone around asking children to make a sound, listen carefully to the effects and then describe what they heard. The children were prompted to describe the sounds using descriptive words, gestures, and movement. Filippo Cheili carefully wrote down all their responses. The main effects used that day were echo and decay. I observed that the children were quite creative with exploring different vocal timbres and effects and there was much giggling and excitement throughout this experience. At one point the children were asked to analyze and demonstrate the tempo of the effects. The children clapped the tempo of the echo effect, walked to the tempo of the decay, and expressed the sound effects with hand gestures. Filippo Cheili also demonstrated a

metronome and asked the children to match the tempo of the sound effects by finding the corresponding tempo on the metronome. Toward the end of the studio, children were invited to draw the sound effects. The detail and accuracy of the sound drawings were impressive. Their depictions clearly showed understanding of dynamics, rhythm, tempo, pitch, decay, and echo effect. After drawing and discussing the pictures, the children ended the atelier session by freely experimenting with the microphone with making silly sounds and lots of giggling at hearing their own voices. Reflecting on this atelier, I was impressed with the amount of varied activities as well as what children learned. The activities included echo exploration, demonstrating sound effects through movement, walking the tempo, experimenting with the metronome, exploring vocal effects and expressing those effects through gesture, drawings, and group discussions. Most striking to me was Filippo Cheili’s sincere fascination for each of the children’s responses, often interjecting, “molto brava,” and quickly writing down their responses as if it was terribly important to document immediately. I was struck that the Reggio adage, “listen to the children,” means exactly that. What children think and say is incredibly important in the Reggio philosophy and it is the adults’ responsibility to listen and document carefully. After I returned to my home in San Francisco I reflected on what I had learned through studying and observing the actual Reggio studio approach in practice. I decided to bring that inspiration into my own work with children. While I had experimented with Reggio-inspired ideas with larger classes, creating a music studio with a small group of children was new to me. Back in my own preschool with the children, parents, and teachers I had worked with for several years, I tried to stay close in concept to what I observed in the Reggio Emilia music studios. In this next section, I will chronicle how I designed and implemented a series of music studios with two sets of children in a university-based preschool where I had been working as a music specialist.

Music Studio Documentation: The Children’s Campus, San Francisco State University In these studios, I chose to introduce children to musical materials (tempo, timbre, rhythm, etc.) through solving musical problems. There were times when the children understood the concepts immediately, while at other times their discoveries were slow, meandering, and quite nonlinear in direction. These unanticipated and divergent paths, however, were welcomed and I tried to follow the suggestions and interests that emerged during the children’s participation in the studios. One of the major lessons I learned during these studios was how hard it was to sit on my hands, close my mouth, and allow the children to engage in their own work. I was constantly tempted to intervene, cajole, direct, make suggestions, or to steer the children in a certain direction, which I believed, was superior. But when I was able to resist interfering, I saw firsthand how powerful it is to allow the children to socially construct their own knowledge. These music studios occurred at the Children’s Campus, a child care center at San Francisco State University in spring of 2014. I had already been teaching whole group music and movement classes for over two years at the center, so the children knew me well. After obtaining formal permissions from parents and the university, I formed two small groups, one with three-year-olds and one with four-yearolds. This next section contains examples of documentation I made after working in each studio. The documentation notes represent my initial reflections and are written in an informal and pedestrian style. A more authentic Reggio-inspired documentation would also include reflections from classroom teachers, parents, and the children themselves and these documentation artifacts would evolve over time. I encourage you to view the video documentation of these same studios, posted on the Oxford resources website for this book, (www.oup.com/us/thechildrensmusicstudio) to give a more fluid idea of the children’s work in the studios. Music Studio Documentations—Three-year-olds Music Studios I—Three-year-olds Studio 1 (Three-year-olds)

Adult-proposed Music Materials—Tempo Provocation— In what ways can we make music faster and slower? Resources: Small glockenspiels, assorted percussion instruments, metronome, flashlights that blink, puppets, pictures of fast and slow things, fast and slow music, iPad with music and drawing applications.

Video 6.1

Documentation This studio commenced by inviting the children to explore fast and slow music. I did not assume the children would understand what I was introducing, so I decided to demonstrate the metronome and how the beats can get faster or slower. I began by setting it to a medium fast ticking sound which had a corresponding blinking light. I showed the children how to turn the wheel on the metronome in order to make the sound and light go slower or faster, and placed it on the table, still ticking, for them to explore. The children, however, were more interested in playing instruments and ran immediately to play on the glockenspiels. With a mallet in each hand, the children occasionally would align with the still ticking metronome beat. They stayed engaged in making music on the glockenspiels for quite a long time. I asked what their fast song was about and Coral said “Hippos playing.” The children continued playing music by experimenting with different ways of using the mallets. Some of the children had two mallets in one hand, while others used multiple mallets on the glockenspiel, creating faster patterns of sound. As they experimented, a number of children discovered that they could remove the sound bars from the glockenspiels and begin arranging the bars on the rug. One of the children began striking the loose bars on the rug, and to my astonishment, they sounded beautifully! In my adult mind I would have never thought to even consider this idea, but it was truly brilliant.

Figure 6.2

Playing xylophones

Figure 6.3

Deconstructed instrument

As time progressed, the children begin exploring other materials in the studio. Coral, for example, noticed that her light-up sneaker shoes were flashing like the metronome. Josh used a blinking flashlight to “play” the teeth of the alligator puppet. Coral shifted from paying attention to her flashing sneaker to using her voice to accompany the monkeys dancing fast and slow. Tyler asked if he could play with my iPad that I was using to record their work. Unfortunately, because it was at the end of the studio time, I had to tell him that he could explore my iPad the next time we were in the studio.

Studio Reflection Notes

It’s clear that the children made connections between hearing fast and slow sounds, and creating fast and slow movements within the context of making music. Because the Reggio approach encourages the artist/teacher to make personal reflections on how she could improve the studio experience, after reflecting on this particular studio, I note that I could provide children scarves and ribbons that might possibly stimulate them to engage in dance and dramatic play to enhance their understanding of tempo. Studio 2 (Three-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Tempo Provocation— In what ways can we make music faster and slower? Resources: Small glockenspiels, assorted percussion instruments, metronome, flashlights that blink, ribbons and scarves, puppets, pictures of fast and slow things, fast and slow music, iPad with music and drawing applications.

Video 6.2

Figure 6.4

Monkey puppets

Figure 6.5

Picnic on the grass

Documentation Following up on my reflections from the previous studio, I introduced the same materials, but added the scarves and ribbons. Again, the children immediately started playing the glockenspiels, but I noticed that Coral was drawn to the bag of scarves. After playing the instruments for a while, Coral grabbed the bag of scarves invited the other children to have a “picnic on the grass.” She carefully laid out scarves on the carpet, which she imagines are the different vegetables in the garden. Tyler joined her on the imaginary picnic, while Josh became interested in the metronome and turned the tempo up to fast. The faster tempo seems to inspire the children to become interested in playing instruments, this time the drums, cymbals, tambourines, and

other percussion instruments. After playing fast and loud percussive music, Tyler remarked there was “too much stuff.” I began to sense that they might need a shift toward a calmer activity, so I asked the children if they would like to make fast and slow drawings with the iPad, and they all agreed. Each child then took turns making fast/slow drawings using the application Kids Doodle. This application allows digital “finger painting,” which can be played back as a movie at different speeds. I showed the children their drawings played back at both fast and slow tempos.

Studio Reflection Notes The children engaged in many explorations, but they seemed to get overstimulated with playing the louder instruments at fast tempos. I may have provided too many resources at once, especially since Tyler told me so—“too much stuff.” I make notes that in the future I will try to use fewer objects and instruments. The children were also very interested and engaged with the Kids Doodle iPad application. It’s clear that in the next studio, I will continue to use this application, and encourage them to expand on that experience. Studio 3 (Three-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Tempo Provocation— In what ways can we make music faster and slower? Resources: Small glockenspiels, iPad with Kid’s Doodle movies, projector.

Video 6.3

Figure 6.6

Kids Doodle

Documentation This studio began by projecting on a wall previously recorded movies of the children’s finger paintings using an app on the iPad called Kid’s Doodle. Each child was then given access to a glockenspiel and was invited to play music while watching their own finger paintings on the Doodle movie, which they created at the last studio. In the interest of not having “too much stuff,” the only instruments in this studio are the glockenspiels. The children are invited to play music to accompany the fast/slow movies. The children were very engaged in the visuals and enjoyed playing the glockenspiels as they were watching their projected movies. At one point, Coral said “too loud,” as she observed that the children were striking the bars quite hard with their mallets. I also noted a direct correlation, when the fast movies were

being shown, the children responded with fast instrument playing and laughed hysterically saying, “It’s so funny.” In the second phase of this studio, the children discovered that they could make shadows on the wall by blocking the light projection with their bodies and instruments.

Figure 6.7

Fast slow movie playing

Figure 6.8

Shadows on the wall

Toward the end of the studio, the children asked if they could make some additional fast and slow drawings on the iPad. Coral described her new drawing, which emphasized slow tempo, as looking like a “snail.”

Studio Reflection Notes The children enjoyed seeing their drawings projected on the wall as movies. The fast music was very exciting and “funny” to the children, while the slow music appeared to them as more calm and serious. The children seemed to make an emotional connection between tempi and affect. It was very clear that the children really enjoyed the shadow play with the projector; I noted that I would consider adding shadow play to future studios.

Studio 4 (Three-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Rhythm Provocation— How can we “talk” with drums? Resources: Assortment of drums, iPad with the Monkey Drum application.

Video 6.4

Figure 6.9

Drums, drums, drums

Documentation I staged this studio by proposing to the children that they can ask and answer questions with their drums. The children seemed to understand this concept and readily explored different ways of “talking” with their drums. Some of the children immediately described their mode of expression as being like “big talking,” or “fast talking,” and “crazy talking.”

The children explored the drums for about ten minutes. I then asked the children if they would like to play the Monkey Drum application on the iPad. This music app game uses a call-andresponse format where the child plays a pattern on the monkey’s drum and then the monkey responds with the same rhythmic pattern the child just performed. The children are very enthusiastic and engaged and they take turns playing the game. Coral exclaimed the Monkey is “silly” when he talks back. Interestingly, the children decided to abandon the Monkey Drum game and return to exploring the drums. At this point in the studio we all played the drums together, “talking” at the same time, and then explored playing the drums in unusual ways. Coral played stacked drums on top of other drums and Joshua and Tyler played drums with their feet.

Studio Reflection Notes The children seemed to understand that the drums “talked” and had things to say. I was surprised that children found playing “real” instruments was as, or more, interesting to them than a fun iPad game with stimulating graphics and rewards. Studio 5 (Three-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Rhythm Provocation— How can we “talk” with the keyboard? Resources: Electronic keyboard set to play non-pitched percussion sounds, iPad with the Monkey Drum application.

Video 6.5

Figure 6.10

Monkey Drum

Figure 6.11

Talking keyboard

Documentation I proposed to the children that they could make the piano “talk.” Each of the children took turns exploring the percussive sounds on the keyboard. I asked Coral what her piano was saying when it talked, but she said, “I don’t know.” Coral and Tyler then decided to play at the same time but got tired of that activity. They both requested to play the Monkey Drum game again. Meanwhile Joshua continued to play on the keyboard and he eventually discovered how to change the piano sounds. When other children observed Joshua’s discovery, they abandoned the Monkey Drum game and joined Joshua at the keyboard. At the conclusion of the studio, Joshua reported that he heard a “dinosaur” talking through the keyboard.

Studio Reflection Notes The children were clearly interested in the sounds emanating from the piano. They seemed to understand that the piano was “talking” with different sounds, but I noticed that they did not seem to explore the rhythmic aspects of the sounds. Instead, the children preferred the Monkey Drum application, and it was quite apparent that they particularly enjoyed the reward aspects of the game. This game monitors the number of call-and-response patterns that are performed, and when a threshold is reached, the animated monkey eats a banana in a funny way. Of all the children in this studio, Joshua was most interested in the piano sounds. In fact, he was the only child able to verbalize what the piano was talking about, and for him, it was speaking about a “dinosaur.” Perhaps the combination of scary sounds and rhythmic stomping sounds led him to that conclusion? Since I recorded the music that Joshua was playing when he made the dinosaur comment, I considered using this music as a part of the next studio. Studio 6 (Three-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Rhythm Provocation— Dinosaur Movie Resources: Recording of Joshua’s “dinosaur” keyboard music, iPad projection of a prehistoric jungle, plastic dinosaur figures.

Video 6.6

Figure 6.12

Dinosaur movie

Documentation I proposed to the children that we could make a dinosaur movie to go with the music Joshua made in the previous studio. In the studio was a LCD projection of a dinosaur swamp on the wall and the children had a variety of plastic dinosaurs to choose from to use in the movie. The children held their dinosaurs up against the projected images, discovering that their dinosaurs made shadow shapes. The children laughed hysterically as they moved the dinosaurs around the projection to the dinosaur music soundtrack. Tyler said, “This is too funny for me, Wendell.” The children improvised dinosaur movements to the music for about ten minutes. At this point, I posed a question: What should happen in their dinosaur movie? Joshua and Tyler replied by saying

the dinosaurs should “walk and fly.” In contrast, Coral said, “They are sleepy dinosaurs.” Joshua and Tyler’s dinosaurs “climb[ed] the trees and then fall down” and Tyler’s dinosaur “ate all the leaves.” Coral wanted to do a scene where the dinosaurs “turn on the breakfast lights and eat breakfast.”

Studio Reflection Notes The children were very engaged with thinking of creative ideas for their dinosaur movie scenes. The children seemed to be aware that the music had a particular affect and tone, which colored the scenes they were creating. The children were highly engaged and obviously had a lot of fun in this studio. Music Studio Documentations—Four-year-olds Music Studios II—Four-year-olds Studio 1 (Four-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Dynamics Provocation— How can we make loud and soft music? Resources: Loud and soft instruments, pictures with loud and soft things, loud and soft music, Bluetooth speaker, drawing materials.

Video 6.7

Figure 6.13

Loud soft instrument playing

Documentation I proposed to the children that they could explore soft and loud music making. In this studio, I made available a large variety of soft and loud instruments. I also utilized an iPod connected to a Bluetooth speaker, allowing the children to choose from a playlist of soft and loud music.

Figure 6.14

Sound wave drawing

The children immediately gravitated to the louder music choices and began exploring playing instruments. Seegar, an inquisitive boy, decided he would draw a picture of the loud sounds. His drawing depicted a large squiggly line and he was not shy in announcing that is indeed what a loud sound would look like. Later, Seegar decides to draw smaller, squiggly lines for the soft sounds, in contrast to giant squiggly lines for “super loud” sound. As the studio progressed, children shift to playing softer music. They found the softer instruments in the room and enjoyed playing softly along with the music. Olivia declared, “The soft music is like a wiggle and the loud music makes a tiger sound.” Seegar followed, “Pencils are good for tapping quiet sounds,” then said, “The faster I rub the sand blocks the louder the sound.” Olivia was not so happy with Seegar’s choices and he interrupted him, “Stop playing so loud, I

can’t talk!” Finally, Majda, who had been quiet for some time, chimed in, “The big drum is like a stomp and the little cymbals are like icepacks on my face.”

Studio Reflection Notes The children made some astute observations about musical dynamics. The fact that Seegar’s father is a science professor might be why he drew sound waves to explain loud and soft music but I am not sure. Clearly, all the children showed they understood the relationship between their actions in playing the instruments and the sounds they produced. Soft playing was gentle and careful, and loud playing was energetic, fast and forceful. Studio 2 (Four-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Dynamics Provocation— How can we make loud and soft music? Resources: Loud and soft instruments, puppets, loud and soft music, Bluetooth speaker.

Video 6.8

Figure 6.15

Majda puppet show

Documentation I proposed to the children that we move outdoors so we could have more space for playing music without disturbing others. In addition to the instruments, for this studio I designated an area for puppet play. The children started exploring the music speaker and instruments immediately. Seegar and Olivia explored ways to play instruments in a cooperative manner, while Majda moved to the puppet area and created a monkey show. After ten minutes, Olivia and Majda combined creative movement with playing instruments. Seegar also became very interested in ways that he could play multiple instruments at the same time. Another discovery in this studio was that the children experimented with different instruments and movement that expressed and

matched different dynamic levels of the music. For example, when the children played softer music, it inspired creative movement, along with careful and gentle exploration of instrument sounds. Majda even became disturbed when Olivia played the large cymbal next to her ears during the softer music. Majda scolded her, “Do it quietly!” At the end of the studio time the children requested to play a hiding game and I told them we could do that next time.

Studio Reflection Notes The children showed artistic sensitivity to different dynamic levels of music. During the louder music-making, the children worked cooperatively to play multiple instruments and added creative movement. Children were also sensitive to each other’s explorations, often joining in each other’s music-making. I made note that they requested to play a hiding game and considered how this might be added into the next studio. Studio 3 (Four-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Timbre Provocation— What does a sound “sound” like? Resources: Variety of instruments, children’s book about sounds, iPad applications (Sound Box, Kids Doodle, Toca Band, Monkey Drum).

Video 6.9

Figure 6.16

Multiple instrument playing Seegar

Documentation I proposed to the children that we might play a hiding game where one child would hide and secretly play an instrument, while the others would guess what was making that sound. When the secret sound was played I asked the guesser “what does that sound ‘sound’ like?” Majda heard the shaker and she said, “It sounds like beans.” Olivia played the glockenspiel and Majda said, “Ah, the rainbow—it sounds like a xylophone.” Majda suggested, “Why don’t the kids play the sounds and you guess?” and so the children played multiple instruments and I responded with descriptive responses for what the sounds sounded like and then guessed the instrument names.

Figure 6.17

Instrument hiding game

Figure 6.18

Sound box

For the next activity, I read a children’s storybook and asked the children to use their voices to make the sound effects to accompany the story. After the story, Olivia exclaimed, “Let’s try something new on your iPad.” In response, I showed the children the application Sound Box, which allows children to choose and explore different timbres to accompany the animations. The children explored the Sound Box application, but they got even more curious, asking what other sorts of applications that I had on my iPad. I decided to show them the Kids Doodle application; they drew finger paintings on the screen while I interpreted their drawings by changing the timbre of my voice. Olivia declared, “I think that’s crazy talk.” The children requested to play with a different iPad application. This time, I introduced them to Toca Band. This application is useful as it allows the children to explore layering timbres to create sound

compositions. Finally, the studio concluded with children playing with the Monkey Drum application. This application, in addition to call and response rhythmic activities, allowed the children to choose instruments—pianos, drums, horns, and so on—played by different animals.

Studio Reflection Notes It seemed difficult for the children to describe “what a sound sounds like,” yet it was very easy for them to match the instrument sounds to the correct instrument. The multiple iPad applications that the children used seemed easy for them to understand and they really enjoyed exploring timbre with these technologies. I begin to wonder if the children were encouraged to think of sound as a color, whether they might be more able to express what a sound sounds like. Studio 4 (Four-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Timbre Provocation— What color is the sound? Resources: Variety of instruments, watercolor paints, brushes and paper. Bluetooth speaker and playlist of the children’s favorite music selections.

