Exploring New Concepts in Music
How To Introduce Tempo
Introducing musical tempo is one of the first simple musical activities you can do with children. It comes naturally as they instinctively want to move in time to music. And we know that when kids are moving they’re getting so much more than just exercise. They’re also developing their coordination, balance, concentration and cognitive abilities.
Movement to contrasting music helps to develop the parts of the brain needed for speech, reading and writing and even playing instruments. So try to do this as soon as they’re old enough to toddle around beating a drum or shaking maracas in time to the music.
Play a varied selection of music and while the children are moving to it, express the tempo and mood of the music. Asking them to describe their own movements to encourage their vocabulary.
Check out Best Classical Tracks for Marching or 14 Best Classical Music Tracks For Kids for a good selection of music with lots of contrast . You can’t beat the old favourites to get everyone moving!
Boosting Brain Development
Gross motor movement also has the added benefit of releasing our feel-good hormones in the form of endorphins. These endorphins boost energy levels and increase concentration. So any movement to music is really good for encouraging kids to be more attentive and alert.
Bundle Of Resources
If you’re looking for something with more detail and teaching guidance, our new Carnival of the Animals Bundle is ideal for getting kids moving to music. It’s also a really great way to introduce tempo to kids. They find it so much easier to grasp when it’s attached to animals, that they already understand gallop fast or crawl slowly. These 14 short movements each illustrate a different animal with their various individual characteristics. And it’s the variety and contrast that children love and find so appealing.
The Carnival of The Animals bundle of resources includes a full set of listening maps along with teaching notes, poems, colouring sheets and activities. These listening maps are a great way to highlight tempo and form and this visual interpretation for each movement really helps kids to connect with the music.
Kids soon grasp the idea, and learn to recognise the different tempos, and how they can change. But when practiced in this way with lots of movement, they’re having so much fun, they don’t realise it’s actually a theory lesson!
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