When you listen and move to music you can feel that some beats get more emphasis than others. Being aware of those beats helps us to hear and feel groupings within the music. It is similar to the way some poetry is structured in recurring, recognizable patterns. This week in class we experienced music in groups of two beats and in groups of three beats.
While it’s fun to “feel” the music together with your child, there are developmental benefits, too.
- Form and Patterning and learning to listen and compare forms and patterns also develops analytical thought, geometric relationships, etc. and we will play with patterns in dance and song more in Our Time (ages 1.5 to 3 yrs)
- By learning to feel the music in groups, your child will be able to better feel and express music as he/she matures, that includes feeling the downbeat of each measure/group of beats when singing/playing in ensembles. And you don’t have to wait until they are grown-up, because your little one will be enjoying ensemble play in Imagine That! (ages 3-5).
- Feeling the beat will help your child be a better music reader because it combines the visual skill of reading notation with the kinesthetic experience of feeling the beats in groups. Kindermusik uses multi-sensory learning experiences to meet the needs of each child and teach melodic and rhythmic dictation in Kindermusik for the Young Child (ages 5-7).
- Grouping beats together organizes the music in time. When we practice feeling the beats in groups, we are developing a sense of timing, a physical coordination within time, an important skill for playing sports, dancing with a ballet company, or marching in the school band.
Compiled by Theresa Case, whose Kindermusik program at Piano Central Studios in Greenville, SC, is proudly among the top 1% of Kindermusik programs worldwide.