Video 6.10

Documentation This time I offered the children an activity where they would be able to choose colors to match the timbre of instrumental sounds. I asked the children how different colors made them feel. Red was “mad” for Majda and Olivia, while for Seegar, red made him feel “hot.” Yellow made Seegar feel “a little bit hot” and green made Seegar feel “cold.” For Majda, green felt like “having fun.” Blue made Majda feel like it was “snowing.” First I played the drum and invited the children to paint the sound color of the drum. Seegar painted the drum sound “hot—red,” Olivia and Majda painted the sound “purple-happy.” I then played the cymbal, which sounded “blue-happy” to Olivia, “blue-scared” to Majda and “yellow–a little bit scary” to Seegar. The last instrument I played

was the ratchet, which sounded “purple-happy” to Majda and Seegar, and “yellow-mad” to Olivia.

Figure 6.19

Sound water colors

Figure 6.20

Music water colors Seegar black

The children then requested to make sound-color paintings to recordings of their favorite songs. They asked me to play, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” While I was trying to find this song on my iTunes playlist, the children began to sing on their own as they waited. Majda made up her own words: “Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you ate for breakfast” and everyone giggled. I finally found the song and clicked on it: “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star …” and the children began painting to the music’s color. Seegar chose black for his “Twinkle” drawing. Majda chose red and painted a “walking heart.” Olivia chose purple and drew a star. Since this studio took place outdoors, the children happened to notice that there were dark clouds moving in and someone voiced that it might rain soon. Olivia came up with a timely idea; she requested to paint the song, “It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is

snoring.” As I looked for this recording on my iTunes playlist, Seegar began to sing variations on a rain song: “Rain, rain, come again and don’t go away,” “Rain, rain, come again right now, right now, now,” “Rain, rain don’t go away another day,” “Rain, rain come again another way.” When I found and played the rain song, I noticed that as she listened, Olivia used her paintbrush to splat brush marks on her paper, which coordinated exactly with the beat of the music. Seegar continued to paint black on his picture and was intensely engaged in the painting, but when I asked him why he chose black for both the star song and the rain song, he didn’t respond.

Studio Reflection Notes With regards to this particular studio, I felt that the children definitely made connections between sounds, colors, and feelings with the watercolors. However, I never expected the children to freely express their feelings and ideas through unprompted singing and lyric variations of songs. I wonder if this spontaneous occurrence might be due to the fact that the children did not feel any pressure to sing? Perhaps since they had a focusing activity, painting, they were more relaxed and not as self-conscious about singing? I made note of this for future studios where children might be working with expressing music through singing. Studio 5 (Four-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Melody Provocation— How can we make music with water? Resources: Glass jars, pitcher of water, mallets, boomwackers, glockenspiels.

Video 6.11

Documentation Like the previous studio, I proposed to the children to conduct this studio outdoors. I set up an area with several jars filled with water at varied levels. I demonstrated how to play the musical water jars, while singing along with the three-pitch song Olivia sang in the last

studio, “It’s raining it’s pouring, the old man is snoring.” I then invited the children to use the jars and water to make up their own songs. Seegar thought all the jars should be filled with water and “tested.” This involved pouring water from one jar to the next. I asked the children how they are going to make a song, and Seegar replied, “I don’t know yet.” Majda decided to play on one jar by herself and said, “I will make a song.”

Figure 6.21

Jars and glockenspiels

Figure 6.22

Jars and boomwackers

Eventually most of the water was spilled out on the ground so there was no more water to “test” the jars. The girls noticed the boomwackers in a different area and decided to use them to accompany their singing of the “Old Man is Snoring” song. Seegar joins them and explores different methods for playing the boomwackers. The children found many ways to explore the melody materials in the studio. Olivia played the glockenspiel and sang and Majda filled the jars with water again and improvised a new song. At one point all the children joined together and played “Jingle Bells” with jars and boomwackers.

Studio Reflection Notes

Throughout this studio experience the children discovered that they could play songs with the instruments and water jars. The children also demonstrated that they were comfortable using instrumental melodic patterns to accompany their singing. They also enjoyed playing and performing individually, as well as collaboratively in group performances. I did not feel that the children made a strong conceptual connection between the amount of water in the jar and the pitch that the jar produced, nor did they seem to notice that the longer boomwacker tubes and longer glockenspiel bars made lower sounds compared to the shorter tubes and bars, which made higher sounds. Studio 6 (Four-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Melody Provocation— How can we make music with water? Materials: Glass jars, pitcher of water, mallets, boomwackers, glockenspiels.

Video 6.12

Documentation This studio built on the previous studio. I began by inviting the children to continue making music with the water jars and other instruments outdoors. The children began by creating a variety of stirring, shaking, rubbing, and what they described as “ding-dong” sounds with the water jars. The children excitedly talked about the differences in pitch between the water jars. Proud of his insight, Seegar shared with the rest of the children, “This sound is higher in pitch because there is no water in it.” After exploring the jars for five minutes or so, the children transitioned to another table to play the rainbow-colored glockenspiels. While most of the children simply played their instruments, Olivia was an exception. She steped forth to share a song that she made up, and began singing, “Big red, small red, big red and small red” as she accompanied herself on the lower and higher octave of the C bars on the glockenspiel. Olivia intuitively grasped the concept of octaves by hitting the matching red colorcoded bars on glockenspiels and singing the corresponding high and

low pitches at the same time. After Olivia announced her discovery, I then asked the children why there might be two red bars. Seegar informed the group, “Because this red sounds like this (striking the larger red bar), and this red, striking the smaller red bar, sounds like this!” Majda decided to take some of the bars off and put them back on in a different order. The other children thought this was a great idea and joined in deconstructing and reconstructing their instruments. Olivia explored, using a loose bar to strike the bars on her instrument. Seegar gathered the bars together on the metal table, jostled them, and struck the cluster with his mallets creating an interesting effect.

Figure 6.23

Jars on table

Figure 6.24

Bars on the table

Figure 6.25

Running dance

Olivia joined Majda in playing a duet and Olivia said their music was the “sound of running.” Olivia then began to run on the grass as Majda played the “running song.” The children collectively decided they should all participate in the “running dance.” Seegar said, “I’ll make the music” for the running dance and gathered up all the loose bars and piled them on the metal table. Then Seegar changed his mind and said, “How about I run and you, Wendell, make the music?” Seegar instructed me how he wanted me to strike the piled-up bars with a mallet. As the children ran to the music, they made up movement variations such as the “hopping dance,” “flying dance,” “zoom dance,” and “bat dance” and even used their jackets as “wings.” During the music movement sequence, Seegar intermittently ran over and instructed me how to play the music differently for the dance

variations. For the last set of variations he asked me to change from playing the glockenspiel bar clusters to instead playing the water jars.

Studio Reflection Notes The children were extremely creative in finding interesting ways to play instruments and water jars. They clearly understood that size, and relative color, of the glockenspiel bars relate to the sound it produces. The children also were able to grasp that the amount of water in the jar correlates with its pitch. Armed with this new conceptual discovery, they readily made up songs and dances related to the music sounds that they were producing. Again, the collaborative dimension of the studio was evident as the children followed each other’s ideas with enthusiasm yet also felt free to create independently. Studio 6 (Four-year-olds) Adult-proposed Music Materials—Texture Provocation— Garage Band Music Resources: Garage Band application, iPad, projector

Video 6.13

Figure 6.26

Drum set

Documentation For this studio, I proposed to the children to play virtual instruments using Garage Band to create a layered composition. We started by playing the virtual drum set. One child would play on the iPad while the rest of the children watched with fascination, making suggestions on which variations of drums and cymbals should be played. After about five minutes on drums, I showed the children how to play the other instruments such as the virtual guitar, bass, strings, piano, and singing into the microphone and they took turns playing. While showing the virtual guitar, Seegar and Majda stood in front of the project and said, “Look, we are guitars! You can play us.”

Figure 6.27

Look we are guitars!

Figure 6.28

Dancing projections

Seegar asked, “But can we choose lots of them?” “Yes,” I told him, “but we have to record one instrument at a time.” Seegar selected the microphone first to record, but was hesitant, and not quite sure what to say. Majda also selected the microphone and tested it by saying, “Hello, hello, hello.” Olivia suggested to Majda that she might try singing “la, la, la, la” instead but all that was recorded was Majda’s “hello, hello, hello.” Olivia added guitar to the Majda’s “hello, hello, hello” track and Seegar added a piano track. The final layered composition was played back for the children and they spontaneously danced to their collectively recorded creation, by creating shadows on the walls through the LCD projector’s lights.

Reflections

The children were somewhat overwhelmed at first by the intensity of the bright projection in a small dark room. It took some time for the children to adjust to the lighting, but once they were able to do so, they were highly engaged in each other’s music-making. The projection made using the technology a shared experience instead of huddling around one small device. The children seemed to have an understanding of how recording one track upon another track created a textured composition.

Conclusions Regarding Working in Reggioinspired Studios The international study group tour in Reggio Emilia proved invaluable for gaining first-hand observations as to how the Reggio approach works in actual practice. In addition, this experience provided insights into how Reggio-inspired music studios could be applied for children’s musical learning. The Reggio educators, however, made it very clear that their approach in Reggio Emilia, Italy, was not a model that could simply be copied by others. The style and approach to learning in their schools was a direct reflection of the unique culture of the citizens of their town and their schools. It was reiterated many times that educators who come to study the infant and preschools in Reggio Emilia can, indeed, be inspired by the school’s practices; their approach works because it is grounded in the local culture. With that in mind, my applications of the music studio were adapted to resonate with my own school and community in San Francisco, California. In retrospect I found the deep immersion of spending time in the Reggio schools to be uniquely rewarding and I continue to explore new ideas for working with children in Reggio-inspired music environments. Since the use of music, to the extent that art has been emphasized, is so new—there is much we have yet to learn regarding the potential of Reggio-inspired music studios in practice.

7 A Theoretical Music Learning Framework While it is important to follow the interests and ideas of children, the studio teacher must at the same time instruct children in musical skills and techniques. In the visual arts discipline, children utilize physical materials to create works of art. Similarly, in the musical arts studio the musician-teacher also guides artistic learning through the use of musical “materials” and techniques unique to music. In his book, This Is Your Brain on Music, musician and neurologist Daniel Levitin describes how almost every area of the brain lights up like a “neuronal symphony” when we engage with music (Levitin, 2011). Indeed, our musical brains involve extensive neural systems (Hodges, 2000) and we don’t often realize the complex coordination of neural activities occurring in our brains because music is such an enjoyable experience (Menon and Levitin, 2005; Zatorre, 2015). A music-learning framework acts as a type of roadmap to assist in creating music experiences for the studio. A framework might at first appear similar to a sequential curriculum but that is not its purpose. The purpose of a framework is to provide the musician-teacher with a conceptual map to help guide music learning experiences for children. Having a framework is important because musical processes are neuronally extensive and quite complex. From the children’s perspective, however, the experience of music is simply the song they sing, the dance they dance and the emotions they feel in the music. Even for the youngest of children, music is a natural, organic and meaningful experience, “held in threedimensional abstractions of shape, sound and rhythm” (Young, 2005). In addition, music is a social experience, a cultural ritual, enjoyed with

others (Stern, 1999). Socially constructed, musical experiences reflect both individual perspectives as well as shared meanings that occur in the moment. When children are hearing music in their minds, touching and playing instruments, moving their bodies to music, resonating their vocal cords with others, they are sharing a special somatic, multi-modal musical experience but it is so enjoyable that they do not feel like they are formally learning a curriculum.

Music Materials As shown in Table 7.1, materials such as pitch, rhythm, harmony and form are some of the basic building blocks for developing a “vocabulary” in the medium of music. Table 7.1 Selected Materials of Music Beat Pitch Recurrent throb or Highness or lowness of a pulse sound

Dynamics Degrees of loudness and softness

Rhythm Melody Patterns of long and Succession of pitches short durational values

Tempo Speed of the music

Form Overall design or structure of a musical work

Harmony Two or more pitches sounded simultaneously

Timbre Characteristic tone quality of the sound

Texture Relationships between various temporal aspects (i.e., meter, rhythmic intensity, syncopation, crossrhythms)

Texture Relationships between various spatial aspects (i.e., tonality, modulation, polyphony, homophony, consonance, and dissonance)

Texture Relationships between various expressive aspects (i.e., soft + fast = small frantic, raspy + slow = grumpy old, loud + crash = startled scared)

The term dynamics refers to the volume of music. Louder music is generally perceived as more exciting and energizing, while softer music is felt as calming and relaxing. If music is too loud, it can startle children. Softer volumes can calm children and draw in their attention. Throughout time and in all cultures, lullabies have been sung to infants—creating a special bond between baby and adult. Silence,

which is really the absence of sound, could also be considered an aspect of dynamics. Indeed, the use of sound and silence in music gives a sense of expectancy and excitement. Freeze games and musical chairs are examples of musical activities that use sound and silence together and are highly engaging for young children. Tempo refers to the speed of the music. The tempo of music is measured by how many “beats,” or pulses, occur per minute. For example, music with a reoccurring beat pulse which is one second long is measured by a metronome as ♩=60 beats per minute (within one minute there are exactly sixty even beat pulses). Faster tempi are generally exciting and stimulating to children, but they can also overstimulate. Slower tempi can help children concentrate on tasks but are not as engaging. It is thought that the closer the beat of music is to the heart rate of the child, the more the child will be responsive to the music. Using a combination of different tempi is considered best practice when selecting music for children. Timbre is the characteristic sound quality or “color” of music. It’s the “shiny bright” sound of the flute or the “round warm” sound of a baritone horn. Timbre is created through the scientific acoustical phenomenon of unfolding partials in a “spectral envelope.” Children, however, easily differentiate this complex process, because children have excellent abilities for discriminating and responding to even subtle differences in sound quality. Starting in infancy, children enjoy listening, producing, and experimenting with a wide variety of sound sources. The steady pulse underlying music is called the beat. The beat in music measures time in equal pulses, from the beginning to the end of a music piece. We rely on the beat as the measuring tool for estimating relative durations of sounds and silence. The way beats are grouped and emphasized in music is referred to as the meter. Meter provides an important affect in the overall momentum of a piece of music. The youngest of children will naturally, without any prompting, move to the recurring pulse and meter of the music. It is this rhythmicity in music that brings people together into shared social and cultural identities (Young, 2005). Rhythm is one of the most central and important aspects of music. Rhythm consists of varying durations of sounds and silences.

Repeating rhythmic patterns are usually perceived as reassuring, whereas unexpected rhythmic patterns stimulate interest and create surprise. Ultimately, it is most satisfying when combinations of expected and unexpected rhythmic patterns are heard. One can imagine form as the musical architecture of a piece of music. How does the music begin? How does it end? What happens in between? The form, or the spatial layout of a composition consists of smaller units, such as phrases and themes, which repeat or contrast, and add unity and variety to the music. Young children best understand form through movement activities such as finger play, singing games and dances. Visual representation, such as music “maps,” puppet shows, and visual animations of music, are also helpful for children’s understanding of musical form. Differentiating between the “highness” and “lowness” of a sound is known as the pitch. Exploring pitch separately from melody allows children to develop sensitivity to expressive possibilities in music such as melodic contour, stepwise motion, wide leaps, and the rising and falling of musical phrases in music. Pitch exploration also helps children discover their singing voices and a range of expressive vocal abilities. Melody is the tune we know and remember. Viewed in written form, melody is seen as a horizontal line that moves higher, lower, or stays the same. As a melody rises and falls, it develops a shape and melodic personality through the interrelationships of pitches. Children will most easily understand melody simply as the song. Texture in music is created by the interactions between musical elements and how those elements are layered upon each other. Textural elements can include various aspects of music like the number of instruments or voices, timbre, tempo, rhythm, and the type of harmony that is created. There are many interrelationships between musical elements that create a large variety of musical textures. For instance, a symphony orchestra might be considered a “thick” texture when compared to the thinner texture of a guitar and flute duet. The timbre of baritone horn is richer than a trumpet’s, and a cello’s timbre is darker than a violin’s. Fast tempos can feel lighter then slow tempos. Complex rhythms may appear busy when compared with simple, repeated rhythms. Dissonant harmonies often

feel edgy and uncomfortable, where as consonant harmonies are engaging and enjoyable. The musical materials shown in Table 7.1 were selected to represent aspects of music that might most easily be understood by young children. There are certainly more aspects of music that could be added or subtracted and you are encouraged to do so when constructing your own framework. Table 7.2 Music Studio Processes

Processes in the Music Studio In addition to materials, learning occurs best through various and diverse processes in which children might interact with musical materials. In particular, the processes of responding, performing, creating, and connecting are central to music learning. As shown in Table 7.2, responding is a natural way to start enjoying and participating in music. Musical activities—whether it be singing, playing instruments, moving, drawing, dancing, chanting, or dramatizing—will evoke a natural response in children. For example, if children hear lively music they might naturally respond by dancing. If an adult plays a guitar, children might respond by choosing instruments to jam along. If several children dress up in firefighter clothes and hats, this could inspire some children to respond by making siren sound effects as they join in to take off in their imaginary fire truck. When these musical responses are appreciated, and in turn, reciprocated by adults in musical ways, children learn that their responses are valued. The process of responding is a natural and spontaneous way of interacting with musical materials. Performing occurs when we wish to purposefully entertain in musical ways. Singing, playing instruments, moving, dancing,

speaking, and dramatizing are just a few possible ways that children may choose to perform. These performances differ from responses in that they are intentional—that is, they are creative interpretations of musical works—not simply spontaneous responses to artistic materials. Creating is a third way of engaging with music and employs considerable imaginative skills. Children might create songs, compositions, plays, movies, expressive movements, dances, puppet shows, or stories with musical effects. Creative products differ from performances. Whereas performances involve engaging children in generating creative interpretations of musical works, creative products are original productions that can be replicated by others, or preserved as artifacts. Ample studio time should be allocated to planning and practicing these creative products. Connecting is a process that links together creative thought with personal meaning. Children make connections between their thoughts and feelings and the artistic representations in which they are engaged. During many musical experiences important internal connections between the music activities and a child’s personal life may occur. These connections are often complex, involving an interweaving of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Connections that children make while working with music materials are just as important as any products they produce. Asking children questions about why they have chosen certain ideas for expressing themselves can reveal significant internal connections children are making in their thinking processes.

