You're listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tarbet, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher at the elementary music summit each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher, and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show Notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher.com.
Hello, and welcome back to this episode of that music podcast, I am super excited to talk today about the power of movement, more specifically the power of movement in a preschool or kindergarten or some sort of early childhood setting. I think it's so important in general, but especially as elementary music teachers for us to make sure that we are including movement into our lessons. And it's more than just the the power of movement and how it can show musical concepts but also how we can make sure we're setting our students up for success. So we're really going to be talking about the significance in movement, especially in like I said that preschool in that kindergarten music education setting, we're going to be talking about how music can enhance the learning and the engagement for young children. So let's go ahead and dive right in. So let's talk about our first little, little area covers kind of little tidbit, which is the role of movement in early childhood development. The the real thing that comes down here is there is so much that goes into, you know, early childhood education. But it's really interesting to see how much of that kind of goes in with the gross motor and the fine motor skills. So obviously, when I when I say gross motor and fine motor, I mean gross motor things like maybe things that you might do in gym running, throwing a ball jumping, skipping, fine motor being more of those things like holding a pencil, tying a shoe, things like that are a little bit a little smaller, those are both really important. And we need to do more focus in the elementary setting, we tend to focus a little bit more on the gross motor things. In a music setting. Obviously, there are definitely fine motor things that we do. But a lot of what we do, what a lot of what I do in my classroom is that gross motor, not only getting those kids to practice those gross motor skills, but also allowing them the opportunity to move and explore through movement, I've really noticed that whenever I include more movement in my lessons, my students tend to be more successful and that can become for the kind of can really be called a couple different things. One, they're able to regulate their sensory needs a little bit better, because they're not we're making sure we're being developmentally appropriate, right. You know, think about kindergarten or preschool music, if we wanted them to sit crisscross applesauce for 40 minutes, they're probably not going to be successful at that. Now yes, we can have them sit crisscross and and have them you know, sitting sitting down during the lesson. But if we're wanting that to happen, the entire lesson, we're really our expectations are not matching our reality and the developmental appropriateness, appropriateness of that student. So movement can shoot can just have this huge opportunity for us to kind of piggyback on the learning that's happening in their classroom gross motor wise, but also allow us to unlock so much musicality through that movement. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about how we can use creative movement for musical learning. Obviously, there are definitely things that happen when you're doing more gross motor that are just like great for childhood development. But let's focus a little bit more on the musical things. When we're talking about creative movement, it can look a lot of different ways. For me, I tend to just get my students up and moving and responding to that music. So I might play music or you know, do something that they're able to listen, and then respond to that through some sort of movement. And you're gonna run into two different student type types of students, you're gonna run into students that are really gung ho about giving, getting ready and doing the movement and just like diving right in, and then you're gonna see some students that are really reserved, because this is not a, you know, maybe they're a little bit more, you know, black and white, and they kind of see that, you know, this, this or this, and there's not really in between. So we need to give them options. And it's kind of like giving them a vocabulary of movements, giving them away I always start with locomotor movements versus non local motor movements. And if you're not familiar with that local motor is when movements travel through space, and non local motor is when they are staying in one place. My students really pled they like to generalize that as standing still and moving, but the reality is you can move while being non locomotor. So I always start with that. Giving them the option because that alone is really going to give them the vocabulary to start building on their musical kind of understanding and their mood.
than understanding because they're going to, it's going to give them some different choices like right off the bat. Another way you can do that is show that give them examples. And when you see a student that's doing something that you think is like, Oh, that's great idea. That is when you're like, Oh, Johnny, I love how Johnny is moving in a very creative way. And just showing that there are more options. And the best way that I think you can do this, but especially for those students that are a little apprehensive, and they're like, I'm not really so sure about this thing, do it yourself, mu be the silly one, because then they don't have to worry about being the silly one. Because while Mr. Tarbet is already being silly, I guess I can let my guard down and realize that there really aren't any wrong answers. As long as I'm following the guidelines that we've been given one of my favorite activities to do with kindergarten, I use this in kindergarten, not necessarily in preschool, but I definitely you can adapt it for the younger ages, putting hula hoops around the room. And then having students when the music stops, find a hula hoop and they stand in the loop. The Hula hoops are always sitting on the ground, I always have to give that clarification. But it allows them the opportunity to experience the music and what I like to have them do is move to the music. So maybe it's walking to the beat, or you know, moving their arms or showing the you know, the highs, the lows, you're in between make their body big, make their bodies small, and see what they can come up with. Because a lot of times the kids can really get into that. And when the music stops, they find a hula hoop and they stay there. Sometimes you can make it alright, find a hula hoop and make a pose. But it doesn't need to be that complicated movement is a really good way to work with, you know, different concepts such as dynamics, tempo, it's so much easier, especially for a lot of these things where it's like changing the way that the music is interpreted. It's a really good way for us to allow the students to experience it rather than telling or out fortes loud and piano is quiet, we can actually have them show with their body, what it feels like. And they're able to do it. And because we're we're working with multiple modalities, we're not just saying, Alright, this is forte, it's loud, they're able to bring it into their body and actually show a kinesthetic connection to him, it's going to link into their long term memory a lot easier. And that's kind of like the whole point, right? We really want them