Music and Movement Exploration - Research Paper Example

Music and Movement Exploration Number Music and movement Exploration Children develop musical and movement skills by exploring different songs and dancing to the tunes. While taking part in music exploration events, children build their bodily, vocabulary, social-emotional, and mental capacities. Since the advent of high-stakes examinations in the modern times, many people are exploring music’s potential to enhance cognitive growth as a basis for encompassing music in the syllabus. Nonetheless, the singing and movement exploration form an imperative part of the current cultural world, and any learning process without them is an insufficient education and a recipe for educationally half-baked members of a society. Music and movement exploration are as vital as other disciplines, in the sense that they are an important way of new knowledge acquisition, cultural awareness and expression. Even without the intervention of teachers, children have natural capacities, which are evident in instinctive music exploration and creation. Nonetheless, when children are exposed to music and movement exploration through singing, playing accompaniments and dancing, they transform into more proficient persons with better musical skills early on in the course of their growth and development (Gagen, & Getchell, 2006). In addition, when young individuals listen from time to time to a particular genre of music, they become fond of the given music for the rest of their life. It is imperative, therefore, to introduce children to new music and movement, which then widens the number of songs they know through exploration. Exploration through learning to sing and dance to music from another ethnicity or culture other than their native one makes children more tolerant to new ideas, thus it stimulates learning. Cognitive Development Koops (2014) noted that a number of research studies have established a linkage between music capabilities and better performance in the classroom. Notably, music exploration can help in all aspects of development of children. According to Soccio (2013), children who actively take part in systematic and cohesive music programs substantially augmented their cognitive, vocabulary, motor and social-emotional capacities. This implies singing applicable songs can enable children to explore and obtain new knowledge in science, language and math more easily (Kenney, 2013). Carefully targeted explorative music and movement can also complement theoretical knowledge of history and geography, especially if the songs and movement are enriched with important themes in a particular era or landforms. Apart from improving children’s knowledge of other subjects, music and movement exploration can also sharpen a child’s memory; this way, memory of events in life that have been integrated in music happens more easily (Shilling, 2002). By organizing music mathematically, the otherwise hard to grasp maths formulae become more easily remembered and in turn, the music becomes part of the math. By counting beats, children ably improve their correspondence skills. As the learners recall a sequence of sounds or movements of their body parts from top to bottom, the young learners acquire skills which enable them to arrange things in order. According to Koops (2014), there is also a significant link between music-movement exploration and spatial-temporal intellect in children. With the arts, children become better-equipped to visualise spatial items, process the information and implement it. An assessment of several studies revealed that this association yielded better outcomes in children who are exposed to music notation (May, 2013). The outcomes of other research studies revealed that when researchers apportioned preschool minors to computer classes, piano and singing classes or no such lessons at all, children who were enrolled in piano lessons registered more than 30% improvement in spatial-temporal cognitive ability, whereas children in the other categories registered no new knowledge about deciphering objects (Young, 2007). Conversely, there are some findings showing that minors that play audience to classical tunes early in the course of their growth and development oftentimes show higher level of learning potential (Soccio, 2013). New researches have, however, steered clear of the findings: there is a research gap as to the association between paying audience to music in childhood and cognitive development or improved performance in school (May, 2013). But, unlike the adults whose brain development occurs by listening to music purposely to know more about how the music was created, children are basically rendered passive listeners with nothing much to gain out of it due to the lack of exploration. Motor Development As children make music, they undergo a significant growth and development of their fine motor capacities, body coordination, and the beats (Young, 2007). Music and movement exploration entice children to make body movements, which when done repeatedly, would help to strengthen the body muscles and the level of their endurance (May, 2013). Taking part in movement or body movement activities while singing adds to the ability of children to process sound, identify and make body movement which marry with the patterns