Learning Modalities: The Affective Modality In addition to music materials and processes, it is important to recognize the different learning modalities in which children may be working. The affective modality involves aspects of music that tap into emotions and feelings—what I refer to as the affective mode. In fact, the experience of music has been considered a heightened aesthetic and affective state (Dissanayake, 2000; Juslin, 2013; Pavlicevic, 1997; Trevarthen, 2000). Musical cognition researchers (Juslin and Sloboda, 2013) found that the limbic system—the emotional and

memory center of our brains—is responsible for processing emotion in music. Also, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have revealed that the affective dimension of music also modulates activity in other brain structures, including the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, hypothalamus, hippocampus, insula, cingulate cortex, and orbito-frontal cortex. Neurologists have been particularly interested in how the modulation of these structures through music could aid in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders (Koelsch, 2014). Many psychologists are now investigating how emotions felt during music experiences can positively affect pain and a variety of neurological disorders (Cochrane, Fantini, and Scherer, 2013; Gabrielsson and Wik, 2003; Johnson-Laird and Oatley, 2008). Future research regarding musical affect might also lead to protocols that promote children’s emotional growth and musical interventions that have the potential of also benefitting children on the autism spectrum (Gebauer, Skewes, Westphael, Heaton, and Vuust, 2014). Affects related to music have been classified into eight categories by Juslin and Sloboda (2013) as: 1) calm-relaxation, 2) happinessjoy, 3) nostalgia-longing, 3) interest-expectancy, 4) pleasureenjoyment, 5) sadness-melancholy, 6) arousal-energy, 7) lovetenderness, 8) pride-confidence. Three of these emotions— happiness, sadness, and fear—are considered to be three “universal” emotions that all people, regardless of cultural background, perceive similarly in music (Fritz et. al., 2009). Early childhood music education researcher Susan Young notes that affective elements of music can cause “dynamic narratives of emotion” in young children (Young, 2005, p. 298). In addition, music in the classroom could also serve as a tool for emotional self-regulation for children with special needs or emotional and behavioral difficulties (Bartz, 2014; Foran, 2009; Hallam and Price, 1998). The materials of music that are particularly affective are dynamics (volume), tempo (speed), and timbre (sound color). When used in various ways, these elements provoke particular emotions and sensations. The reasons for this may be evolutionary in nature. The human sense of hearing has evolved to detect fine difference in sounds for survival reasons. The brain, because it can remember sounds, can also remember important events associated with those

sounds. Our early ancestors developed a keen sense of hearing in order to detect suspicious sounds and movements in the wild. Indeed, when a dubious sound is heard, it is human nature to stop everything and turn in the direction of the sound. By listening carefully, we alert ourselves to possible danger. This may be why silence can be uncomfortable for many people. Silence, perhaps, subconsciously reminds us to listen for danger. It might explain why a mother gently hums or sings to her infant in order to calm her. In any case, our human ability to detect subtle differences in sounds is present in the youngest of children. In fact, the affective modality of music communicates meaning without the need for referential words. For instance, slow music is typically perceived as relaxing, fast music as exciting, loud music as scary, soft as soothing, a flute sounds pretty, a tuba funny, or an electric guitar sounds cool.

Learning Modalities: The Temporal Modality Music has a structure based on elements of temporality. Like a story, music has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Music is created from durations of sounds and silences. A steady pulse measures these durations and is known as the beat in music. When experiencing music in real time, the sense of structure is constantly shifting. In listening to music we retain what has just been heard, and at the same time, project into the future what may come next. In other words, our experience of music is constantly changing within the fabric of time. When we sing, “Twinkle, twinkle little star,” the memory of that phrase is still held in the moment even as we are singing, “How I wonder what you are.” While we pay attention to what is happening “now,” we are still remembering what “was” in the music. Yet we are also anticipating what “may” be coming as each moment is shifting. This temporal experiencing is a unique and wonderful aspect of music.

Learning Modalities: The Spatial Modality The term spatial conveys the idea of the relative distances between melodic elements in a piece of music. The spatial aspects of music

are vertical as well as horizontal. A single pitch vibrates at a specific frequency that can be scientifically reduced to a measurement called hertz (Hz). Some pitches vibrate faster and are thereby perceived as a higher pitch and others vibrate at slower frequencies and are perceived as lower sounds. For instance, what we refer to as concert A, the tuning pitch for an orchestra, is 440 Hz, or in other words, is a sound wave vibrating 440 times in one minute. A series of pitches creates a horizontal melodic contour and becomes the melody, or tune, we recognize. In contrast to this horizontal structure, when two pitches are heard together, simultaneously, a vertical structure is heard, which we call harmony. The relationship between pitches, melodies, and harmonies creates musical texture. Some textures are consonant and others are dissonant. Musical texture is perceived as smooth when pitches move together in a homogeneous fashion. Musical texture is perceived as rougher when pitches move in many different directions and at differing times. The interrelationship between pitches, melodically and harmonically, creates a myriad of complex and interesting possibilities of sonorities.

An Integrative Framework for the Music Studio As shown in Table 7.3, the complete framework combines music materials and modalities with music processes. The integrative framework can be used as a type of scope and sequence to guide the studio teacher in proposing a variety of experiences that can provide both breadth and depth. As children spend time working with musical materials, as well as exploring different processes, their understanding of how to use particular elements of music as unique forms of expression deepens. Like an artisan honing their skills at a particular craft, if a child is given ample time and varied experiences working with the materials, they will become comfortable enough to express their ideas and feelings with music and their musical abilities will become a natural part of their communication skill set.

Table 7.3 Theoretical Framework for the Music Studio

The musical materials, modalities, and processes mentioned above comprise only one possible framework for constructing music studio proposals for children. The framework reflects my own ideas and experiences teaching children music. This framework, however, is neither static nor definitive, because any framework that is unchanging would not be considered true to a Reggio-inspired philosophy. The ideas reflected in this framework may or may not resonate with your own style and background as a musician-teacher

and are presented here only to inspire you to generate your own framework based on your ongoing experiences with children. Part III of the book will introduce music studio ideas using the music-learning framework I have introduced in this chapter. These studio proposals are based on my own background and teaching experiences; they are presented as examples of possible ways to use a learning framework in a Reggio-inspired studio. Again, this is a model only and each studio teacher should design their own studio proposals based on the unique interests, personalities, and knowledge base of the children in their own studio setting.

 PART III  Music Studio Proposals The studio proposals outlined in this section are designed to show how particular musical materials can be explored and practiced using the processes of responding, performing, creating, and connecting. These studio proposals are first encounters with specific musical materials and processes, so they are written specifically to illustrate how a studio teacher might carefully guide children’s initial explorations with these materials and then document their work. Because the Reggio approach builds on the documentations of children’s learning experiences, carefully documenting the interests, motivations and discoveries of children are central to developing new studio proposals. As seen un Table 8.1, it is important to note that the studio proposals in the next chapters are not formal lesson plans. Traditional lesson plans have a firm objective and preconceived outcomes. In contrast, in a Reggio-inspired studio, the products and learning insights are not predetermined. After the initial modeling and guidance by the studio teacher, the children take charge and the studio teacher steps back to observe, question, encourage, and document the children’s work. These initial studio proposals are detailed carefully not because they are lesson plans to be followed exactly. They are written to show how one might possibly introduce music materials and processes to the children for the first time. Since young children need and enjoy structure, as well as freedom, these studio proposals reflect both structure and freedom. My background as a professional classical musician and a university music professor has undoubtedly influenced the content of the music studio proposals. Some of these proposals may not fit your musical taste therefore, it is my hope that

your studio proposals will be creatively adapted to fit your varied backgrounds and training and work for your children in your own educational settings. The music studio, after all, is an approach to music learning, not a rigid or dogmatic methodology. Please create an approach inspired by your own musical style and preferences.

8 Music Studio Proposals Responding Dynamics Music Studio—“Draw the Sunrise” Overview

In this studio children will listen to music that depicts a sunrise, and draw the “story” of the music or how the music makes them feel. Space Set-up

An area for children to sit, or a desk space to draw while listening to the music. Resources

1. Audio system and the music “Sunrise” from the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé. 2. Paper and drawing materials. Activity Idea

Children sit on the floor, or at a desk, with drawing materials. We are going to listen to a piece of music that tells the story of a sunrise. You might want to just listen or you might want to both listen and draw a picture at the same time. How does this music about a sunrise make you feel?

Play the music “Sunrise” from the Grand Canyon Suite, allowing the children to listen and quietly draw. After the children have had enough time to listen and draw, ask the children to share their pictures and talk about what they drew.

Let’s look at Mathew’s picture of the sunrise music. What beautiful colors! Why did you choose those colors to tell the story of the musical sunrise? What colors are soft colors and what colors are loud colors? Tell me what is happening in this part of the picture? How did the music made you feel? What parts of your sunrise were the most quiet and most loud? What do others notice about Mathew’s picture? Table 8.1 Studio Proposals: Materials and Processes

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Dynamics Music Studio—“Play and Dance the Sunrise” Overview

In this studio children are encouraged to use instruments, movement, and colored scarves or ribbons to dramatize the dynamics, and/or other musical aspects of a musical “sunrise.” Space Set-up

Area large enough for children to move freely and expressively. Area set up for playing an assortment of instruments. Resources

1. Audio system and the music “Sunrise” from the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé 2. Cymbals, triangles, xylophones, or other available instruments. 3. Colored scarves or ribbons. Activity Idea

Children sit on the floor in a circle. How do you think we could tell the story of a sunrise using instruments, scarves, ribbons, and our bodies? How might we show when the first quiet colors show themselves in the sky? How might we show when the colors are the most loud and colorful? How might we show when the colors disappear because the sun is shining so bright?

Listen, respond, and document the children’s comments, then play the music as they explore instruments and movement ideas. The children may wish to create their own music instead of using the recorded music, and that would be great. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Tempo Music Studio—“Scarf Dancing” Overview

In this studio children will use ribbons and scarves to move to varying musical tempi. Space Set-up

Large space with plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

1. Ribbons or scarves. 2. Audio system and recordings of music with fast, slow, and varied tempi. Some Suggestions: Fast:

La Danza Tarantella—Rossini “Turkish Rondo” (Rondo Alla Turka), mvt. 3 from Piano Sonata in A Major—Mozart “Hoedown” from Rodeo—Aaron Copland Slow:

Nocturne in E-Flat Major—Chopin Gymnopedie No. 3—Erik Satie Moonlight Sonata—Beethoven Sicilienne from Pelleas et Melissande—Gabriel Fauré En Bateau (In a Boat) from Petite Suite—Debussy Varying Tempi

Hungarian Dances—Brahms Activity Idea

Children sit on the floor and choose scarves or ribbons. We are going to listen to a piece of music that moves slowly. Let the scarves or ribbons move in anyway you feel that the music tells you.

After moving to a slow music selection, ask the children,

What kind of dance was your ribbon or scarf doing to the slow music? My dance was like pretty flowers slowly swaying in the wind. What was your dance like?

Listen, respond and document the children’s responses. Now we are going to listen to a piece of music that moves quickly and again you can let the scarves move in any way you feel that the music tells you.

After moving to a fast music selection, ask the children, What kind of dance was your ribbon or scarf doing to the music? My dance was like fast shooting stars. What was your dance like?

Listen, respond, and document the children’s responses. Now we are going to listen to another piece of music, which moves in lots of different ways. Again you can let the scarves move to the music in any way you feel that the music tells you.

After moving to the music ask the children, What kind of dance was your ribbon or scarf doing to the music? My dance was like a princess dance but then it changed to a fire-breathing dragon.

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Tempo Music Studio—“Animal Movements” Overview

In this studio children are invited to use instruments and their bodies to express the walking and running tempi of various animals. Space Set-up

Large space with plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin 2. Drums or other instruments, especially ones that are played with mallets. Activity Idea

Read the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? to the children. After reading the book ask, If a big brown bear were walking in the woods what would his steps sound like? Who can show with their body how the bear might walk in the woods?

Invite the children to repeat, at the tempo that the child moved, the words “brown bear” while patting on their legs as the child (bear) is demonstrating. Ask other children to share their ideas on how fast the brown bear would move and chant and pat back their tempo ideas as they demonstrate. Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a red bird looking at me! Ask the children, If the red bird was flapping her wings, how would they flap?

Invite the children to repeat, at the tempo that the child responded, the words “red bird” while flapping their “wings.” Ask other children to share their ideas on how the red bird would flap her wings and have everyone perform these individual tempo ideas. Further explore the other characters from the book (yellow duck, blue horse, green frog,

purple cat, white dog, black sheep, and goldfish) and perform those tempo ideas. Invite the children, If you would like to choose an instrument we can act out the animal movements and their sounds. Who would like to be a brown bear? Now follow the brown bear’s footsteps with your instrument. If the brown bear moves slow then play your instrument slow, if the brown bear is fast then play your instrument fast. Watch carefully for changes in how the brown bear is moving and follow her speed with your instrument’s speed. How does the way the bear moves fast or slow make you feel?

Ask other children to act out different animal movements and have the other children follow the tempo of each animal’s movements with the speed of their instrument playing. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Timbre Music Studio—“Mystery Sound Boxes” Overview

In this studio children are invited to go outdoors and gather natural materials to create “sound boxes.” Space Set-up

Indoor area with ample table space for collecting and organizing found, natural materials. Resources

1. Small bags for children to collect sound sources. 2. Natural materials found from the outdoors, gathered by the children, such as leaves, rocks, sticks, grass, etc. 3. Empty containers, roughly of the same size, to put “mystery sounds” inside (small boxes, jars, film canisters, to-go boxes etc.). Activity Idea

Tell the children to prepare for going outside to collect sound sources. Today we are going outside to collect things outdoors to make “mystery sound boxes.” You will have small bags to collect things that you find. Only put one type of thing, say rocks or leaves, in one bag. Later, we will put what you collected into containers and play a guessing game by trying to guess what might be making the sounds inside of the containers.

Children can work alone, or in groups, to collect sound sources. After gathering the outdoor materials, guide the children to put them into separate containers and to seal the containers. If you would like, you can mark your containers with a special color or symbol that only you will know to remind you what is inside.

Gather the children in a circle and bring one of the collected sets of “mystery sound boxes” into the circle. Pass around the first box and let each child who is not in the group that collected the materials shake the box and guess what might be inside.

What does it sound like? What do you think might be making the sound inside the box?

After everyone has had a chance to guess, the child(ren) that collected the materials reveal(s) the correct contents of the box. Who guessed it correctly? How did you know? What were the clues that you used?

Continue this activity until all the boxes have been guessed. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Timbre Music Studio—“Puddles” Overview

In this studio children are invited to listen various instrumental timbres and respond with corresponding movements around the theme of imaginary “puddles.” Space Set-up

Large area for creative movement. Resources

1. Pieces of strings approximately 5 feet long, large enough to create a “puddle” on the floor large enough for a child to sit down in. 2. Variety of instruments that can be easily and quickly played by an adult or child. Activity Idea

Invite the children to play a game: Let’s pretend to make “puddles” with strings on the floor. Puddles can be any type of round shape you choose but please make sure your puddle is not too close to other children’s puddles so we have plenty of room to move without bumping into each other. After you make your puddle, see if you can walk around your puddle without touching anyone and if you can, then you have found an excellent place for your puddle.

Play an instrument with a steady pulse, When you hear this sound walk around the outside of your puddle. When the sound stops, freeze (stop walking) and listen for the next sound.

When everyone has “frozen” play a loud abrupt sound like a cymbal crash, Jump into your puddle! (hit cymbal again) Now jump out of your puddle!

Practice jumping in and out of the puddles on the cymbal crashes and alternate with the steady pulse instrument signaling walking around

the puddle. When the children are able to respond to these instrumental sound cues, play a shaking instrument and tell the children, Whenever you hear this sound you can shake all over.

Practice all of the movement responses in varying orders—jumping in and out of puddles, walking around puddles, stopping and freezing, and shaking all over. Try adding new movements such as sitting down and standing back up using a xylophone or slide whistle as a cue for those movements. Use a descending glissando (sliding sound) for sitting down and an ascending glissando cue for the children to stand up. Other instrumental ideas might be a triangle for tiptoe, a large drum for stomping, and a guiro scraping for dragging feet. Ask the children how the different sound/movement combinations made them feel. Which ones were their favorites and why? Invite the children to think of their own movement and sound combinations. Have individuals, or groups, discuss possible sound/movement combinations and then play their sound/movement combinations. Ask the children, What did you like about making up your own games? What sounds and movements did you like the best? Do you have other ideas for more sound/movement combinations we could try?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Beat Music Studio—“Jump Rope Rhymes” Overview

In this studio children are invited to learn and play jump rope rhymes. Space Set-up

Outdoors on a flat surface or indoors in a very large space. It is important that there is plenty of room for one large, or several smaller jump ropes. Resources

Jump ropes. Activity Idea

Children sit on the floor. We are going to learn some rhymes today and then see if we can use them while playing with our jump ropes. To get really good at jumping rope we need to feel the steady beat. Please pat the steady beat on your legs as we practice these rhymes.

Some favorites are CINDERELLA DRESSED IN YELLA Cinderella dressed in yella, Went downstairs to kiss a fella, Made a mistake and kissed a snake. How many doctors did it take? 1, 2, 3, …

TEDDY BEAR, TEDDY BEAR Teddy bear, teddy bear, Turn around. Teddy bear, teddy bear, Touch the ground. Teddy bear, teddy bear, Show your shoe. Teddy bear, teddy bear, That will do.

Teddy bear, teddy bear, Go upstairs. Teddy bear, teddy bear, Say your prayers. Teddy bear, teddy bear, Turn out the light. Teddy bear, teddy bear, Say good night.

ICE CREAM SODA, CHERRY ON THE TOP Ice cream soda, cherry on the top, who’s your boyfriend/girlfriend I forgot A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H [and so on until the person stops jumping]

Pick three or four jump rope rhymes and practice them with the children while patting the legs on the steady beat. After the children know the rhymes and can pat the steady beat, ask the children to move outside or to a larger space so they can play the jump rope games. After the children have played the jump rope games ask them, Which jump rope game was your favorite? Why? What was easy or hard about doing the jump rope games? What are some other ideas for using the jump ropes with the rhymes? What other rhymes could we use or make up?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Beat Music Studio—“Johnny Works with One Hammer” Overview

In this studio children are invited to sing and play the action game “Johnny Works with One Hammer.” Space Set-up

Large space with room for movement. Resources

Voices and bodies. Activity Idea

Invite the children to sit in a circle on the floor with arms and legs extended and begin singing the song with the motions starting with one fist pounding the floor to a steady beat. Children will naturally join you and there is no need to “teach” the game. Johnny works with one hammer, one hammer, one hammer. Johnny works with one hammer, now he works with two.

Now pound both fists on the floor. Johnny works with two hammers, two hammers, two hammers. Johnny works with two hammers, now he works with three.

Now pound both fists and one leg on the floor. Johnny works with three hammers, three hammers, three hammers. Johnny works with three hammers, now he works with four.

Now pound both fists and both legs simultaneously on the floor. Johnny works with four hammers, four hammers, four hammers. Johnny works with four hammers, now he works with five.

Now pound both fists, both legs and add your head, nodding up and down. Johnny works with five hammers, five hammers, five hammers. Johnny works with five hammers, now he goes to sleep! [stop hammering and close your eyes as if you are asleep.]

