Music, the Universal Language

This week in our Kindermusik Village class (Newborn-18 months) we've been singing a scale song. So very simple. Even the words are "La, la, la, la,......" The babies are curious about how we are singing one of their favorite words we find them staring at mom's mouth and tongue to see how she makes the "L" sound.

The tune is "Do ti la so fa mi re do, do ti la so fa mi re do, do re mi fa so la ti do, do ti la so fa mi re do." Or if this system makes more sense to you: C B A G F E D C, C B A G F E D C, C D E F G A B C, C B A G F E D C. It's just a major scale. Even if you've never studied music you still can sing it on one hearing. (Think the first line of "Joy to the World".)

But here's the math, and it's math that is in a different dimension because it's about the relationships between the frequencies of each pitch. Each note is a specific distance from the next; all being equal except for two intervals that are smaller (those are between the 3rd and 4th notes and the 7th and 8th notes).  Our ears are measuring the relationships of the distances of the pitches. By a very young age we can all understand this mathematical pattern with our ears and we can sing even sing it! And it's a pattern that's used all around the world.

Today in class little Alex was ready to sing the bottom of each phrase going down: "La!" Right on pitch!!! His ear is already calculating the distance! He's doing math! (Don't we LOVE it when kids can do math in their heads!?)

Watch this video of Bobbie McFerrin leading an audience in singing a "Pentatonic Scale". They were only given the directions you see in the video. And this audience is not specifically an audience of musicians, but rather of people who have an interest in science. He proves the universality of the language of music!

Keep singing!

PS here's a good read:

Do you drive?

Music has become the domain of the professional. When I ask people if they drive, they answer “Yes” in a matter-of-fact way. They don’t try to compare themselves to Peter Brock or Mario Andretti, because they see driving as a normal part of life, not as a specialist skill. With music it’s different. When I ask people if they sing, many people get a bit embarrassed. Usually they’re too shy to answer, assuming the “Yes” answer implies a degree of talent or fame.

And yet singing is far more common in our society than playing a musical instrument. People sing at parties and karaoke, sing Happy Birthday, and sing along with their albums in the car - at least when the windows are up. Learning to play a musical instrument requires a decision, a commitment, and hours of learning and practice. Few people see a reason to make that leap. Even if they learn an instrument at school, few find a reason to continue playing as an adult.

I’m sure that somehow we are missing out on something by leaving music to the professionals......

(read more from the Blog: Audio Tuts)

There's still a chance for you to come to a level of enjoyment in your music making....it is NOT too late. Adults can do it too. (It IS fun.)

Music Lessons at the Asheville Arts Center

More from the Audio Tuts Blog:

Around the Internet, musicians are talking about the benefits of playing an instrument. Here are some of their main thoughts:

• It is relaxing and relieves stress. When I was a teenager, my dad bought a cheap organ when away on a holiday. He wanted to learn how to play it because he thought it would relax him after work.
• It sharpens our thinking. Many studies show that learning to play a musical instrument helps our memory and thinking. For the young, it can increase their reading level and the development of certain parts of the brain. Learning to play a musical instrument has been linked to learning to think mathematically by some studies.
• It is an active interest. These days people spend a lot of their time being passive - watching TV and listening to music. Learning to play an instrument is very active, and gives people something worthwhile to do with their time.
• It teaches discipline. It is challenging, and requires you to stick at it day after day, practicing regularly. It teaches time management and prioritizing, and perseverance.
• It creates a sense of confidence and achievement. Eventually all of that practice pays off, and you learn to play a song on your favorite instrument, or perform in front of a crowd. That’s a great feeling, and it also teaches that hard work pays off.
• It’s enjoyable and fun. And it’s fun in different ways - playing on your own, jamming with others, and performing to an audience are all satisfying in their own way.

It's definitely a de-stresser and don't we all need that?

Duets anyone?
Yvette

Finding Order in Chaos....

Patterns, patterns everywhere......

The human mind searches for pattern. Patterns help us frame and share our understanding of the world. We see, hear, and feel patterns in the rhythms and routines of our daily lives. Patterns are anything with a unit - a shape, design rhythm, or motif - that repeats in a predictable and organized manner. (from the Brooklyn Children's Museum website.

We search for auditory patterns too. Can you figure out the pattern for "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"?

Here's a fun
Kaleidoscope pattern drawing game.

Ready for school:

Camilla counts the ringing steeple bell.

Have you noticed when children first know how to count to ten (oh, we are so proud!) they know really only the poetry of
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten!

You can tell this for sure if they point to their fingers while counting and assign 2 or more numbers per finger and skip some fingers to land on the last finger with the right number. They are missing the one-to-one ratio. So we are practicing just that right now by putting up one finger every time we sing the word EAT: I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!

And how about counting with our ears? With this we are refining our listening skills. Listening is different from hearing--we hear it all and choose what to really listen to. So this week we count things we can hear like microwave beeps, telephone rings, footsteps....what will you listen to?

In music we are always counting. Eventually these young musicians will count with their ears and by feeling the patters of beats. I think this is a very special skill. We are not saying 1,2,3,4 for every measure of a concerto! (some tough measures, yes....) Someday do you think the researchers will recognize that sensing the beats and the numbers is what develops our brains in special intelligent ways? I have a hunch!

1, 2, Ready, Play!

Hickory, dickory, dock! (clap)
The mouse ran up the clock. (clap)
The clock struck one, the mouse ran down, hickory, dickory, dock. (clap)

Here's the pattern: short, short, long.....
We are noticing patterns with our ears.
We are measuring time.

We are using the clapping movement to accentuate the math.
And this example of Hickory Dickory Dock is another way of experiencing 1+1=2 and 1+1+2=4 or a + a + 2(a)= b.


Even though we aren't using numbers or symbols in our class this IS all about math.
See the new information at the Kindermusik Website about the connections of music and math for the toddler's brain.

Here's another example: In Kindermusik Village we are singing a major scale from the top down. We sing it on LA (but think: Do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do, Do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do, do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do, ti, la, so, fa, mi, re, do.) Our ears and our babies ears hear the intervals and even at the tiniest baby age they are measuring the distance between the intervals. In music a close interval would be a 1/2 step and the next size would be a whole step. Between the top "do" and the "ti" it's a small interval. Between "ti" and "la" it's a whole steps. This is a pattern of measurements that is used in music around the world.

I believe we are preparing the spaces in the baby's brain to be ready for inserting the numbers when they study math later on. Playing with these patterns without numbers may make it easier to do all those crazy calculations those engineering majors do with x's, y's, z's and all those greek letters!!! Well that's maybe a hypothesis I might use for my next thesis paper....in my next life!