Creating Centers for Musical Play and Exploration

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Kristen M. Kemple,
Jacqueline J. Batey, and
Lynn C. Hartle

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Musical play

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 Young children engage in music as play (Moorhead & Pond 1978; Neelly 2001). Though many early childhood educators may not consider themselves musicians or music educators, they generally do feel comfortable with the medium of play.

 When offered a variety of drums and strikers, children play with sound. By exploring and “messing around,” they discover they can make one sound by striking one drum and a different sound by striking another. Their drum play is supported because adults expect and allow for the “noise.”

 When young children hear music, they move to it. Supportive adults share their joy and delight in their fun, also listening and moving in response to the music. Once children learn to sing, they create their own melodies and invent their own words to familiar songs. Their song play is supported when adults demonstrate authentic interest, interact with children through song, and engage in their own playful song making.

 Play is central to early childhood education (Monighan-Nourot, Scales, & Van Hoorn 1987; Bredekamp & Copple 1997), and it is a primary vehicle for musical growth (Kenney 1997). When early childhood teachers recognize the playful nature of children’s musical activity, music education may look more like familiar territory. Young children engage in music as an exploratory activity, one that is interactive, social, creative, and joyful.
 Because young children engage in music as play, it makes sense to offer musical activities during choice time. Most early childhood classrooms have areas for dramatic play, building with blocks, reading books, and creating art. Why not a music center? Providing a center for musical activities is not an idea invented by the authors (see Moomaw 1997 and Andress 1998 for further examples of musical play activities). It is, however, an idea that is seldom implemented in early childhood classrooms. Most preschool programs offer few opportunities for exploring and experimenting with musical sound (Golden 1990; Tarnowski & Barrett 1992). Many of the musical play ideas described in preschool curriculum guides are in fact highly teacher directed and controlled, with narrowly defined expectations and possibilities.

 Play is voluntary and intrinsically motivated, whether the motivation is curiosity, affiliation, mastery, or something else. Play is episodic, characterized by emerging and shifting goals that children develop spontaneously and flexibly (Fromberg 1999). Opportunities for musical play are often sacrificed to teacher-controlled activities (Dorman 1990; Tsunady 2001). As a result, the musical experiences offered in early childhood programs can constrain musical creativity because there is too much teacher control and monitoring; children cannot make their own choices about what to do (Rohwer 1997).

 

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