Musical Monday V: Sing

​Happy Musical Monday!  This week I am going to start digging deeper into the connections between Every Child Ready to Read (ECRR)  and Education Through Music (ETM).  

ECRR has five early literacy skills: reading, writing, talking, playing, and singing.  Today, I am going to focus on how ETM can be used in library programming to help build the early literacy skill of singing. 

Previous Musical Monday Posts:
Education Through Music
The Song Experience Game
Early Literacy in ETM
ETM & ECRR

The Voice: A Built-In Instrument

​The first musical instrument a child knows is their own voice.   Starting from infancy, human beings begin playing with sound.  The babbling sounds that are often emitted from babies is their way of exploring their native language.  In her book, Aesthetic Foundations for Thinking Rethought Part I: Experience, Mary Helen Richards says, “we imitate what we hear most often.”  Children will explore and play with the sounds that they are supplied with from caregivers, children’s program characters, and popular music.

Children are basically born with an innate desire for music making.  As caregivers, educators, and librarians it is vital that we provide children with joyful and meaningful music making experiences.

The Amazing Auditory System

​Singing is vital to the study of language. According to Mary Helen Richards, Inner hearing is defined as the “making of hearing images”.  When a child repeatedly sings a song they begin to internalize the song.  They can “play” the song in their head without singing the song out loud.  

Singing and moving to music is the best way to boost inner-hearing.  A child that has strong inner-hearing can think of (and hear) all of  the words that rhyme with “bat.”  When you attach movement to the song, the child is able to recognize that “what I say is what I do”.

So, it’s important to start putting that auditory system to work when children are very young.  Storytime provides opportunities for young children to sing, move, say nursery rhymes, interact with their caregivers and peers, and practice the sounds of language!  

Who knew that one 20 or 30-minute storytime could do so much for the inner hearing of a child?

via GIPHY

​Beware the Low Register

via GIPHY

​It is tempting to sing in the same register as your speaking voice. 

It is detrimental to the vocal cords when someone is consistently singing and talking in a low register.   Let’s think of it this way - if you have ever had to facilitate back to back storytimes sans microphone, you may be familiar with the feeling of scratchy and achy vocal cords.  Your voice sounds raspy and your throat feels raw and unpleasant.  

Head Voice
This is where finding the “Head Voice” comes in handy.  To find your head voice, say “A -Ha!” The spot where your voice lands on “a!” is the note that you will begin to sing/speak in.   

For the young ears of a child, it is easier for them to hear and process sounds that are produced in a higher register.  Since children imitate the sounds they hear, we also want to model good vocal habits for them too.  We want them to have healthy vocal chords that have command over their voices for the times when they have to read aloud, recite a poem, give a speech, or lead a business meeting.

Everyone Can Sing

​Mary Helen Richards said it beautifully “Everyone can sing - everyone can move to music.”  When I hear caregivers tell me “I’m not a good singer” because they were told at some point by an adult that their singing voice wasn’t “good enough” - it breaks my heart. 

We want to establish an environment in our storytimes that encourages and celebrates singing.  There is no judgment, only joy.   

Singing in Storytime

Mary Helen said, “Song belongs to every person in the same way that his mother tongue belongs to him”.

Song in storytime has several benefits:

• Encourages the eploration of sound and language
• Organizes language
• Simplifies language so that child can make it their own
• Focuses attention
• Boosts motivation because it is intriguing (and fun!)
• Creates a joyful atmosphere that delights in music-making

Song holds the power of language.  Singing with children is the key to unlocking that power.  Song makes language accessible to children.  When we think about ECRR, children cannot write, talk, or read if they do not have a strong foundation in their native language.  Song is the vehicle that we can use to help children develop their auditory and speech-processing systems so that they will be great readers, writers, and communicators.

As Mary Helen Richards said, “Song is a catalyst for communication.” 

Song in Practice: Lapsit

Name Song - Oh, I Know

from Education Through Music
To the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"

I began every lapsit storytime with this song.  I would sing the names of the babies and caregivers.

A Bouncing We Will Go

from Let’s Do It Again by Mary Helen Richards (adapted for Lapsit by N. Lawton)
To the Tune of "The Farmer in the Dell"

​A bouncing we will go
A bouncing we will go,
Hi-ho the derry-o! 
A bouncing we will go.

A rocking we will go
a rocking we will go,
Hi-ho the derry-o!
A rocking we will go.

A creeping we will go,
a creeping we will go,
Hi-ho the derry-o!
A creeping we will go.

Other verses: tickling, swaying, flying

Bounce Old Squirrel

from Let’s Do It Again by Mary Helen Richards (adapted for Lapsit by N. Lawton)
To the tune of "Hop Old Squirrel"

Bounce old squirrel  (bounce baby on knee)
Listen, listen               (touch baby’s ears)
Bounce old squirrel   (bounce baby on knee)
Listen now                   (touch baby’s ears)

Sway old squirrel       (sway with baby on lap)
listen, listen                (touch baby’s ears)
sway old squirrel        (sway with baby on lap)
listen now                    (touch baby’s ears)

Lift old squirrel       (lift baby in air or lift baby's arms)
listen, listen                   (touch baby’s ears)
lift old squirrel         (lift baby in air or lift baby's arms)
listen now                     (touch baby’s ears)

Tickle old squirrel        (tickle baby)
listen, listen                  (touch baby’s ears)
Tickle old squirrel        (tickle baby)
listen now                     (touch baby’s ears)