Turning their ears on.keeping their ears open

Exploring the impact of musical activities on the development of pre-school age children. Research project commissioned by Youth Music.

Summary

[.]

Youth Music wants every child to begin a life-long musical journey from the earliest possible moment. The first fruits of this journey will be a positive impact upon learning and development by the time they reach primary school. To this end, Youth Music wants to ensure that every child under five years of age has access to music-making opportunities.

There were two major components to the research:
1. Research into the impact of long-term, structured music-making activities on the development of pre-school age children
2. Collection of data to inform a better understanding of issues around training for the musicians and early years workers and the sustainability of the work for early years workers between and after musicians' engagement with the settings.

The research was based upon two specially commissioned music projects for young children aged 0 to 5. One based in three early years settings in North Tyneside in the North-East of England and the other in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk centred around six early years settings within the Sure Start Children's Centre and a mother and toddlers group in Great Yarmouth. Youth Music and the Northumbria University team started discussions in October 2002 and the research and music projects were commissioned in January 2003. The work between musicians and settings started in April 2003 in North Tyneside and in May 2003 in Great Yarmouth. The music projects ended in Great Yarmouth at the end of March 2005 and in North Tyneside at the end of July 2005.

In drawing together this research we have reached a number of conclusions about the impact of investing in musicians working within Sure Start and Early Excellences Centres. In particular we have been observing the impact on very young children (0-5) of taking part in regular, structured, active and creative music-making (rather than passive listening/watching), led by an expert musician with skills in working with this age group, over an extended period of time.

From the findings we have concluded that regular weekly or bi weekly contact over a two year period between a musician and very young children (0-5) does impact on several areas of these children's development.

[.]

Key findings: Communication skills and understanding
The findings from the analysis of the data relating to development of communication skills and understanding in this study have been broadly categorised into the following seven areas. The questions on the profiling sheets related directly to the areas of speech development, following instructions, increasing vocabulary, rhyming and anticipating words and phrases, engaging in conversations and understanding stories.

Increasing amount and quality of vocalisation developed through singing activities

• Children of this age group seem to find it easier to remember long strings of words, phrases and sentences when they are 'attached' to a tune. They develop the ability to do this through song before they are able to do it in speech.

Increased vocabulary

• Children learn new words through learning the words to songs.
• They learn action vocabulary through singing songs which have actions.
• They learn positional vocabulary similarly, eg 'over', 'under', etc.
• They develop descriptive vocabulary to help them to describe the sounds of the instruments and the music.

Development of understanding of rhyming through singing

• Singing rhyming phrases in songs helps the children develop an understanding of words that rhyme. They can then be encouraged to swap rhyming words in familiar songs for fun.
• The children were being actively encouraged to delight in the rhyming of the words and to anticipate what would come next. They progressed quickly with this particularly when the musicians made this aspect a focus of singing a song.

Increased ability to listen and respond to spoken instructions in connection with a musical activity

• The children quickly got used to the expectations and the need to follow instructions. They realised that they would not be included in a turn with, for example, the instruments or the musical game if they did not follow the instructions. The repetitive structure/format of the music sessions and expectations of the musicians supported this development aspect EYWs expressed surprise at how good the children were in following instructions.

Learning how conversation works through 'call and response' activities

• Listening and responding and taking turns to 'speak' in musical terms (sing, play or clap) their phrase or rhythm, helps to develop an understanding of how conversation works.
• The turn taking within the music activities encouraged the children to become aware of others' musical responses and to join in musical conversations. EYWs were surprised that the very young children (up to two-years-old) were actually listening to what others were playing or singing and were prepared to wait for their turn or to join in with the others.

Development of greater control of their voices through learning to pitch notes - high and low - and pitch match (sing in tune)

• The exercising of the mouth, tongue, teeth and lips through the breathing, blowing and voice percussion work with the musicians were all activities designed to support the children's control of their voices. These activities were observed to be developing the children's vocal abilities and this was commented upon by parents and EYWs in relation to their speech development. In one setting the musician worked very closely with the speech therapist and produced a CD of songs to support vocal ability and strengthen the children's voices.

Increased ability to tell their own stories and engage their imagination through creating their own songs

• There are many examples of story songs initiated by the children. The musicians picked up on these and developed them. Many children naturally engage in this activity but this can quickly disappear if the activity is not valued. The musicians were able to support the children in this and the children responded by continuing to sing to themselves but also to show these 'story songs'.

(Extracted from 'Turning their ears on.keeping their ears open. Exploring the impact of musical activities on the development of pre-school age children', Youth Music research report, 2006)