After the activity is over ask the children, Can you think of any other “hammers” we could use? Are there other body parts you can think of that can make a steady beat? How could we show with our bodies how our new hammers can work?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Rhythm Music Studio—“Rhythm Talk” Overview

In this studio children are invited to use rhythm instruments to talk to each other. Space Set-up

Large space with children sitting in a circle with instruments. Resources

Drums and assorted rhythmic instruments. Activity Idea

Children sit on the floor in a circle. How do you think we could have a conversation without using words? [Discuss with the children.] How could we use music with no words to “talk” to each other? [Discuss with the children.] Invite the children to choose a non-pitched rhythm instrument and practice call and response. I will play a rhythm on my drum—my question—and then you can answer on your instrument. For now, answer back exactly what you heard. Call Response , Call Response Let’s go around the circle, I will ask you a question and you can respond without words. Play many times for “yes” and only once for “no.” Call—Do you like ice cream? Response—Yes! Call—Do you like Brussels sprouts? Response—No! Please find a partner, or small group, and take turns talking and responding with your instruments?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Rhythm Music Studio—“The Magical Forest” Overview

In this studio children are invited to pretend they are in a magical forest where creatures move to specific rhythms. Space Set-up

1. A place for listening to a storybook. 2. Large space with plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

Read The Magic Forest by Alixandra Mullins, a story about forests, giants and magic. Or simply tell the story to the children. Activity Idea

Read a book about, or tell a story about, a magical forest. We are going to play a game about a magical forest. You can be any magical creature you want to be but when you hear the giant’s footsteps, you will only be safe from the giant if you freeze and turn into one of the magic trees of the forest. If you don’t freeze fast enough, and the giant touches you while you are moving, then you will turn into another giant. When you hear this rhythm you are safe to walk through the forest.

Play on a drum or other instrument this rhythm:

.

But when you hear this rhythm, you must freeze and turn into magical trees or the giant(s) will catch you. I can be the first giant but if I touch someone who is moving they will then become the next giant in the game.

After playing the game many times, split children into small groups to decide what other characters and corresponding rhythms could be added to the game. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Form Music Studio—“Draw the Music Story” Overview

In this studio children are invited to listen to the music of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite and draw “scenes” for each selection. Space Set-up

Area for drawing. Resources

1. Art materials for drawing. 2. Audio system and recordings of music from The Nutcracker Suite by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Suggested “scene” music: Act 1, Scene 1 (The Christmas Tree); Act 1, Scene 7 (Battle between the Rat King and Nutcracker); Act 1, Scene 9 (Waltz of the Snowflakes), Act II, Scene 1 (The Magic Castle in the Land of Sweets); Act II, Scene 12 (Coffee); Act II, Scene 12 (Candy Cane), Act II, Scene 13 (Waltz of the Flowers); Act II, Scene 14 (Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) Activity Idea

Invite the children to draw “scenes” of music from The Nutcracker Suite. It may be best to not tell the children the names of the scenes so the pictures have a possibility of being abstract instead of realistic. We are going to listen to different pieces of music that tell stories without words. You may draw a picture of how the music makes you feel or what you think the music is telling a story about.

Ask children to explain their scene after they have drawn it. Give a new piece of paper for each new musical scene. Display each child’s work as a set with descriptions and/or titles as narrated by the child. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Form Music Studio—“Movement Scenes” Overview

In this studio children are invited to use scarves or ribbons to move to music from the The Nutcracker Suite. Space Set-up

Large space with plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

Audio system and recordings of music from the The Nutcracker Suite by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Activity Idea

Invite the children to use the scarves or ribbons to move to the music. You may use the ribbons and scarves to move in anyway you wish to different scenes of music from The Nutcracker.

Video-record their work and later have the children watch the recordings and make comments regarding their work. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Pitch Music Studio—“Ghost Voices” Overview

In this studio children are invited to use their voices to go from high to low in a smooth gliding “ghost voice.” Space Set-up

Children sitting on the floor or in chairs. Resources

Bodies and voices. Activity Idea

In this studio children are invited to sing a song, This song has a part where we make ghost voices from a high pitch down to a low pitch like this (demonstrate). Now everyone try out your “ghost voices.”

Now sing, or chant, the song as mysteriously as possible encouraging the children to join in on the “oo, oo, oo, oo” part of the song. Don’t forget to say the loud boo at the end! There was an old woman all skin and bones, oo, oo, oo, oo. She lived down by the old graveyard, oo, oo, oo, oo. One night she thought she’d take a walk, oo, oo, oo, oo. She saw the bone a-layin’ around, oo, oo, oo, oo. She went to the closet to get a broom, oo, oo, oo, oo, She opened the door and … BOO!

After doing the song several times ask the children, What do you think the old woman saw when she opened the door? What other scary things could have happened? What other scary sounds might we make with our voices instead of a ghost voice? Let’s make up a new scary story and use our voices for the scary parts.

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Pitch Music Studio—“Rag Dolls” Overview

In this studio children are invited to move like a floppy rag doll, (no skeleton), to ascending and descending pitch glissandos. Space Set-up

Large space with plenty of room for movement. Resources

1. Raggedy Ann and Andy books or videos by Johnny Gruelle or other stories about rag dolls or marionettes. 2. Instruments that can produce “glissandos” (smooth sliding movements) from low to high and from high to low pitches. Good instruments for this are the slide whistle, xylophones, and the voice. Activity Idea

Read or watch Raggedy Ann and Andy books or videos, or other stories about rag dolls or marionettes, and then invite the children to pretend to be rag dolls. Let’s all stand up and pretend to be a rag doll. A rag doll is very floppy because it is completely soft inside, not like us because we have a skeleton that helps to hold us up. Let’s start by pretending to be very floppy. Everyone flop your head, arms and bodies downward, like you have no bones at all. When you hear the pitch move up then you will slowly unbend and bring your body up right. When you hear the pitch move down it will be time to flop back down.

Play the instrument glissandos, slowly at first, then vary the speed of the ascending and descending glissandos. Allow children to take turns playing the instruments that guide the movements. How did you know when to be floppy and when to be straight? What did it feel like to be straight? What did it feel like to be floppy? What other movements could we do that might work with the changing pitches?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Melody Music Studio—“Doggie, Doggie” Overview

In this studio children are invited to respond with singing and movement to the singing game “Doggie, Doggie” (see Figure 8.1). Space Set-up

Large space with children sitting in a circle. Resources

Voices and bodies. Activity Idea

Children sit in a circle. Explain the game to the children. We are going to play a guessing game. One person will be the doggie and have their eyes closed. Someone else will steal the bone from the doggie and hide it behind them. We will then all sing the song but when we get to the last part, only the thief will sing “I have the bone.” The person in the middle with their eyes closed will then guess who stole the bone by listening carefully to the voice they hear. Let’s learn the song and play the game now.

Sing the song with the children until they know it reasonably well and then play the game. How did the person in the middle guess who the doggie was who stole the bone? Do all of our voices sound different? How can you use your ears to figure out who someone is without using your eyes? What part of the game was your favorite? What other singing games could we make up?

Allow the children to make up their own singing games. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Figure 8.1

Doggie, Doggie—Music Example

Melody Music Studio—“Name that Tune” Overview

In this studio children are invited to listen to melodies of songs they know and guess the name of the song. Space Set-up

Comfortable seating area for listening. Resources

A melody instrument such a keyboard, xylophone, or boomwackers. If you are not comfortable playing an instrument you can use your voice and sing the melody on neutral syllables like “la, la, la.” Activity Idea

Invite the children to play a game. I am going to play a song and let’s see if you can guess what song it is.

Play familiar songs such as “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” or “Jingle Bells.” Who knows what song it is? How did you figure it out? Now who thinks they can figure out, with only three notes, if this song is “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” or “Jingle Bells”?

If they cannot figure out the tune then start adding more notes to make it easier. Who wants to pick a song for us to guess? Whisper it in my ear and then I will play (sing) it. How many notes shall we start with?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Texture Music Studio—“Draw the Texture” Overview

In this studio children are invited to listen to music with different textures and draw what the music “feels.” Space Set-up

Area for drawing. Resources

1. Paper and assorted drawing and painting materials. 2. Audio system and recordings of music with varied textures. 3. Objects to touch that have different textures. Some Music Suggestions: “Thin” texture—instrument or voice by itself (solo). “Thick” texture—orchestral music (many instruments). “Smooth” texture—chorales (voices or instruments moving together). “Rough” texture—rounds (voices or instruments moving at different times). “Connected”—consonant harmonies (music that sounds pretty). “Disconnected”—dissonant harmonies (music that clashes and is disturbing). Activity Idea

Invite the children to listen to the music and draw how the music “feels” Touch the different textures of materials that we are passing around and say how it feels to you. [Pass around examples of textures that are smooth, rough, thick, thin, jagged, etc. and listen and acknowledge each child’s response.] Music has texture also. We are going to listen to some different textures of music and you can draw what the music “feels” like.

After each selection of music and drawing is complete, have the children show their pictures and describe the texture that they felt.

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Texture Music Studio—“Dance the Texture” Overview

In this studio children are invited to listen to music with different textures and use ribbons to dance to what the music “feels” like. Space Set-up

Area with plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

1. Scarves or ribbons for each child. 2. Audio system and recordings of music with varied textures. “Thin” texture—instrument or voice by itself (solo). “Thick” texture—orchestral music (many instruments). “Smooth” texture—chorales (voices or instruments moving together). “Rough” texture—rounds (voices or instruments moving at different times). “Connected”—consonant harmonies (music that sounds pretty). “Disconnected”—dissonant harmonies (music that clashes and is disturbing). Activity Idea

Invite the children to listen to the music and use their scarves or ribbons to dance to how the music “feels.” We are going to listen to some different pieces of music and you can have your scarves or ribbons dance to what the music “feels” like.

After each selection of music is complete, have the children describe how they felt the music was telling them to have their ribbons or scarves dance to the music. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

9 Music Studio Proposals Performing Dynamics Music Studio—“Going on a Spider Hunt” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to use “Itsy-Bitsy Spider,” or other favorite finger plays and circle songs, to perform vocally with varying dynamics and vocal qualities. Space Set-up

An area large enough for children to move freely and expressively. Resources

Voices and bodies. Activity Idea

Children sit on the floor in a circle. Put on your binoculars [model with circled hands over your eyes] because were going on a spider hunt! [Everyone stands up and marches]. Chant—We’re going on a spider hunt, a spider hunt, a spider hunt. We’re going on a spider hunt, I see one now.

Stop marching and tell the children you see a medium-sized spider and it wants us to sing its song, the “Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” Not too loud, but not too soft. Everybody sings the song with hand motions. The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain and the itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.

Begin a new spider hunt while marching. We’re going on a spider hunt, a spider hunt, a spider hunt. Were going on a spider hunt, I see one now.

Stop marching and tell the children you see a tiny little spider but we should sing softly so we won’t scare her away. Sing the itsy-bitsy spider softly with the children. Begin a new spider hunt. We’re going on a spider hunt, a spider hunt, a spider hunt. Were going on a spider hunt, I see one now.

Stop marching and tell the children that you see a big gigantic spider and it wants us to sing our song loud and proud. Sing “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” with the children again with more volume but not shouting. Begin a new spider hunt. We’re going on a spider hunt, a spider hunt, a spider hunt. Were going on a spider hunt, I see one now.

Stop marching and tell the children that you see a beautiful princess spider. Have the children sit down and tell them, Since this spider is a special princess spider, let’s use our prettiest, light singing voices to sing our song to her and see if she likes it. Sing “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” again but in a soft, light voice.

Ask the children, Did your princess spider like our song? What other kinds of spiders do you see? How should we sing their songs, should it be loud or soft, medium-loud or medium-soft?

Children share their ideas for spiders and spider voices until all children who want to have had a chance to perform their spider voices. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These

documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Dynamics Music Studio—“Little Cabin in the Woods” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to use drums to perform varying dynamics and sound effects to “Little Cabin in the Woods.” Prior to this studio the children should have had many experiences making sounds on drums. Drums can be very exciting and children, at first, will want to make very loud sounds, which can drown out any other sounds that others are trying to perform. Providing opportunities for children to explore the drum’s sound possibilities, individually and as a group, is an important studio experience in and of itself. Space Set-up

Children and adults sit in a circle. Resources

Drums and mallets for each child. Activity Idea

Before passing out the drums, sing “Little Cabin in the Woods” with the children using hand motions. Little cabin in the woods [Put hands together to form a teepee shape] Little man by the window stood [Put your hand to your forehead like you’re shading your eyes and look around like you’re searching for something] Little rabbit hopping by [Point up your index and middle finger like rabbit ears, then move your hand up and down to look like hopping] Knocking at the door [Make a knocking motion] “Help Me! Help Me sir,” he said [Raise your hands up like you're surprised] “Before the farmer bops my head” [On the word “bop,” tap the top of your head with your fist] “Come on in,” the little man cried [Move your hand toward you to motion “come here”] “Warm up by the fireside” [Rub your hands together]

Repeat until the children know the song and then demonstrate how the drum can make many different sounds both loud and soft. Hit the drum lightly, and ask the children,

What did that sound like?

After eliciting several responses from the children, hit the drum loudly this time. Ask the children, What did that sound like? How did it make you feel?

After eliciting several responses from the children, softly rub the drum using the head of the mallet, your fingers and/or fingernails over the skin. Ask the children, What did that sound like? How did it make you feel?

Hit the hard side of the drum (not the membrane) and ask the children What did that sound like? How did it make you feel?

Pass out the drums. Ask the children, How many ways can you play the drum softly?

Notice what the children do and make comments. Martha is playing lightly with her fingers, Raul is playing lightly with his whole hand and Jonathan is playing the drum with his elbow.

Ask the children, How many ways can you play the drum loudly being careful, of course, not to hurt the drum!

Notice what the children do and document their performances. Explain to the children, Now let’s see if we can make different loud and soft sounds on our drums with our song about the rabbit in the woods. How could we play the drum for when the little man stands by the window?

Children volunteer to perform their ideas. How could we play the drum for “Little rabbit hopping by?”

Children volunteer to perform their ideas. How could we play the drum for “Knocking at the door?”

Children volunteer to perform their ideas. How could we play the drum for “Help me, help me sir, he said, before the farmer bops my head?”

Children volunteer to perform their ideas. How could we play the drum for “Come on in, the little man cried, warm-up by the fireside?”

Children volunteer to perform their ideas. Practice the song several times, allowing the children to play their sound effects at various times as a group. Ask individual children to perform their renditions, all the way through the song, then comment on the performance. In Becky’s song what kind of sound did the rabbit make when he was hopping by? Was it loud or soft? Why? What about the knocking? The bopping on the head? The warm fireside?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Dynamics Music Studio—“Surprise Symphony” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to explore moving to soft music with a loud surprise at one point. Space Set-up

A large area for movement. Resources

1. Audio system and the music Surprise Symphony (Symphony No. 94 in G Major) by Franz Joseph Haydn. 2. Scarves Activity Idea

Pass out scarves to the children. We are going use our scarves to dance to the music of the “Surprise Symphony.” The surprise will be a loud sound at one secret point in the music! You can show the sounds of the music with your body and scarves in anyway you want.

Play the music several times until the children have explored many different ways to express the music. Video-record their performances. Have the children watch their performances and make comments. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Tempo Music Studio—“Johnny Whoops” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to perform the fingerplay, “Johnny Whoops,” at varying tempi. Space Set-up

Children sit in a circle on the floor. Resources

Voices and bodies. Activity Idea

Invite the children to learn a game. Today we are going to learn a game called “Johnny Whoops.”

This is best chanted at a medium tempo first. Hold out your hand so you are looking at your palm. [Model everything you say to the children.] Now with your pointer finger from the other hand touch your pinky and say “Johnny.” Now touch your ring finger and say, “Johnny.” Now touch your middle finger and say, “Johnny.” Now touch your pointer finger and say, “Johnny.” Oops! There is a long way to get to your thumb so we are going to have to slide there. [Demonstrate sliding down and up to your thumb while saying “Oops!”] Now touch your thumb and say “Johnny.” Great! Now we are going backward, slide down your thumb and up to your pointer finger and say “Oops!” Now touch your middle finger and say, “Johnny,” and your next finger and say, “Johnny,” and back home to your pinky and say “Johnny.”

Practice the entire sequence with the children.

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Whoops, Johnny, Whoops, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny.

Repeat this enough times that the children end up back at the pinky at mostly the same time at a medium tempo. Then try it at a fast tempo and a very slow tempo. Lastly try doing the Johnny part fast and the Whoops slow, or the Johnny part slow and the Whoops part fast, or completely with varying speeds at will. Now who would like to perform Johnny Whoops at any speed they want?

After the child performs, ask other children to comment on what they liked about that child’s performance. Invite other children to perform their own versions with varying tempi. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Tempo Music Studio—“Flashlight Dance” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to play instruments while following the tempo and movement of a flashlight projection. Space Set-up

Children are in a space dark enough to see a flashlight projection on the wall but light enough for them to see the instruments they are playing. Resources

1. Strong beamed flashlights 2. A variety of instruments. Activity Idea

Invite the children to sit on the floor facing a large blank wall. This flashlight can make dancing movements on the wall [Turn off the lights and demonstrate]. These movements can be slow and graceful like this [demonstrate] or fast and fancy like this [demonstrate]. We need some musicians to play the music [invite children to get an instrument]. Who would like to conduct the flashlight dance music? The rest of us will follow the tempo of the light dance. If the light is dancing fast we will play fast and if it is dancing slow we will play slow.

After each performance of the music ask the children, What did you like about that performance? How did the fast dance music make you feel? What about the slow dance music? How can we make the flashlight dance different next time?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Tempo Music Studio—“Fast and Slow Animal Show” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to move to music like fast and slow animals. Space Set-up

Large space with plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

Audio system and recordings of music with fast, slow, and varied tempi. Some Suggestions: SoundPlay (MENC) Music for Creative Dance (Eric Chappelle) Animal Walks (Georgiana Stewart) Carnival of the Animals (Camille Saint-Saëns) Activity Idea

Invite the children to discuss how different animals might move at different speeds. What are some of your favorite animals that move slowly? What are some of your favorite animals that move very fast? What are some of your favorite animals that move at a medium speed?

After listening to their responses invite the children to make animal movements to the music. If you would like to be a slow moving animal stand up and let’s move to the slow music [play slow music].

After moving, ask the children what animal they had chosen to be and why? If you would like to be a fast moving animal stand up and let’s move to the fast music [play fast music].

After moving, ask the children what animal they had chosen to be and why. If you would like to be a medium-fast moving animal stand up and let’s move to the medium fast music [play medium-fast music].

After moving ask the children what animal they had chosen to be and why. Play music with varying tempi and invite the children to change between animals based on the speed of the music. Now you can change between different animals. When you hear the music change, you can be a slow animal for the slow music, a fast animal for the fast music or a regular speed animal for the medium music.

After all the performances ask the children about their choices. Why did you choose to move the way you did for your fast animal? Why did you move the way you did for your slow and medium animals?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Timbre Music Studio—“Kagome, Kagome” Singing Game Overview

In this studio children are invited to sing the Japanese song “Kagome, Kagome” and play a game in which children will disguise their identity by changing vocal timbres. Space Set-up

Plenty of room for movement. Children and adults sit in a circle on the floor. The circle of children is a “cage”; one child in the middle has eyes closed. Another child is chosen to disguise their voice. If the child in the middle guesses who they are then they are captured and go into the cage and the child who guessed correctly is now free. Resources

1. Recording or live singing of the Japanese children’s song, “Kagome, Kagome” (see Figure 9.1). (The song is pentatonic and well suited for children’s voices because there is a limited range of notes and repetition). Literal translation: Kagome, Kagome, the bird in the cage, when, oh when will you come out? In the evening of the dawn, the crane and turtle slipped. Who’s that behind you? Adapted English version for the game: Round, round the wild bird flies, Poor little bird in a cage don’t cry, Hide your eyes and soon you will be, With the wild bird flying free. Who’s standing back of you, can you say? If you guess my name you can fly away.