of the rhythm. And, as young learners initiate movements in response to music, they bolster coordination and motor skills that succeed body flexibility. This way, children develop body consciousness and self-esteem (Suthers, 2008). Like music, body movement is a form of art and a way of sending a strong language to the audience in an expressive manner. In light of this, movement as part of music enables children to communicate feelings, ideas, cultural morals and beliefs. Language Development Like other forms of art, Shilling (2002) said music and movement exploration play the role of communication, conveying the singer’s mood, ideology, and philosophies or the literary value that is relevant to a specific event. As children play audience to music, they listen to sound variations, thus enabling them to explore and obtain knowledge not just one relating to the making of the music, but also to the development of speech (Gagen, & Getchell, 2006). Music has the potential to enable children develop their language competence as evident in the seamlessness of spoken language, pronunciation and explanation of the vocabulary. For instance, young learners who are engrossed in explorative music events such as recreating sound sequences, melody differentiation, and singing as integrated with motor actions and visual impression show a major build-up of vocabulary of the language which they know already and new language as well. Social and Cultural Development According to Soccio (2013), music and movement exploration connects minors with their cultural origins, thus enabling them to learn cultural beliefs and morals. Listening to, watching and taking a proactive role in music and movement also exposes minors to other historical eras and cultures, which then provide the chance to appreciate and identify with. Additionally, as minors learn music as a group, they take part in a figurative experience, where a number of instruments integrate to create a distinct sound that no single instrument could generate (Kenney, 2013). Through this slow but sure explorative, educational process, children obtain knowledge that for one to generate a pleasant music, he or she has to factor in unity and togetherness in work, irrespective of one’s social or cultural background. In the residences and within education facilities, where a common language is used for communication, it is advisable to explore sounds of different language or body movement through music (Gagen, & Getchell, 2006). This way, young children obtain knowledge by being deeply immersed in the performance process, through constant exploration and trial, through repetition and demonstration by action. Through exploring music from a different culture, the new experience enables the young learners to differentiate sounds, which then sharpens children’s ability to acquire the right knowledge and skills (May, 2013). By learning body movements which are synonymous with other cultures, minors develop a wide range of motor skills even as they become more socially, emotionally and culturally competent and tolerant. Conclusion Generally, music and movement exploration contribute to the cognitive, physical, language, and emotional development of children. By following the sounds which a child is unfamiliar with and making corresponding body movements, a child’s level of concentration is substantially bolstered. Music and movement is multi-cultural; practicing the music and dances of alien cultures, if properly integrated into the curriculum, serves to improve the collection of vocabulary of the children in question and improve language development as well as the general readiness of children to learn. Young children obtain new knowledge by being directly involved in explorative singing and dancing where innovating, imitation and practice is the game. As such, an effective early childhood music and movement exploration program must be part of the comprehensive learning process, cutting across the syllabus in order to stimulate effective learning processes. Overall, music and dance are inseparable with effective learning in children. References Gagen, L., & Getchell, N. (2006). Using ‘Constraints’ to Design Developmentally Appropriate Movement Activities for Early Childhood Education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(3), 227-232. Kenney, S.H., (2013). Moving Music, Mapping Music: Connecting Children to the Classics. General Music Today, 27(1), 40-44. Koops, L.H., (2014). Songs from the Car Seat: Exploring the Early Childhood Music-Making Place of the Family Vehicle. Journal of Research in Music Education, 62(1), 52-65. May, B.N., (2013). Public School Early Childhood Music Education: Challenges and Solutions. Shilling, W.A., (2002). Mathematics, Music, and Movement: Exploring Concepts and Connections. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(3), 179. Soccio, A. (2013). The Relation of Culture and Musical Play: A Literature Review. General Music Today, 26(3), 44-47. Suthers, L., (2008). Early Childhood Music Education in Australia: A Snapshot. Arts Education Policy Review, 109(3), 55-64. UPDATE: Applications of Research in Music Education, 32(1), 52-58. Young, S., (2007). Early Childhood Music Education in England: Changes, Choices, and Challenges. Arts Education Policy Review, 109(2), 19-26. Read More