to stick around we're, you know, kind of stick with the information that we have, rather than taking it in a one year, one year and maybe getting it for that class, but then having it completely disappear. The next. So how can we make movement even more fun, especially kind of taking it into that preschool level is instruments who doesn't love instruments. And I know some of you are probably sitting there going, Bryson, I don't want my preschoolers to have instruments, like that's just chaotic. And the reality is, yes, it's gonna be chaotic, it's gonna be a little interesting. It's going to be probably loud. So what can we do to set us up for success and also set those expectations like, Okay, I know this part is going to be loud. So I'm going to make sure I'm on the other end of this activity we have things aren't necessarily as sensory intense. One of my favorite instruments for preschool are those egg shakers, they're cheap, they make a wonderful sound, they can even be made by the students if they wanted to. And the students love. They love using the egg shakers, and it was an absolute blast. So those are great, because it's very obvious when there's a sound going and where there's a sound not. And it's also very hard to keep your eggs not making any sound if you yourself are moving. So a great way to do this. The same activity I talked about earlier with the the preschool or the kindergarteners and the hula hoops, is giving your students maybe their preschoolers maybe like kindergarten or whatever, giving them a an egg shaker and having them move. And when the music stops, or when you stop playing the drum or when you play a triangle, or whatever kind of your cue is, they have to freeze and make a pose. And they have to freeze in a way that their egg shaker is not making any sound. Another way you can do this is having a drum, you know, even if it's just you as a teacher, keeping the beat on the drum as you're moving along. And maybe as you go through having a student you know, play the drum as you pass them or whatever. When you're able to incorporate instruments into the movement, it can be really, really helpful. Rhythm sticks are another one another great way, you know, having them click the beat as they're walking the beat is another great way great connection. Sometimes they get really creative with the ways they can use the instruments to help make movements. For instance, if you give a kid to rhythm sticks, there's a very good chance you're probably going to have some kids that are instantly like lightsabers and goes zooming around. Now how can we reframe that in a way that's not a not probably going to hurt somebody, but also a little bit more appropriate to the music? That's where we can be like, hey, what if we did that in slow motion? And then we have students that are moving around that? Yes, it's just Jedi lifesavers, but super slow motion, but it's more appropriate for the music. It's more appropriate for the classroom setting. And they still get to be a jig a Jedi because let's be honest, sometimes our kids just want to swing around with some lightsabers right. And it's another way that we can use an instrument not necessarily as
As a sound maker, but as another way to respond to the music, this next part is for our duck cozy and friends out there. I'll be honest, I don't have much experience using any sort of Dalcroze inspired teaching. But I like like formally, already trained isn't that but I've loved what I've been able to gather from workshops and online and things like that, and use the power of storytelling and movement. One of my favorite things that my kids do is or that my kids asked for, is basically we call them piano stories. So essentially, these kind of started with my kindergarteners, like, oh, we have five minutes and these kindergarteners need to move. Basically, we have them make a story. So usually I have them starting and ending sleeping so that they're kind of more contained. So they already they're laying on the floor and they're sleeping. And then I play something on the piano that's kind of sounds like morning, and then they wake up and oh, they might have a loud sound. And they have to show me how they would react to that sound. Alright, and then I may say, All right, well, we have all our bunnies and our bunnies decided that they wanted to find some carrots. So they went hopping through the forest. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. And they're, you know, they're hopping through hopping around the room, they're showing that movement, and then oh, no DOM, the DOM DOM. And that it basically just another way of showing the movement. So basically, they have to respond to the music that I'm playing through their movement. Sometimes I'm telling a story specifically, sometimes all I say, Oh, they opened the door, and what did they find Johnny. And Johnny might say, zebra, or Johnny might say, a piece of bubblegum, and whatever, we just kind of go with it, right? We kind of take that through, and it becomes this really cool community event. And community like music making and movement experience, that just is so much more than just singing, dancing, I would be absolutely remissed if we talked about movement, but we didn't touch on making sure that that movement is inclusive. So whenever you're designing lessons that have movement, make sure that you are fully understanding the students that you have. For instance, if you have students with with limited mobility, or students that are in the wheelchair, or students that might have a low task stamina, how can we get them to make sure that they are still included that they can still do all the activities? How can we modify the curriculum? How can we modify those movements? How can we give them other options? How can we give maybe give them choices, so that they're you know, if they're one that it's really hard to make decisions, or maybe those decisions can cause undue anxiety, they're able to think of all the different things, I have to pick one of these two, those can be really ways to make it more accessible. And really understanding that when you have these inclusive practices in place, your classroom dynamics and your the self esteem of your students for all of your students, is greatly increased. So don't forget about that. And movement, there's nothing worse than creating a movement activity or coming up with something that you're like, wow, my kids are gonna love this. And then realizing that it's really setting up one or two of your students up there, setting them up for failure, and not really thinking that ahead. So make sure whenever you're doing any movement activities, you're always thinking ahead, so that you make sure that everyone can be a part of the music making or the movement or however, whatever whatever you're doing in your classroom. I can keep talking about this topic forever. But I do want to go ahead and wrap up this episode because we have so much more that we're going to be talking about this month here on that music podcast. So be sure to join us every Wednesday, we're gonna be listening here or wherever you're watching, maybe you are watching on YouTube, or you are listening here on iTunes or wherever. Join us next week we're gonna be diving into another topic related to music education. And if you haven't already, please leave us review. We really love those. Those really helped us understand you know what episode you want more of what how we can improve the podcast and it also just it feels nice to get a four or five star review. So I'd love to get some of those. Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you all next week.