Figure 9.1

Kagome—Music example

Activity Idea Invite the children to sit on the floor in a circle, Today we are going to learn a song from Japan called “Kagome.”

Teach the children the song in English or Japanese. You may choose to wait to teach the song in Japanese until after they know the melody and game well. After the children have sung the song and understand the game, explain ways to disguise their voices. Just like at Halloween, we disguise our bodies and wear costumes and pretend to be someone else, when we play the Kagome game we will put a disguise on our voice. We can disguise our voices in many different ways.

Model for the children different ways of changing your voice quality. Say something in a scary raspy voice, with a foreign accent, a Dracula voice, a ghostly voice, a baby voice etc. Who can demonstrate a voice disguise? [Choose a child to demonstrate.] That was great! Let’s all try that voice. [Ask other children to perform their voices.]

Sing the Kagome song again and demonstrate the game. Choose one child to be the bird in the cage, which covers her eyes, and yearns to be a free bird. Model the part of the “wild bird” flying outside of the circle “cage” while singing the song until the end of the song, when the wild bird stops. The wild bird then repeats the last line of the song in her disguised voice and the child in the middle guesses the

name of the child who is the wild bird outside of the circle. If she guesses right then the free bird is caught and goes into the cage. Now that you know how to play the game let’s play it for real now. Who would like to be the caged bird in the middle?

One child sits inside the circle (the cage) and covers their eyes. Now if I quietly touch you, you will be the free bird and fly around the cage while we all sing. [Sing] “Round, round the wild bird flies, Poor little bird in a cage don’t cry, Hide your eyes and soon you will be, With the wild bird flying free. Who’s standing back of you can you say? If you guess my name you can fly away.” Okay, now the free bird says, “if you guess my name you can fly away”

The child who is the free bird disguises their voice saying or singing, “if you guess my name you can fly away.” The child who is the caged bird has three guesses as to who the free bird might be. If they are right then they capture the free bird and he or she goes into the cage. After everyone has had a turn being birds ask the children, Which children’s voice disguises were your favorites? What did you like about the way they changed their voices? What other ways could we change and disguise our voices?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Timbre: Performing Music Studio—“Mirror Movements” Overview

In this studio children perform “mirrored” movements to different musical timbres. Space Set-up

Plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

Audio system and recordings of instrumental music with different instruments and combinations of instrumental sounds. Suggestions:

Moving to the Sound of World Music by James Froseth Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten. Activity Idea

Invite the children to find a friend to stand in front of, face to face. Looking face to face with your partner, pretend that you are looking in a mirror. Whatever one person does, the other person will do the same thing.

Have the children practice “mirroring” each other. We are now going to listen to different instruments playing music. Explore making movements in the “mirror” that feel like the sounds you are hearing.

Play one of the selections. How did the sounds in the music make you feel? What type of movements did the music make you want to do?

Play another contrasting timbre selection while children “mirror” movements. How did the sounds in the music make you feel? What type of movements did that music make you want to do? How were the sounds in that music

different from the sounds in the other music?

Play more selections while children “mirror” movements. How did the sounds in the music make you feel? What type of movements did that music make you want to do? How were the sounds in that music different from the sounds in the first music?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Timbre Music Studio—“Orchestrate a Poem” Overview

In this studio children are invited to select instrumental sounds to emphasize words and actions in simple poems. Space Set-up

An area for setting out a variety of instruments. Resources

A good collection of children’s poems such as Mother Goose Rhymes Recommended: Poems Every Child Should Know by Mary E. Burt http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16436/16436-h/16436-h.htm Activity Ideas

Show and demonstrate to the children the different types of instruments available to them. We are going to be choosing instrument sounds to go with some poems. There are “wood” sounds [demonstrate wood instruments], there are metal sounds [demonstrate metal instruments], there are shaker sounds [demonstrate shaker instruments], there are scraper sounds [demonstrate wood instruments] and there are membrane sounds [demonstrate drums]. Here is a poem that we can try as an example. “I had a little seed, I poked it in the ground, out came the sun, down came the rain, and it grew, and grew, and grew.” What might be a good instrument for the seed? What would be a good instrument for the poking? What about the sun? And the rain? What would make a good sound for grew and grew and grew?

After sharing ideas for possible sound sources, in small groups, invite children to choose instruments and practice saying the poem with the instrument sounds added. After each group performs their practiced

poem with instruments ask them why they choose specific sounds for certain words. Why did you choose that instrument for the seed? Why did you choose that instrument for the poking sound? Why did you choose this sound for the sun? And the rain? Why did you choose that sound for grew and grew and grew?

Later, in small groups, invite the children to explore a variety of children’s poems and choose one poem or rhyme that they would like to add instrument sound effects on certain words. After performing the poems ask the children to explain their sound choices. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Beat Music Studio—“Rhythm Stick Patterns” Overview

In this studio children are invited to perform various rhythm-stick movements to the beat of the music. Space Set-up

Large space on the floor for children to sit in small groups and perform with rhythm sticks. Resources

1. Rhythm sticks (two per child). 2. Audio system and recordings of music with a strong steady beat. Activity Idea

Invite the children to sit on the floor facing you with two rhythm sticks. Play music with a steady beat and use your rhythm sticks to perform different motions to the beat. Ideas are: tap together, rub together, tap on the floor, tap one stick with the other as in hammering a nail, tap only the ends of the sticks together, tap behind or above your head, tap your feet and other body parts. Special “tricks” for older children: flip one stick, flip the other, flip both sticks, tap a partner’s stick, switch sticks with a partner, etc. After children have practiced different ways of keeping the beat with sticks have them perform their favorites for the other children to see. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Beat Music Studio—“Clock Makers” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to perform, through movement, their own versions of a clock. Space Set-up

A comfortable place for sitting and listening to books read aloud and for drawing pictures. Room for creative movement. Resources

1. Voices and bodies. 2. Drawing materials. 3. Books about clocks. Recommended: The Clock Struck One: A Time-Telling Tale, by Trudy Harris; illustrated by Carrie Hartman Midnight Fright, by K. Heling, D. Hembrook and H. Takahashi Just a Second: A Different Way to Look at Time, by Steve Jenkins How Do You Know What Time It Is?, by Robert E. Wells Clocks and More Clocks, by Pat Hutchins Activity Idea

Invite the children into the circle for story-time and read books about clocks. After reading the books ask the children, Why do you think clocks are important? Why do they sometimes make a “tictock” sound? How do they work? What are important parts in a clock?

Ask the children to work in small groups as “Clock Makers.” In your groups, design a clock and show how it works using only your bodies.

Later, have each group explain and perform how their clocks work through movements for the other children and adults. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Rhythm Music Studio—“Fruit Salad Rhythms” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to combine short rhythms to perform longer rhythmic pieces. Space Set-up

Children are seated so they can see pictures of fruit and notated rhythm patterns. Resources

1. Voices and bodies. 2. Variety of rhythm instruments. 3. Large visual and smaller cards with pictures of fruit and corresponding rhythm patterns. Activity Idea

Invite the children to rhythmically chant the names of fruit. Peach = [ ] Apple = [ ] Watermelon = [ Strawberry = [ ] Apricot = [   ]

]

Invite the children, Now you can arrange the fruit cards in any order, from left to right, to create a rhythm pattern. You can use any fruit more than once or not at all.

Display the children’s fruit rhythm arrangements and perform the rhythms on instruments. What did you like about our fruit salad rhythm pieces? Instead of using fruits what other types of things could we use to perform musical rhythm pieces?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio

proposals.

Rhythm Music Studio—“Kangaroos” Overview

In this studio children are invited to act out the rhythmic movements of the “Kangaroos” from Carnival of the Animals. Space Set-up

Large space with plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

Audio system and recordings of music with repeated rhythm patterns. Recommended: “Kangaroos” from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. This activity is adapted from Kid’s Can Listen: Kids Can Move by Lynn Kleiner. Activity Idea

Invite the children, Would you like to play a guessing game about a little joey kangaroo? This is how it goes. Once upon a time all the kangaroos decided they were tired and would take a nap. But one little joey decided to play a trick on the others and hide under a bush. When everyone woke up they did not know where the little joey had gone and they started to hop around looking around to find the joey. The music will tell us how to hop as we look for the little joey.

Play the music and jump with two feet on the short sounds but stop on the long sound, put your hand on your forehead to shade your eyes from the sun and look all around for the missing joey. Come join me in looking for the lost joey.

(All the children follow the rhythm of the music for the jumping/looking pattern). Now let’s all go to sleep and while you are asleep one of the joeys will hide. If you feel me tap you then go hide somewhere.

After all the children have covered their eyes, pick one child to be the joey and then start the music as a cue for the children to wake up and perform the jumping-looking movements to the rhythm patterns in the music. Now, look around and try to figure out who is the missing joey? Who is not here when we closed our eyes and is now hiding? Hop out now, joey! Were you right? Did you know who the joey was?

After playing the game, letting many children be the joey, ask the children, What other animal movement patterns could we make other than “hop-hophop-hop-hop-hop-hop-hop, look?” Let’s all perform those ideas.

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Form Music Studio—“Instrument Rondo” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to play instruments using the rondo form of music (ABACADA). Space Set-up

Children sit in a circle on the floor with a variety of rhythm instruments. Resources

Variety of rhythm instruments. Activity Idea

Invite the children to play instruments. We are going to play a rondo with our instruments. A rondo is music that has many parts that are different but one part that is always the same. Let’s make up a part that will always be the same. How about “Criss, cross, applesauce”?

Have everyone practice the rhythm [ play it together well.

,

and ] until everyone can

We will always play the “Criss, cross, applesauce” rhythm after each new rhythm. Now to perform our rondo we will go around the circle. Each person performs a short rhythm and then everyone will play the “criss, cross, applesauce,” rhythm. Then the next person will perform their own short rhythm and we will all respond by playing the “criss, cross, applesauce” part again until everyone has had a turn. Okay let’s start!

After the children have performed their rondos as a large class, have them work in smaller groups to come up with their own rondos and after practicing, perform them for the rest of the children. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Form Music Studio—“Dance Around the World” Overview

In this studio children are invited to perform singing games and dances. Space Set-up

Large space with plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

Audio system and recordings of dance music. Recommended: Any album by Shenanigans such as Children’s Dances of Terra del Zur, Dance Music for Children, Dance like a Kangaroo. Any of the materials from High Scope Publishers by Phyllis Weikart. Traditional singing games, available on the Kodaly, Holy Names University site http://kodaly.hnu.edu/ Activity Idea

Invite the children to play a singing game or learn a dance. After the children have played the game, or danced the dance, many times, ask them, What was your favorite part of the game or dance? Which parts were always the same and which parts were different? How did the game or dance start? How did it end? What other parts could be added to make the game or dance even more fun?

In small groups ask the children to create new parts of the game, or dance, and then perform it for the rest of the children and adults. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Pitch Music Studio—“Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to improvise on a xylophone. Space Set-up

Large space on the floor for children to sit in a circle and pass around a xylophone. Resources

1. The book “Chicka Chika Boom Boom” by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault. 2. Xylophone placed vertically with the larger bars lower and the smaller bars higher. Activity Idea

Read the book to the children and discuss the story. Invite the children to improvise on the xylophone while reading the story. If the xylophone is turned so the longest bars are closest to the ground it looks like a tree [turn the xylophone on a vertical axis]. We are going to pass the xylophone around and you will each go up the “tree” however you wish. You might go slow [demonstrate going carefully from one bar up to the next], you might go fast [demonstrate a fast glissando up], you might jump from branch to branch [demonstrate skipping notes up] you might start slow and end fast. Really, it is up to you how you want to climb the tree.

Read the first part of the book, A said to B and B said to C, “I’ll meet you at the top of the coconut tree.”

Pass the xylophone to a student who will perform A, B, and C climbing up the tree. Elicit comments for the children about how the alphabet letters went up the tree (fast, slow, crazy, etc). Continue to pass the xylophone around as children perform how each of the alphabet characters climbs the tree. In the very last page of the book, the alphabet characters fall out of the tree. Ask the children,

What direction do you think the xylophone playing should go, up or down? What other things can you think of that move from a low place up to a high place? What might that sound like it if you played it on the xylophone?

Ask the children to come up with ideas and act them out with the xylophones responding to the “ups and downs” of the movement. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Pitch Music Studio—“Peter and the Wolf” Overview

In this studio children are invited to listen to the musical story of Peter and the Wolf and then act out the characters and story. Space Set-up

Area for dramatic play. Resources

1. Audio system and recording of Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. 2. Dress-up props and clothing. Activity Idea

Invite the children to sit on the floor and listen to Peter and the Wolf. Discuss the characters and the instruments that represent each character. Explain that the bigger the instrument, the lower the sound, and the smaller the instrument, the higher the sound. Show pictures of instruments as you listen and discuss the pitches they produce. A flute plays the bird’s theme. Is a flute big or small instrument? Does that mean it’s a high or low instrument? An oboe plays the duck’s theme. Is an oboe a big or small instrument? Does that mean it’s a high or low instrument? A clarinet plays the cat’s theme. Is a clarinet a big or small instrument? Does that mean it’s a high or low instrument? A bassoon plays the grandfather’s theme. Is a bassoon a big or small instrument? Does that mean it’s a high or low instrument? The horns play the wolf’s theme. Is a horn a big or small instrument? Does that mean horns are high or low instruments? The timpani drums play hunter’s theme. Is a timpani a big or small instrument? Does that mean it’s a high or low instrument? The violins play Peter’s theme. Are violins big or small instruments? Does that mean they are high or low instruments?

Ask the children to play the characters in a performance of Peter and the Wolf. More than one child can play a character but there should

be at least one child per part. Video-record the performance and have the children watch later and make comments. Which parts were funny? Who acted out their part really well? What did they do that made it so good? What character would you like to be next time and why? Is there any part of the story you would like to change or add more characters?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Melody Music Studio—“See-Saw” Overview

In this studio children are invited to move with a partner to the song “See-Saw” and then play the melody on xylophones. (See Figure 9.2). Space Set-up

Children sit on the floor with room to move with a partner without hitting anything or anyone else. Resources

1. Voices and bodies. 2. Xylophones with only two pitches—E and G. Activity Idea

Invite the children to find a friend to make a “see-saw.” Who has ever been on a see-saw at the playground? When one person goes up, the other person goes down. Now we will make our own see-saws with our bodies. Sit facing your partner with your legs stretched out straight and hold hands. Now one person leans back and the other person leans forward because you are attached to that person. Now see-saw the other way. Everyone ready to see-saw to a song?

Sing the song while everyone see-saws. Then ask the children to detach from each other. Now let’s play the song on our “air” instruments. There are two pitches in this song. Hold your mallets in the air with one higher and one lower. (demonstrate playing in the air as you sing the song) High, low, high high, low, high high, low low, high high, low. See-saw up and down, in the air and on the ground. Great, now let’s play the song on our xylophones. The higher note is the smaller bar and the lower note is the larger bar.

Practice more two or three note songs by playing other singing games and then transfer the melodies to xylophones.

Who would like to perform a song by themselves? Who would like to make up a song of their own and perform it for the class?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Figure 9.2

See Saw—Music example

Melody Music Studio—“Follow Me” Overview

In this studio children are invited to “follow,” or repeat, back the melody they hear. Space Set-up

Each child has a melody instrument to play or shares with another child. Resources

Melody instruments, preferably set-up with only two or three notes in the key of C (no black keys). Best notes would be G (sol), E (mi), and A (la). Activity Idea

Invite the children to play a “follow me” game on instruments. We are going to play a “follow the leader” game on our instruments. I will play a melody on my instrument and you will play back what you just heard.

Make the first melodies very simple, four beat patterns with only two notes, and say the note names as you play them. GGG (ggg), EEE (eee), GEG (geg) etc. Great! Who would like to be the leader now?

After everyone has had a turn that wants to be the leader, play the game again but don’t say the note names. Add a third note when the children are ready. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Texture Music Studio—“Scary Sound Story” Overview

In this studio children are invited to add texture to a story by performing sound effects for certain characters and events in a story. Sound effects will be cumulative and will go from thinner texture to thicker texture, once all sound effects are sounding at once. Space Set-up

Space for reading books and playing instruments. Resources

1. Variety of instruments or just use vocal sound effects. 2. Old Devil Wind by Bill Martin or other “scary” stories with sound effects. Other book suggestions—Silly Sally by Audrey Wood, Roosters Off by Eric Carle, Dark, Dark Tale by Ruth Brown Activity Idea

Read Old Devil Wind to the children. Now we are going to add some scary sound effects to the story. You will each have an instrument and a time to play your part in the story. At the end of the story, when the witch flies around the building, we will all make our scary sound effects at the same time. Then the wind will “blow away” each sound effect one by one until everything is silent.

After assigning instrument parts and performing the story with instruments, ask the children to think of other stories that could have sound effects and choose instruments to go with those stories. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Texture Music Studio—“Rounds” Overview

In this studio children will be invited to create a texture performance by playing instruments. Space Set-up

Children sit in a circle on the floor with instruments. Resources

Variety of instruments including pitched instruments set up into pentatonic. (CDEGA) Activity Idea

Invite the children to perform songs with different textures and harmonies. We are going to make some music with different instrumental and vocal sounds. First lets sing the song “Are You Sleeping” with our voices only. [Sing the song.] How did that sound? What if we add some rhythm instruments on the beat while we sing? [Sing with rhythm instruments on the beat.] How did that sound different than when we sang without the instruments? Now let’s add the xylophones. [Sing with rhythm instruments and pitched instruments.] How did that sound different when we added the xylophones? Do you think we can now try this as a round? [Split the children into “teams” and cue them in to start singing when it is their turn.] How did the song sound as a round? Now we have lots of different ways we can add new sounds to the music to make it sound more interesting. Which ways are your favorites?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

10 Music Studio Proposals Creating Dynamics Music Studio—“Cloudburst” Overview

In this studio children will listen, or watch a video, of the music selection “Cloudburst” from the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé. Afterward, children will create their own arrangements of “storm” music. Space Set-up

An area for children to sit while listening, or watching videos, of the music. A place to display and arrange scenes of a storm. Resources

1. Audio system and the music “Cloudburst” from the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé or visual renditions found on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-7fHOXPln4 2. Paper and drawing materials to create pictures of scenes of a storm (rain drops, wind, clouds, lightning, rainbows etc.). 3. Variety of soft and loud instruments. Activity Idea

Children listen, or watch a video, of “Cloudburst” from Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé. Afterwards ask the children,

What things happened during the storm? What parts of the storm were loud and what parts of the storm were soft?

After gathering the children’s ideas of the different parts of the storm, have children draw different aspects of storm events each on separate pieces of paper (rain drops, wind, clouds, lightning, rainbows, etc.). After the children have drawn at least three different storm scenes ask them to arrange them in a given order. Choose one of your pictures for how your storm story will start. Will there be loud thunder first or soft raindrops, gentle wind or bright lightning? What will happen next in your storm story? How will your storm story continue and how will it end?

Display each child’s storm stories in the order they have chosen. Tell the children, Now that you have arranged your storm story you can decide what instruments you want to use for the different parts of the storm. What instruments could be the rain? Thunder? Lightning? Sun? Wind? Rainbows?After the children have decided what instruments to use for each picture, notate the instrumentation on the displayed pictures. Ask the children to decide who will perform the instruments for each picture and distribute the instruments to the performers. Ask them to point to the picture and the other children improvise music that fits with the picture. As the child points to the next picture, the music changes to the new instruments, which were chosen for that picture. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Dynamics Music Studio—“Loud/Soft Music Piece” Overview

In this studio children will create a loud and soft music arrangement by conducting what instruments will play at certain times. Space Set-up

Children sit in groups according to what instrument “families” they will be playing with. In the center of the space there are outlined, or taped, designated areas on the floor. Each area represents a particular type of instrument. Resources

1. Instruments with varying dynamic levels. For example—drums [loud], rhythm sticks [medium loud], shakers [medium soft], finger chimes [soft]. 2. Outlined, or taped, designated areas on the floor. Each area has a picture of an instrument type inside each one. Activity Idea

Divide children into four “teams” of instruments. Model how to use the designated areas on the floor to “conduct” when specific instruments should play. If I put my foot inside the triangle instrument area, all the triangles play, [demonstrate]. If I take my foot out all the triangles stop playing [practice this]. Let’s try it with the drums, [demonstrate] and now the rhythm sticks, [demonstrate] and finally the shakers, [demonstrate]. Now watch carefully because I might do more than one instrument at the same time.

Use your feet and even arms and leg combinations change between moving inside and out of multiple areas like in the “Twister” game. Model directing soft sections as well as loud. Which instrument combinations were the softest and the loudest? What combinations are your favorites and why? Now you get to create your own music arrangements. Who wants to create the first musical piece?

After each composition is conducted and performed ask the children, What did you like about playing that piece of music? Was there variety in loud and soft parts to the music? Would you have liked the piece as much if it was all loud or all soft? Why or why not?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Tempo Music Studio—“Fast-Slow Story” Overview

In this studio children will create and dramatize a story with fast and slow elements. Space Set-up

An area for children to sit together and draw story ideas. An area for movement. Resources

Paper and drawing materials to create pictures. Activity Idea

Invite the children to draw pictures. Let’s make up stories about fast and slow animals. First draw a picture of a fast or slow animal. What are they doing in the picture? Now let’s draw more fast and slow animal pictures.

After the children have drawn their pictures and explained and what is happening in their pictures, link the pictures together to create a story. Which picture should start the story? (i.e. dog running). Which picture should come next in the story? (i.e. cat climbing a tree). What does the dog do when it sees the cat climbing the tree? [Elicit response from the children]. What picture should be the next one in the story? After the story is completed display the pictures in the order of the story. We are now going to act out the whole story. I will read the story and then you will act the story out.

Narrate the story making sure to emphasize the slow or fast aspects of the story and pausing to allow the children to act out each part before continuing. After the dramatization is completed ask the children,

What did you like about the story? Which characters were your favorites and why? What parts were funny or most interesting? How could you make the story different or more interesting than it was? What instrument sounds could we add to make the story more exciting and fun?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Tempo Music Studio—“Composing a Musical Score” Overview

In this studio using the Garage Band application with “smart” instruments, children are invited to compose music for their previous fast-slow dramatizations. Space Set-up

An area for children to sit together and use the Garage Band application. Resources

Garage Band application on computer or iPad. Activity Idea

Show the children how to select “smart” instruments in the Garage Band application and then how to create sound loops. Give the children plenty of time to practice using the different “smart” instruments. After the children are able to create their own loops, invite them to create specific music for their fast-slow dramatizations. They can create one loop for each picture. The tempo of the compositions can even be changed later under the “wrench” tool to better fit with the picture. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals. Another way to document children’s work might be to use the compositions synched to a slide show using the Ken Burns effect.

Timbre Music Studio—“Circus Acts” Overview

In this studio children are invited to select music pieces and create “circus acts” that fit well with the music. Space Set-up

Plenty of room for creative movement. Resources

1. Drawing materials. 2. Audio system, sets of headphones and recordings of music with different instruments and combinations of instrumental sounds. 3. Video about circus acts https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=JyLtMTNxjK8 4. Audio recordings such as Circus Songs for Kids by the Countdown Kids, Carnival of the Animals by Camille SaintSaëns. Activity Idea

Show children pictures and/or read a book about circus acts. Discuss different acts you might see in a circus. Have the children form small groups. In your groups we are going to create “acts” for a circus. Each group will get to decide what type of act to create and choose music to play in the background while you are performing your act. When all the acts are added together we will have an entire circus. First get in your groups and decide what kind of act you would like to do for the circus. There are drawing materials for you to use if you want to plan out what the act will look like. After you have decided what your act will be, listen and choose music to go with your circus act.

After all the groups have chosen their acts, and their background music, have them practice and perform their acts for the other children and adults. Ask the children,

What did you like about the act? What was surprising and amazing? Is there anything you would add to make the act different?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Timbre Music Studio—“Circus Music” Overview

In this studio children are invited to create improvised music for their circus acts. Space Set-up

1. Plenty of room for creative movement. 2. A variety of musical instruments. Resources

A variety of musical instruments including pitched instruments set up in pentatonic keys. Activity Idea

Tell the children, We are going to compose our own music to go with our circus acts. Please choose two to three instruments, sound effects, or vocal sounds, that you feel will go best with your circus act.

Have the group practice their musical sounds with the circus act. Then perform for the larger group. What did you like about creating your own music for your circus act? Is there anything you think might make the music better? Did you like performing your own music to your act or did you prefer using the music that was already recorded? Why?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Beat Music Studio—“Arrange the Beats” Overview

In this studio children will create a mixed meter compositions using geometric shapes and then conduct the composed music. Space Set-up

An area for children to draw their compositions. A place to display and arrange pictures. Resources

1. Paper and drawing materials to create pictures. 2. Variety of instruments. 3. Baton for conducting (rhythm sticks work great!). 4. Music—specifically a march, a waltz and a piece in common time (44). Activity Idea

Show the children a picture of a curved line, as seen in Figure 10.1. [Count the “ups and downs” of this line as you motion along with your baton.] One [motion down], two [motion back up], One [motion down], two [motion back up] Let’s conduct this two beat pattern of “one down, two up” with some music. [Play “marching band” music and everyone practices conducting the twobeat music.] Now count the sides of the triangle as you motion along with your baton. One [motion down], two [motion across], three [motion back up], One [motion down], two [motion across], three [motion back up]

Play “waltz” music and have everyone practice conducting the threebeat pattern while looking at the image of a triangle as seen in Figure 10.2. Now count the sides of the square as you motion along with your baton. One [motion down], two [motion across], three [motion up], four, [motion back across to start], One [motion down], two [motion across], three [motion up], four [motion back across to start]

Play four-beat pattern music while everyone practices conducting along with the music and looking at the image of a square as seen in figure 10.3.

Figure 10.1

Conducting gestures 24

Figure 10.2

Conducting gestures 34

Figure 10.3

Conducting gestures 44

Figure 10.4

Conducting gestures Mixed Meter

For older children you can add more shapes with more sides. Ask the children, Now you can make your own music arrangements. Draw the shapes in any order you want. You can repeat shapes as much as you wish. For example, show the children a set of images similar to the ones seen in Figure 10.4. “One-two, one-two, one-two-three-four, one-two, one-two, one-two-three.”

After the children have drawn their metric compositions, display them and pass out instruments to perform each child’s work. Playing a drum on beat one of each shape will help bring out the metric patterns. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Beat Music Studio—“Hand Jive” Overview

In this studio children are invited to create body percussion patterns with a partner. Space Set-up

An area for children to sit, or stand, facing each other. Resources

1. Audio system and music with a strong steady beat. 2. Traditional hand-jive games like “Miss Mary Mac,” “Down, Down Baby,” “Miss Suzie,” “Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake, Baker’s Man,” or “Down by the Banks.” Activity Idea

Show the children how to do the hand jive pattern for “Miss Mary Mac” or any other hand jive that you know. For younger children you can always modify to simpler patterns. Face your partner. [Model this pattern]

1. Miss [cross arms on chest] 2. Ma—[pat legs] 3. ry [clap hands together] 4. Mac [pat partners right hand] 5. [clap hands together] 6. Mac [pat partners left hand] 7. [clap hands together] 8. Mac [clap both partners hands at the same time] This is a challenging hand-jive so practice with the children saying the motions as you perform them. Cross, down, clap, right, clap, left, clap, both. Cross, down, clap, right, clap, left, clap, both.

After learning several hand jives invite the children to make up their own. With a partner now create your own hand-jive patterns to the music.

Play music that has a strong steady beat and give the children plenty of time to create their patterns. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Rhythm Music Studio—“Hip-Hop Loops” Overview

In this studio children will compose rhythmic hip-hop loops using the Garage Band application. Space Set-up

Area for individual or small groups of children use the Garage Band application. Resources

Garage Band application and computers or iPads. Activity Idea

Invite the children to create hip-hop loops using the “Smart Drums” and the “Hip Hop Drum Machine” instruments. Look at how we can create cool rhythms by dragging different percussion instruments into the grid area [demonstrate this]. Experiment with different combinations until you have created the rhythm you want to record. When you are ready to record, press the red “record” button.

After the children have recorded their “loops,” if they want to, they can use the microphone instrument to overdub lyrics. Listen to the finished “raps” together as a group. How do the rhythm loops make you feel? Relaxed, excited, cool? How would you change your loops to make them different next time?

Record each child’s work with notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recording for use in ongoing documentation throughout this studio. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Rhythm Music Studio—“Rhythmic Composition” Overview

In this studio children will compose a rhythmic composition using the Garage Band application. Space Set-up

An area for children to sit together and use the Garage Band application. Resources

Garage Band application on computer or iPad. Activity Idea

Invite the children to create a rhythmic composition by playing virtual drum sets using the Drums area in Garage Band. The different drum kits you can choose from are called “Classic Studio Kit, Vintage Kit, Live Rock Kit, Classic Drum Machine, House Drum Machine or Hip Hop Machine.” When you are ready to record, press the red “record” button. You can keep adding drum sounds to your composition from different drums if you want.

Have the children listen to their completed compositions and make comments regarding their work. Take notes, pictures, and/or audiovisual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Form Music Studio—“Magic Land Dance” Overview

In this studio children will create their own ballet story. Space Set-up

An area for children to sit together and draw story ideas. An area for creative movement. Resources

1. Paper and drawing materials to create pictures. 2. Variety of pitched Orff instruments set up in a pentatonic key or a piano keyboard where the children only play on the black keys. 3. Video or story of the Nutcracker ballet. Activity Idea

After discussing the story of the Nutcracker ballet, invite the children into small groups to decide on scenes in their Magic Land ballet. Remember, in the Nutcracker ballet Clara went to the “Land of Sweets” where she saw dances by Chocolate, Coffee, Tea, Candy Canes, and other candies. You can now create your own ballet story with music and movement. Decide what kind of magic land your group will create and what the dances will be called. Then choose instruments and dancers and practice the different scenes. Will you need costumes also?

Video-record their work and later have the children watch the recording and make comments regarding their work. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Form Music Studio—“Rondo Composition” Overview

In this studio children are invited to compose a rondo composition using Garage Band. Space Set-up

An area for children to sit together and use the Garage Band application. Resources

Garage Band application installed on computer or iPad. Activity Idea

Show the children how to choose different smart instruments in the Garage Band application. After much exploration, guide the children in how to record a track. Have the children record at least four separate tracks. Ask the children to decide which track will become the reoccurring A section. Combine the sections together to create a final rondo of ABACAD etc. Play the composition for the children to hear and have the children make comments regarding their work. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Pitch Music Studio—“Water Jar Music” Overview

In this studio children will create a musical “scale” using varying amounts of water in jars and use those jars to create a musical piece. Space Set-up

Area for the placement of jars and pitchers of water. Resources

Glass jars or glasses, pitchers of water, small mallets. Activity Idea

Invite the children to create their own water-jar music. There are jars and water for you to explore how different amounts of water in the jars make different pitches. Just like the bars of the xylophone are different sizes and therefore make different pitches, the jars with different amounts of water will make different pitches. After exploring, arrange your jars in “instrument” order and decide how you will play the instrument to create music.

Have groups explain how and why they chose to set up their water-jar instrument the way they did. Ask them to perform their musical compositions with their instruments. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Pitch Music Studio—“Pitch Contour Maps” Overview

In this studio children are invited to draw pitch contour “maps” and perform them on instruments and voices. Space Set-up

Area for drawing and displaying pictures. Resources

1. Paper and drawing materials. 2. Variety of pitched instruments. Activity Idea

Invite the children to draw pitch “maps.” Pitch goes up and down just like a road map that shows how to get from one place to another. Look at this picture and sing the pitch map with me [show picture of a curvy horizontal line and follow the contour from left to right with your finger while singing the relative pitches]. Now you can create your own line drawings and perform your created pitch maps.

Have the children sing together each child’s pitch map and record the pitch map compositions. Later play them back for the children to make comments. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Melody Music Studio—“Starlight Melodies” Overview

In this studio children will create melodic improvisations to “Star Light, Star Bright” using instruments set-up in a pentatonic key. (See Figure 10.5). Space Set-up

Area for playing instruments. Resources

Keyboard instruments set up in pentatonic scale. (CDEGA) Activity Idea

Invite the children to the instruments. We are going to create starlight melodies for the song “Star Light, Star Bright.” Each of you will be a star in the sky and will have your turn to shine. The rest of the stars will play the steady beat as you play your star song. Now go to your instruments and pick any two notes and play the steady beat as we sing the song. Keep playing the steady beat and I will play my star song. [Demonstrate how to play an improvisation in pentatonic.] It does not matter which pitches you play because they will all sound beautiful. Now after we all sing the song together, each of you will get to play your improvised star song.

Sing the song then let each child play their improvisation while the rest of the group softly plays on the steady beat. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Figure 10.5

Starlight, Star bright—Music example Melody Music Studio—“Once Upon an Opera” Overview

In this studio children are invited to compose and stage an opera. Space Set-up

An area for children to sit together and room to “stage” an opera. Resources

Favorite storybooks, props, and costumes. Activity Idea

Invite the children to stage their own operas. We are going to create our own operas. An opera is story that is sung instead of spoken. Choose a story and decide on who will be the narrator and the characters in the story. Practice the story but remember that everyone must sing since there is no speaking in an opera. Choose any costumes or props you need to make the opera complete.

If the children are not comfortable singing they can chant instead. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Texture Music Studio—“Layered Composition” Overview

In this studio children will create a textural composition with rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic aspects. Space Set-up

Individual computers or one computer or iPad with screen projection device. Resources

Garage Band application on computer or iPad. Activity Idea

Invite the children to create a layered composition. We are going to make our own musical composition by “layering” tracks in Garage Band. First we are going to start with the bass. In Garage Band, open a new composition and give it a name. Now choose either “Smart Bass” or regular bass and play around with a bass line and when you are ready, record it. [After all the children have recorded their bass lines have them choose another instrument to add to the texture until you have three or four different tracks]. You can see the texture you have created by looking at the score view and watch all your tracks playing at the same time.

Have the children listen to their compositions while watching in score view. Elicit comments about the compositions. Ask if the children would like to name any of the music because it reminded them of something in particular. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Texture Music Studio—“Creating a Musical Score” Overview

In this studio children are invited to invent symbols for sounds and combine them to create a musical “score” (See Figure 10.6).

Figure 10.6

Music texture graphic 1 Symbol/instrument key Space Set-up

Area for children to sit together and draw their musical score. Resources

1. Long roll of butcher paper and drawing supplies. 2.  Variety of instruments. Activity Idea

Show the children how to create a musical score. You can create your own music symbols so that other people can read your music like a book or a map. Let’s say you want to start the music with a fast drum roll. You need to draw a symbol that might represent the sound of a drum roll. Let’s say I decide that the circle symbol will be for a drum roll, a lightning bolt is for a cymbal crash, the rainbow arch is a xylophone glissando, and a moon shape is a guitar strum. In this score only one instrument plays at a time so this music has a thin texture. But you can have more than one sound play at the same time, as in this score that has sometimes one sound, two sounds and at the end all four sounds at the same time (See Figure 10.7).

Figure 10.7

Music texture graphic 2 Textural Score

Ask children in small groups to create their own symbols for the different sounds they will use in their composition and then notate the composition on paper. After the composition is complete have the children choose instruments to perform their compositions. Listen to the compositions and ask children to make comments. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

11 Music Studio Proposals Connecting Dynamics Music Studio—“My Storm Story” Overview

In this studio children will tell their personal storm story. Space Set-up

Chairs in front of displayed pictures. Resources

Pictures of a “storm story” that the children have previously drawn. [See chapter ten “Cloudburst” studio.] Activity Idea

Using the children’s individual pictures, ask the child to tell you the story of their storm. What is this first picture about? When did you ever experience something like that? Were you scared or happy? What else happened during that time? Can you tell me about this next picture of the storm? What is this picture about?

Keep asking questions about each picture and how it might relate to something in their life or other thoughts and feelings related to the picture. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Later children could perform music with the narration they provided to create a “sound” storm story with varying dynamic contrasts.

Tempo Music Studio—“My Song” Overview

In this studio children will compose and record an original song using the Garage Band application. Space Set-up

An area for individual, or a small groups of children, to use the Garage Band application. Resources

Garage Band application on computer or iPad. [See chapter ten “hip-hop loops,” “rondo compositions,” and “layered composition studios” for other Garage Band studios.] Activity Idea

Invite the children to create a song about a favorite fast or slow animal. Since you already know how to make instrumental music with Garage Band now you can make a song using the “microphone.”

Demonstrate how to use the microphone application and record the child speaking, or singing, so they can hear what their voices sound like as a recording. Make-up a song about a favorite fast or slow animal and sing it into the microphone.

Allow the child to practice recording several versions of their songs. Have them choose one track that they like the best and help them add some instrumental accompaniment to the track using Smart Instruments. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Timbre Music Studio—“My Feeling Colors” Overview

In this studio children will “paint” the color of the sounds they hear. Space Set-up

An area for painting with watercolors. Resources

1. Watercolor paints, jars with water, paint brushes, watercolor paper. 2. A variety of contrasting timbres of instruments. (woods, metals, scrapers, shakers, drums, wind and string instruments). Activity Idea

Invite the children to listen as you play a particular instrument. Listen carefully to the sound as I play this instrument. How does the sound make you feel? Do you feel happy, sad, fearful, surprised or something else? Now choose a color that best matches your feelings and paint a picture of the sound.

Label the paintings with the child’s name, the instrument sound and the feelings that they shared. Play other instruments and have the children choose feelings and colors and paint those sounds. Now think about something that happened to you once that either made you happy or made you very sad. Choose colors that match how you felt and paint a picture of your feelings.

After the children have painted their pictures ask them what their feeling pictures are expressing. Why did they choose those colors? What instrument sounds would go well with the colors on their pictures? Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Beat Music Studio—“Rap Talk” Overview

In this studio children will write rap lyrics to perform to the beat of a hip-hop rhythmic loop. Space Set-up

Area for writing lyrics and/or drawing pictures. Resources

1. Paper and pencil to write, or draw, an original “rap” story. 2. Instrumental rhythmic background music for rapping. Activity Idea

Invite the children to create their own rap music. You can make up your own rap music. First, write your “rap” or your story. If you need a starting point begin with “Once upon a time there was a girl named [your name] and she lives in a town called [your town]. Tell us about your life, your family, pets, friends, what you like to do, or anything else you would like to say.

If the children are too young to write, they can draw a picture and explain what they want to say using the picture as a guide. Document what they say to use as narration to create the “rap.” If the child is younger or not comfortable rapping then you can volunteer to rap their story. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Rhythm Music Studio—“Musical Portrait” Overview

In this studio using Garage Band, children will compose a musical story for a person they know. They will need to have experience using Garage Band prior to this studio. Space Set-up

Area for individual children or small groups to use the Garage Band application. Resources

Garage Band application on computer or iPad. Activity Idea

Invite the children to create a “musical story” of someone they know. You can compose music that tells a story about someone you know. With Garage Band, choose instruments and rhythms you feel represent this person in music. After you finish recording your piece, play it for us and tell us how it tells this person’s story through music.

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Form Music Studio—“Rondo Puppet Show” Overview

In this studio children will create a puppet show and use their own rondo compositions as background music as the puppets act and dance to the music. Space Set-up

Area for a large puppet theatre where children can work the puppets. Resources

1. Variety of interesting puppets and props. 2. Music playing system with recordings of the children’s rondo composition or other recorded rondo form compositions. Activity Ideas

Invite the children to create a puppet show to their rondo compositions. You can create a puppet show with the music you composed. For each part of the music you will need to choose a puppet to dance and act. For the part of the music that repeats, the puppets should do the same thing every time. For instance, say for the first music, a monkey puppet climbs a tree, and for the second music, a pig dances. When the first music returns again, the monkey should climb the tree again.

If the children want to change the form of the music from rondo to something else that is fine. The main point is that they are connecting the form of the music with the form of the puppet show. Video-record the puppet show and later have the children watch the recording and make comments regarding their work. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Pitch Music Studio—“Big/Little Sound Story” Overview

In this studio children will tell a story and create sound effects about big and little things in their life. Space Set-up

Area for book reading, drawing, and playing instruments. Resources

1. Children’s book, Big Little, by Leslie Patricelli or other stories about big and small characters (for instance, Goldilocks and the Three Bears). 2. Drawing and writing materials. 3. Big and small instruments. Activity Idea

Invite the children to listen to a story about big and little things. We are going to hear a story about big and little things. Please pick two instruments, one big and one little. As we read the story when you hear the word “big,” play your big instruments. When you hear the word “small,” play your small instrument.

After the children have “played” the story ask them to draw their own storybook of big and small things. Have children “read” their stories by showing their pictures and having the other children respond with big instruments for the big characters and small instruments for the small characters. After all the children have told individual sound stories ask the children, Did the little instruments make the little characters more interesting in your stories? Did the big instruments make the big characters more interesting in your stories? Which instruments were your favorite sounds for the characters? Why did you like them?

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio

proposals.

Melody Music Studio—“Song Without Words” Overview

In this studio children will compose and record an instrumental song using Garage Band, or melody instruments, set in pentatonic keys. Space Set-up

An area for individual children to use the Garage Band application or play instruments. Resources

Instruments set-up in pentatonic keys or Garage Band smart instruments. Activity Idea

Invite the children to create a song without words. We are going to create a song that means something but does not have any words. For instance I could call my piece the “soft kitten song” and it might go like this … [play a gentle playful melody]. Or how about my “terrible grumpy song” and it might go like this … [play loud and non-graceful melodies]. Now decide on what song you will make up and practice it. When you are ready, we will record your songs.

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Texture Music Studio—“Opus 1” Overview

In this studio children will compose a composition that represents something meaningful in their lives Space Set-up

An area for individual children to draw their composition ideas and/or work with the Garage Band application. Resources

Long roll of butcher paper and drawing supplies. Garage Band application on computers or ipads. Recordings of Beethoveen’s Moonlight Sonata and “Für Elise” Activity Ideas

Invite the children to create a composition using symbols that represent something meaningful. You can make your own music composition about anything you want. A composer Beethoven wrote a song about moonlight and a song for a friend whose name was Elise. [Play the beginning of each of these pieces.] Your music will say something meaningful but without any words [except for the title of the piece]. First decide what your piece will be about, then choose the instruments you want to use. One instrument might play alone sometimes or with other instruments other times

After all the compositions are complete, listen to the pieces and ask the children to discuss how the music made them feel and any other comments they might have about the performance of their compositions, especially how the music reminded them of the person or event they composed the music for. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

12 The Studio Approach in Secondary Classrooms The Reggio approach has been applied predominantly in pre-K educational settings with great success. Recently there have been calls from Reggio Children (Reggio Emilia’s research division), and other Reggio-inspired proponents to extend these practices to older children as well. While the demands of outcome-based compulsory K–12 classroom settings are most certainly in sharp contrast to childcentered, early childhood educational programs, there are many ways in which a Reggio-inspired approach would work well in traditional music classrooms. In Reggio Emilia, Italy, small group learning is the norm in the preschools, however there are large group experiences there as well. In this case, just as in small group learning where the studio teacher proposes initial ideas for music learning and then allows students to explore ideas in ways that are meaningful both personally and collectively—this method can be extended to a larger group. For example, consider a school orchestra that might be working on a Baroque piece of music. The music teacher could instruct the young musicians on various types of Baroque ornamentation (trills, mordents, grace notes, turns, etc.), and where in the piece they might be appropriately applied. The young musicians can first experiment with different ideas individually and in small groups and then these experiments can be introduced and applied to the whole group. After performing different ornamentation possibilities, documenting and then reviewing the different ornamentation ideas applied to the music and allowing for discussion, the large group can be guided to come to a consensus on which ornamentations to use. As a large group, an

informed decision can be made based on multiple perspectives and experiences and the performance product is one of shared and negotiated learning. Secondary general music classes could also adapt Reggio-inspired ideas with larger groups in similar ways. Smaller groups, however, are ideal for general music constructivist learning, especially projects such as informal music learning (“rock band” curriculum), music technology composition projects, or Orff and world music chamber ensemble groups.

The Reggio-Inspired Approach in StandardsBased Classrooms How can Reggio-inspired teachers rationalize democratic, socialconstructivist learning within a standards-based educational system? Reggio-inspired learning is, after all, the antithesis of outcomesbased education, which relies on the assessment of individual students. Reggio-inspired principles are categorically against comparative evaluations and competitive norms in the classroom. While the United States, as well as other countries, utilizes educational systems that are outcome-based, other countries use democratic and social-constructivist pedagogies with great success. East Asian and Scandinavian countries, for example, out-performed other countries on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), yet these countries value effort above achievement. These same countries also have a strong culture of accountability and engagement among a broad community of stakeholders (PISA, 2014). For example, in Finland, constructivist project-based learning is the norm, while in South Korea, the classroom is considered a community of learning and peer relationships are encouraged over teacher-student relationships. Both of these countries have consistently performed better than the United States in science, math, and a variety of other subjects for many years. Acknowledging the need for improvement in American schools, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) was launched in 2009 as an effort to “ensure all students, regardless of where they live, are graduating high school prepared for college, career, and life”

(CCSSO, 2016). In 2014, the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) launched the voluntary core arts standards for dance, media arts, music, theater, and visual arts. Now individual states are creating their own articulated versions of these core standards in each discipline. Fortunately, these arts standards are social-constructivist in nature in that they value processes over outcome-based learning. Under the new core music standards students are asked to create new knowledge by connecting their learning experiences through the processes of responding, performing and creating. Also, music literacy, which involves reading, writing, speaking, listening, and critical thinking within the symbolic system of music, is required for all students. This is a positive step forward in that under the new common core it matters how students know, understand, and interpret information, not what they already know. A 21st century learning framework (Gilbert, 2016) that focuses on creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration can help to support the new common core music standards. Reconciling a Reggio-inspired approach within a standards-based educational system lies in the means, not the ends. Indeed, it is the process of learning that is both the means to an end and the end itself. Children in the 21st century need the skills to think critically and creatively while working cooperatively with others in democratic and productive ways. Using Reggio-inspired ideas in your traditional music classroom can help inspire young musicians to respond, perform, create, and connect with music in meaningful ways that teacher-centered learning cannot. This chapter provides a number of examples of how Reggioinspired music group projects might be introduced within the context of more traditional instrumental, choral, and general secondary music classrooms. As shown in Table 12.1, these project ideas are intended to emphasize student-centered learning, social constructivist principles, and musical literacy through the processes of responding, performing, creating, and connecting.

Table 12.1 Studio Proposals for Secondary Music Classrooms

As students work, the studio teacher is encouraging, observing, and documenting what each group is doing. These documents are shared with other teachers, parents, and students via displays on the walls and/or dedicated websites. Feedback is elicited from the educational community and after consultation with each group; new materials and instruction are provided to further new learning goals.

Secondary Studio Proposals General Music Process—Responding to Music Music Studio—“Stage the Music” Overview

In this studio students will be invited to choose popular music and “stage” the music based on the style and meaning of the music. Space Set-up

Area large enough for students to move freely and expressively. Resources

Audio system and recordings of music chosen by the students. Butcher paper, or white board, for recording music descriptions and comments regarding chosen music selections. Activity Idea

Invite the students to discuss music that they listen to outside of school. You could also have this done as an individual writing activity. What are some of your favorite artists and songs that you listen to at home? What are some of the reasons you like this music? Is it the beat, the artist’s voice, or what the lyrics are saying? What are words and ideas that best describe the music? When you listen to this music how does it make you feel? Happy, sad, or something else?

Document responses from the students by writing each of the artist’s songs on a piece of butcher paper, or on a white board, any comments made about that piece. Continue this activity over several classes until there are six to ten songs that most of the students can agree on. Be sure to check to make sure the songs are appropriate to be played in your school environment before downloading the songs for use in class. We are going to listen to your chosen songs as a class now and add more comments to the ones we already have.

After listening, asking for, and recording further comments about each song, ask the students to form groups of four to five students who can agree on one of the songs to stage. If several groups like the same song, or if students want to change groups because another group chose they song they like better, that is okay. As a group, discuss how you could to “stage” this song in a live concert setting if you had all the resources you needed to make it happen in the ways you envision. Your group can refer to the comments that were made under each piece for ideas. In your staging would you have dancers or would you have the artist doing dance moves? What would the artist and/or dancers be wearing and what types of dance moves would they be doing? Would you have special effects or a video background? What other ideas do you think would make this song amazing for a live performance or a video?

Allow time for each group to discuss and agree on ideas for staging their songs. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

General Music Process—Performing Music Music Studio—“World Rhythms” Overview

In this studio students will be invited to perform several world music rhythms on percussion instruments. Space Set-up

Classroom area with chairs arranged to view rhythm visuals. Resources

1. Large visual with world rhythms, “sticking” patterns, and standard notation. 2. Assorted percussion instruments, drums, and mallets. Activity Idea

Using body percussion, have students practice the tresillo, cinquillo, and reggaeton rhythmic patterns while viewing the world rhythms “sticking” and notation visuals. Let’s practice three world music rhythmic patterns. First we will practice the patterns and then perform them on rhythm instruments. Later you will form your own “bands” and perform your own versions of these pattern combinations.

Referring to the visuals as shown in Table 12.2, practice each of the three rhythms using body percussion. After each of the patterns have been practiced and all the students are able to perform each pattern well, discuss the origin of the patterns, listen to YouTube music performances that use these patterns, and use body percussion to play along with the music performances.

Table 12.2 World Rhythms

Reggaeton started as an adaptation of Jamaican reggae into the Spanish language and culture in Panama and Puerto Rico (Reggaeton https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V90Gvap5pXs). Tresillo is a Cuban and Latin American rhythm that uses the Spanish word meaning “triplet,” or three equal notes within the same time span normally occupied by two notes (Tresillo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xIO_BE9ms). The cinquillo pattern is another common embellishment of tresillo (Cinquillo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HW9p45z1bw). Now that you know how to perform these three rhythm patterns, form small “bands,” choose instruments and practice performing these rhythms as a group. How you will arrange the patterns is up to your group. You can play one pattern at a time or play them against each other. Practice until you feel ready for a performance.

Make notes of student’s work in groups and record the final presentations with audio-visual recording for use in ongoing documentation.

General Music Music Studio—“Call My Response” Process—Creating Music Overview

In this studio students will be invited to improvise various call-andresponse patterns on percussion instruments. Space Set-up

Chairs set up in a large circle. Resources

A variety of drums and assorted percussion instruments. Activity Idea

Ask students to choose a percussion instrument. Demonstrate techniques for playing any unfamiliar instruments. Ask students to “respond” to your “call” with the same rhythm. I am going to play a four beat pattern and you will repeat the same pattern back on your instrument.

After doing a variety of interesting call and response patterns, ask students to create their own calls. Now it’s your turn to make up a call and the rest of the class will respond.

Go around the circle and have each student make up calls for the class to respond. After each student has had a turn, explain to the class that sometimes the call and response can be different from each other. This time no matter what kind of call I do on my instrument, you will always do the same response even if it is different from my call. Let’s do the “We will rock you” rhythm pattern (♪ ♪ ♩ ♪ ♪ ♩) as our response each time.

Ask students to create their own calls. Now it’s your turn to make up a call.

Go around the circle and have each student perform calls with the whole class responding with the “We will rock you” rhythm pattern. Now let’s do different calls and responses. One person in our circle will create a call pattern and the person next to them will respond with a different rhythm pattern.

Go around the circle until each student has performed both a call and a response. As a group we have created different call and response patterns and seen that sometimes the calls or responses are the same and other times they might be different. Now split into smaller groups and decide how you want to improvise call-and-response patterns as a small group.

Document students’ call-and-response work in small groups with audio and/or video and notes. Also ask students to reflect on their experiences of the processes of improvising call-and-response patterns in class discussion or in written journal reflections.

General Music Process—Connecting with Music Music Studio—“Musical Ethnography” Overview

In this studio students will create a “mash-up” or compilation of music that reflects the culture and artistic tastes and views of the group. Space Set-up

1. Classroom area with chairs set up to view videos and listen to music. 2. Computer lab with music mixing and editing programs. Resources

1. Free DJ software Mixxx http://www.mixxx.org/ 2. http://www.audacityteam.org/download/ Activity Idea

Watch and listen to a variety of mash-ups and compilations of music and videos. Invite the students to create their own group musical ethnographies as a group project. Now that you have seen some examples of music compilations and mashups, you are going to create your own group musical “ethnographies.” Ethnography is an exploration and description of cultural experiences and facts. As a group you will combine music that represents the attitudes, views, and cultural backgrounds of your group. You will have music editing software to use for creating and mixing the final mash-ups or compilations. After you have collected the music selections, the group can work on combining everyone’s musical contributions using computer software. Instruction on how to use the software will be provided as needed.

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals. Student’s final musical ethnography will also serve as documentation.

Choral Music Process—Responding to Music Music Studio—“Choral Gestures” Overview

In this studio students will be invited to respond to choral music with gestures that reflect the musical content, style, and meaning of choral music selections. Space Set-up

Area large enough for students to sing and move freely and expressively. Resources

1. Audio system and recordings of selections of choral music. 2. Choral repertoire that has been learned by memory. 3. Video on conducting and gesture (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGwhmjqnGOY) Activity Idea

Invite the students to think about how music “moves” in time. Have you ever thought about how music moves through time? A song has a beginning, something in the middle, and then it ends. As people we also move through time. We get up in the morning, go to school, do things at night and then at some point go to sleep. Just as our body moves throughout the day, elements of music move through time. In what different ways does music move through time? Can you think of words that might describe the motion of music?

After eliciting responses from the students write their responses on a white board. Prompt students to think of adjectives that represent specific characteristics of tempo, dynamics, timbre, harmony, melody, rhythm, texture etc. Discuss how a conductor’s gesture might communicate these characteristics in his or her body movements. Have students watch a video on conducting and gestures (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGwhmjqnGOY)

Now you can get into groups, select one of the choral songs we are rehearsing, and discuss specific musical characteristics in the song that move through time and how you could express those characteristics with physical gestures. Experiment with possible gestures while singing the song or listening to the music.

Make notes of student’s work in small groups and record the final gesture presentations with pictures, and/or audio-visual recording for use in ongoing documentation.

Choral Music Process—Performing Music Music Studio—“Group Styling” Overview

In this studio students will be invited to perform choral music in a different style than its original arrangement. Space Set-up

Traditional choral space with chairs. Resources

1. Audio system and recordings of selections of choral music. 2. Choral repertoire that has been learned by memory. 3. Video of singing styles http://takelessons.com/blog/vocalexercises-by-genre-z02 Activity Idea

Invite students to form SATB or other mixed voice groups. In mixed ensemble groups you are going choose a song from our vocal repertoire and change the style of the song. To help inspire you let’s will watch some YouTube video examples of different singing styles.

Play video of singing styles (http://takelessons.com/blog/vocalexercises-by-genre-z02) After watching the video, and modeling and discussing different vocal techniques for different singing styles, ask the groups to work on changing the singing style of their chosen pieces. In mixed ensemble groups choose a song you want to perform and decide in what style you will perform it. Take your time experimenting and practicing your new style before you are ready to perform.

Make notes of students’ work in groups and document the practice and final presentations with pictures, and/or audio-visual recording for use in ongoing documentation.

Choral Music Music Studio—“Choral Speaking” Process—Creating Music Overview

In this studio students will be invited to create an original choralspeaking piece. Space Set-up

1. Traditional choral space with chairs. 2. Library or computer lab. Resources

A variety of prose and poetry, or access to computer search engines to search for speech materials. Activity Idea

Explain to students that a choral speaking piece is the reciting of a text piece by a group. Historically this practice goes back to classic Greek theatre and is still popular throughout the world today. Play YouTube examples for the class 1) Greek chorus (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0nRJC4rPEg), 2) traditional school choral speaking competitions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWYa9nvIunM), and in 3) musicals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7rcAVy6sh8 After watching these examples, ask students to form groups for creating an original choral speaking piece. For this project your group will be creating your own original choral speaking piece. You may use any text such as poetry, newspaper articles, stories, nonfiction material, statistical data, or play scripts. Once you have selected the speech material you will need to decide how you will perform it as a group. Some ideas for your performance might include varying dynamics, pitch, tempo, and vocal quality, speaking in canon, rounds, pairs, small group, or solo sections, or the whole group speaking at the same time. Also, consider echoing words and phrases, alternating lines, chanting, overlapping lines, repeating lines or words, whispering lines or words, changing tones in

mid-line, singing, creating sound effects, crying, whistling, clapping, or other body percussion. (For more information see http://code.on.ca/resource/choral-speaking)

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Choral Music Process—Connecting with Music Music Studio—“Program Notes” Overview

In this studio students will research and write program “notes” for the final concert of the year. Space Set-up

1. Traditional choral space with chairs. 2. Library or computer lab. Resources

A variety of library resources or access to computer search engines. Activity Idea

Invite the students to research and write program notes for one of the pieces that will be performed at the concert in the coming year. In small groups choose one of the pieces that will be performed at a concert this year. As a group, research historical, cultural, and textual information related to the piece. Write program notes and then create a slide show, PowerPoint, or visual presentation of the research you gathered as a group.

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals. The program notes themselves can also serve as documentation.

Instrumental Music Process—Responding to Music Music Studio—“Sectional Moves” Overview

In this studio students will be invited to respond to instrumental music with gestures and movements that reflect the musical content and style of the music. Space Set-up

Area large enough for performing on instruments with movement. Resources

1. Audio system and recordings of selections of instrumental music. 2. Video recording of Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2012/jun/14/dudamelsimon-bolivar-orchestra-bernstein-mambo). Activity Idea

Invite the students to work with their instrumental sections (clarinets, violin I, etc.), to create movements to a piece they are currently studying. Have you ever watched a large ensemble performance, such as along symphony concert, and found yourself a bit bored? This is because, other than the conductor waving his or her arms, not much is happening that is particularly visually engaging. Watch this video recording of Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra and see what you think of this orchestra performance.

Play video recording (http://www.theguardian.com/music/video/2012/jun/14/dudamelsimon-bolivar-orchestra-bernstein-mambo). Ask the students which movements they liked in particular and write their responses on the white board. Now work with your instrumental section while listening to one of our pieces of music and follow your music part to identify places in the music that your

instrumental section might add movement, as a section, to make the music come alive.

After listening to the entire piece, allow time for instrumental groups to discuss possible places to add movement and discuss ideas for what those movements might be. Allow plenty of time for repeated listening and for experimenting with possible movements. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Instrumental Music Process—Performing Music Music Studio—“Performance Editions” Overview

In this studio students will be invited to change performance markings in a piece they are studying to create an original “performance edition.” Space Set-up

Traditional instrumental setting. Resources

Copies of an instrumental score with all performance markings removed (tempo, dynamics, articulations, and bowings). List of possible tempo, dynamic and articulation markings (bowings) and their mearnings. Activity Idea

Invite students to form small groups. Each group will get a “blank” score. For this project you will create your own interpretation of how to perform a piece of music. As a group, decide what new performance markings you would like to add for tempos, dynamics, articulations or bowings. Later we will perform your original performance arrangements for the class.

After each performance ask for feedback from students as to what they thought worked well in that performance arrangement and why. Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Instrumental Music Process—Creating Music Music Studio—“Warm It On Up” Overview

In this studio students will be invited to create an original warm-up exercise to use in rehearsals. Space Set-up

Traditional instrumental setting. Resources

1. Music staff paper and pencils. 2. Music repertoire currently being studied. Activity Idea

Ask students to form small groups of like instruments for the purpose of creating original warm-ups for class rehearsals. For this project you will be creating warm-up exercises for the entire class to use to help us prepare to play certain pieces. Choose a piece of music we are working on right now. Find difficult rhythms, key signatures, time signatures, mixed meter, dynamic changes, articulations/bowings, or tricky enharmonic spellings. Also think about issues in the music dealing with phrasing, breath support, intonation or blending. Using your own instruments create an exercise which would help to “warm” us up to play the piece later. After you have practiced the exercise on your instruments then notate it on staff paper.

Make notes of student’s work in small groups and use the notated warm-up exercises as documentation. Later transcribe the warm-up exercises for the entire ensemble and use as actual warm-up materials for the pieces for which they were written. Record the exercises as they are being performed and ask for students’ feedback regarding their effectiveness. Take notes, pictures, and/or audiovisual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals.

Instrumental Music Process—Connecting with Music Music Studio—“See the Music” Overview

In this studio students will use iMovie, or other editing software, to create visual images to accompany a live performance of instrumental music. Space Set-up

Computer lab with editing software. Resources

1. iMovie, or other editing software, loaded on computers. 2. Computers with internet connection. 3. Sound files of repertoire currently being studied. Activity Idea

Invite the students to create a visual portrayal to be displayed during the performance of a concert later in the year. In small groups choose one of the pieces that will be performed at the final concert this year. As a group listen to the music and decide what types of images would work best during different sections of the piece. Gather different images and/or video clips, then review and decide which ones to use as a visual portrayal of the music as it is performed. Instruction on how to use the software will be provided as needed. Your group could create a slide show, a PowerPoint presentation, or a movie. The timing of the presentation will need to sync with the timing of the music performance.

Take notes, pictures, and/or audio-visual recordings. These documents will later be used as research for developing future studio proposals. Video-record the final concert and watch it later as a class to discuss how the use of visuals affected the music performance.

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INDEX “alphabet” of artistic languages, 27 Animal Walks, 124 art. see also visual art aesthetics, 3, 40 arts specialist, 3 art studio (see atelier) as taught in Reggio Emilia schools, 6 performing arts, 7 assessment, in Reggio Emilia schools, 54 atelier Balducci School ateliers, 52–55 city ateliers, 48–49 commonalities between visual art and music ateliers, 29–33 definition of, 3, 5 Malaguzzi’s vision of, 29 Malaguzzi Center ateliers, 39–49 music ateliers, 29, 51–55 as a place of research, 5 atelierista Cheili, Filippo, 54 role of, 6, 28–29, 39 Vecchi, Via, 28 Bateson, Gregory, 10 beat definition of, 83 relationship to tempo, 82 in music studio proposals, 102–104, 132–133, 154–156, 172 in the temporal modality, 86 brain research. see neuromusical research “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”, 97–98 Bruner, Jerome, 14 Carnival of the Animals, 124, 129, 135, 152 Chicka, Chika, Boom, Boom, 139

Cheili, Filippo, 54–55 child adult’s attitudes towards, 15–16 as central to research, 5 child study movement, 12 as constructor of knowledge, 11–12 philosophy of childhood, 9–11 as protagonist, 11, 16 rights of the child, 15 as a social being, 14–15 child development fetus, 21–22 infant, 22 musical 21–26 choral secondary studio proposals, 189–192 circus circus acts studio, 152–153 Circus Songs for Kids, 152 clocks clock makers studio, 133 Clocks and More Clocks, 133 communicative musicality, 22 composing composing a musical score studio, 151 as a constructivist tool, 13 invented notation, 13, 20 in studio proposals, 165, 170 Common Core State Standards (CCSS), 7, 180 conducting instrument families, 149 mixed meter compositions, 154–155 Dudamel, Gustavo, 193 in studio proposals, 149, 154–155, 189, confronto, 6, 52 connecting interconnecting learning domains, 25, 40 process of, 7, 84–87, 180–181 in studio proposals, 169–177, 188, 192, 196 constructivism constructing an artistic alphabet, 27 Dewey, John, 10 guiding constructivist learning, 37 in music education, 13–14, 81

in the Reggio approach, 11, 47 in secondary classrooms, 180–181 steps for constructivist learning, 38 Countdown Kids, 152 creating process of, 7, 84–87, 180–181 in studio proposals, 147–166, 186–187, 191, 195 culture in the arts, 9, 21, 22, 23, 25 of the atelier, 39, 51 in communities, 40, 49, 80 dance Children’s Dances of Terra del Zur, 138 can we dance a story? 38 “Dance like a Kangaroo”, 138 Dance Music for Children, 138 “running dance” documentation, 77–78 in studio proposals dance around the world studio, 138 dance the texture studio, 114 flashlight dance studio, 123 magic land dance studio, 159 play and dance the sunset studio, 94 scarf dancing studio, 95–96 stage the music studio, 182–183 surprise symphony studio, 120 Dark, Dark Tale, 145 democracy in music learning, 15 development. see child development Dewey, John, 9–11 discovery learning, 13 documentation analysis of, 19–20, 37 as artifacts, 84 Balducci School in Reggio Emilia, Italy, 52–55 Children’s Campus at San Francisco State, 55–80 confronto, 6, 52 features of, 20 invented notation, 13, 20 multiple representations, 19 musical documentation, 5–6, 20–21 Reggio Emilia study group ateliers 45–49

as research, 19–20, 37–38 technological applications, 13, 69, 71 uses of, 5, 46 “Doggie, Doggie”, 111 “Down by the Banks”, 156 “Down, Down Baby”, 156 drawing (illustrating) in Balducci School ateliers, 54–55 from different points of view, 40 fast-slow drawings, 59, 62, in music studio proposals arrange the beats, 154–155 big/little sound story, 175 circus acts, 152 clock makers, 133 cloudburst, 147–148 draw the music story, 107 draw the sunrise, 91 draw the texture, 113 fast/slow story, 150 magic land dance, 159 opus 1, 175 pitch contour maps, 162 sound wave drawing, 67 timbre drawing, 71 drums how can drums talk studio, 62 Monkey Drum i-Pad application, 62–63 smart drums in Garage Band app., 78–79, 157–158 in studio proposals, animal movements, 97–98 call my response, 186–187 rhythmic composition, 158 rhythm talk, 105 hip-hop loops, 157 “Little Cabin in the Woods”, 117–119 world rhythms, 184–185 dynamics definition, 29–32, 82–83 in studio proposals 91–95, 115–119, 147–149, 16 in studio documentations, 66–69 “En Bateau”, 95

ensembles educational issues with, 13–14 secondary ensembles, 179–181 flow in music, 13, 21 form definition, 29–32, 82–83 in music proposals, 107–108, 137–138, 159–160, 174 Fox, Donna, 14 framework music learning framework, 7–8, 81–87 21st century learning framework, 180 Froebel, Friedrich, 9–11 games. see also play jump rope games, 102–103 singing games 111–112, 138 hand-jive games, 156 Gardner, Howard, 27–28 general music secondary studio proposals, 182–188 Grand Canyon Suite, 91, 94, 147 guiding learning in the studio, 19–20, 37–41 “Gymnopedie no. 3”, 95 harmony definition of, 29–32, 82–83 relationship to visual art, 29–32 Heuser, Frank, 13 Hickey, Maude, 13 High Scope Publishers, 138 Hodges, Donald, 21 “Hoedown”, 95 Holy Names University, 138 How Do You Know What Time It Is?, 133 hundred languages of children, 27–28 “Hungarian Dances”, 95 improvising as communicative musicality, 22 in music studio proposals Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom, 139 cloudburst, 147–148 circus acts, 153

starlight melodies, 163 call my response, 186–187 research regarding, 12 infants calming down, 85 cross-domain language development, 22–24 singing lullabies to, 82 instrumental secondary studio proposals, 193–196 instruments, playing benefits from, 24–26 in music studio documentations, 54–80 in music studio proposals animal movements, 97–98 arrange the beats, 154–155 big/little sound story, 175 call my response, 186–187 circus acts, 152 circus music, 153 cloudburst, 147–148 creating a musical score, 166 flashlight dance, 123 follow me, 144 fruit salad rhythms, 134 instrumental rondo, 137 magical forest, 106 magic land dance, 159 my feeling colors, 169 name that tune, 112 orchestrate a poem, 130–131 performance editions, 192 pitch contour maps, 162 play and dance the sunrise, 94 puddles, 100–101 rag dolls, 110 rhythm talk, 105 rounds, 146 scary sound story, 145 sectional moves, 193 see-saw, 142–143 see the music, 196 soft-loud music piece, 149 starlight melodies, 162 warm it up, 195

water jar music, 161 world rhythms, 184–185 smart instruments (Garage Band), 151, 157, 160, 165, 176, 179 “La Danza Tarantella”, 95 language is music a language? 20, 22 music and language development, 15 babbling, 22–24 communicative musicality, 22 fetus, 21–22 infant, 9, 22–23, 80, 85 protolanguage, 22 semantics, 25 syntax, 24–26 poetic languages, 27, 39–40 alphabet of, 3, 5 a part of the hundred languages, 19–26, 27–28 commonalities between art and music, 29–33 interweaving of, 29, 32, 40, 45–46, 84 language of food atelier, 41–42 theory of multiple intelligences, 27–28 learning deep, 6, 13, 21, 39–40, 80 environment, 3–6, 11–12 framework for music learning, 7–8, 81–87 guiding, 19–20, 37–41 hands-on, 42 learning modalities, 85–86 multiple perspectives for, 10–11 in music, 12–17, 20–26, 28–33, 80, 81–87, 89–90 social constructivist, 9–10 listening listening to children, 5, 26, 28, 40, 54–55 to music, 13, 15–16, 85–86 in music studio proposals arrange the beats, 154–155 big/little sound story, 175 clock makers, 133 cloudburst, 147–148 circus acts, 152 dance around the world, 138 dance the texture, 114

draw the music story, 107 draw the sunrise, 91–93 draw the texture, 113 fast/slow story, 150 flashlight dance, 123 magical forest, 106 magic land dance, 159 opus 1, 177 pitch contour maps, 162 play and dance the sunset, 94 puddles, 100–101 scarf dancing, 95–96 stage the music, 182–183 Surprise Symphony, 120 literacy, 23, 26, 180–181 Malaguzzi Loris Malaguzzi, 3, 9–10, 27–29, 39–40 Malaguzzi Center, 41, 45, 48 materials artistic, 3–6, 11–12, 27–29, 39–49 music materials, 7–8, 29–33, 51–90 music materials in proposals beat, 102–104, 132–133, 154–156, 172 dynamics, 91–95, 115–119, 147–149, 169 form, 107–108, 137–138, 159–160, 174 melody, 111–112, 142–144, 163–164, 176 pitch, 109–110, 139–141, 161–162, 175 rhythm, 105–106, 134–136, 157–158, 173 tempo, 95–98, 121–125, 150–151, 170 texture, 113–114, 145–146, 165–166, 177 timbre, 99–101, 126–131, 152–153, 171 in documentations dynamics, 66–69 melody, 73–78 pitch, 73–78 rhythm, 30–32 tempo, 56–63 texture, 78–80 timbre, 69–73 natural materials, 99 media as symbolic languages, 19–20, 32, 45

multiple representations of, 19 melody definition, 29–32, 182–183 in studio proposals, 111–112, 142–144, 163–164, 176 in studio documentations, 73–78 meta-communication, 10 Midnight Fright, 133 “Miss Mary Mac”, 156 “Miss Suzie”, 156 Modalities affective, 15, 32, 84–85 spatial modality 7, 51, 82–83, 86–87 temporal modality, 7, 22, 82, 86–87 Montessori, Maria, 9–11 Moonlight Sonata, 95, 177 Movement. see dance Moving to the Sound of World Music, 129 Mozart, W. A., 21, 95 multiple intelligences theory, 27–28 multiple languages, 19 multiple representations, 19 music Music for Creative Dance, 124 music learning framework, (see framework) music materials, (see materials) music studio documentation, 54–80 music studio proposals, 89–196 musical play, 14–15 natural use of natural materials, 99 neuromusical research, 21, 24–25, 81, 85 Nutcracker Ballet, 159 Old Devil Wind, 145 pedagogy in Reggio Emilia schools, 5, 9, 53 Pelleas et Melissande, 95 Pestalozzi, Johann, 9–1 Peter and the Wolf, 140 Petite Suite, 95 performing process of, 7, 84–87, 180–181 in studio proposals, 115–148, 184–185, 190, 194

philosophical origins of the Reggio approach, 9–11 pitch definition, 29–32, 82–83, 86 infant identifying, 22–23 in studio proposals, 109–110, 139–141, 161–162, 175 pitched instruments 63, 105, 146, 153, 159, 162 play musical, 14, 51 singing games, 83, 111, 138, 143 Poems Every child Should Know, 130 poetic languages. see also languages theory of multiple intelligences, 27 poetic languages, 27, 40, 45 processes connecting, 84, 179–196 creating, 84, 147–166 performing, 84, 115–146 responding, 7, 84, 91–114 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 14, 178 Proposals types of studio proposals, 38 materials and processes, 87, 92 for secondary classrooms, 181 protolanguage, 22 provocations, 39–40, 53 puppets, 38, 56, 58, 68, 174 questioning, 19–20, 37–39 Raggedy Ann and Andy, 110 Reggio approach atelier, 3, 6–8 atelierista, 39–41 first music atelier in Reggio Emilia, 52–56 importance of research, 19–20 inspired by, 80, 90 and learning environments, 4 Malaguzzi, founder of, 3 philosophical tenets, 9–14, 16 poetic languages, 27–19 Reggio Children, 4–5 Reggio Emilia municipality, 5, 9, 48–49 rights of children, 15

where’s the music in Reggio?, 51–52 research brain plasticity, 25 as innovation, 19 epistemology, 19–20 Pillsbury Studies, 12 Reggio Children, 4–5, 40–41 resources for music learning, 38 ribbons or scarves, 38, 58–59, 94–95, 108, 114 instruments, 54–80 puppets 38, 56, 58, 68, 172 props, 38, 140, 164, 174 music recordings, 54–80 responding process of, 7, 84–87, 178–179 in studio proposals, 91–114, 182–183, 189, 193 rhythm definition, 7–8, 29–32, 81–83 rhythm composition, 158 rhythm patterns, 134–135 rhythm stick patterns, 132 in studio proposals, 105–106, 134–136, 157–158, 173 in studio documentations, 30–32 ribbons. see scarves rights of the child, 11–12, 15–16, 85 Rodeo, 95 roles adult, 4–7, 11–12, 14–16, 19, 37–39, 55, 84 community, 5–6, 8–9, 15–16, 19–20, 49, 18 parent, 5–6, 8–9, 15–16, 19–20, 54 teacher as artist, 27–36 as co-learner, 9–19 as researcher, 19–26 Rondo alla Turka, 95 Roosters Off, 145 Rossini, Gioachino 95 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 9 San Francisco State University, 55–56 scarves, 38, 58–59, 94–96, 108, 114, 120 semantics, 25 Shenanigans, 138

“Sicilienne”, 95 Silly Sally, 145 singing games, 111, 138 rounds, 146 smart instruments, 160, 170, 176 sound Soundplay, 124 sources, 21, 82, 99, 130 spatial modality 7, 51, 82–83, 86–87 special needs (rights), 85 speech, 12, 22, 24–25, 191 studio, 1–3, see also atelier studio teacher (see teacher) study group Atelier, Creativity, Citizenship, 51–55, 80 Surprise Symphony, 120 syntax, 24–26 teacher as artist, 27–36 as co-learner, 9–19 as researcher, 19–26 talent aptitude, 21 expertise, 6, 28 techniques, artistic, 3–4, 6, 27–31, 33, 41, 81 technology. see documentation temporal modality, 7, 22, 82, 86–87 tenets of the Reggio approach, 11, 16 text, 165–16 tempo definition, 29–32, 82–83 in studio proposals, 95–98, 121–125, 150–151, 170 in studio documentations, 56–63 texture definition, 29–32, 82–83 in studio proposals, 113–114, 145–146, 165–166, 175 in studio documentations, 69–73 timbre definition, 29–32, 82–83 in studio proposals, 99–101, 126–131, 152–153, 171 in studio documentations, 69–73

theoretical framework. see framework theory constructivism, 13–14 meta-communication, 10 multiple intelligences, 27–28 musical play, 14–15 theory to practice in the art studio, 40–41 Turkish Rondo, 95 Vecchi, Via, 27–28, 39, visual arts 7, 10, 27, 29–33, 40, 45, 51, 54 Vygotsky, Lev, 9–11, 14 Wiggins, Jackie, 13 Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, 129