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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 10 2007 at 3:49pm | IP Logged
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After seeing this post about Montessori Music, and reading this blog post praising Waldorf Music, I wanted to discuss how do you present music to your preschoolers and young school children (K, 1-2)?
Can you describe the music approach in each? Can you compare Montessori approach to Waldorf for the younger age?
And does introducing the classical music, folk songs, musicals fit in either category? I'm not saying I need the blessing of either style, just curious....
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CrunchyMom
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I'll start by saying that I was a music major in college, but this doesn't make me an expert! I don't know a lot about music as taught in either school (Waldorf or Montessori).
It seems that a lot of people who are drawn to Montessori are also drawn to Suzuki which teaches young children music "naturally" as if they were being taught a language. So you might look into that some if you are interested in formal instruction.
As far as what I do in the home, I play good music. My oldest doesn't have so much interest in music and told me to "stop it" when I tried to sing to him (once he could talk, fussing or crying prior). Though, he does like it a bit more now. He wouldn't let me read to him for the longest at all, either, but now one of his favorite stories for me to read is Rikki Tikki Tavi.
I played Saint Saens carnival of the animals and I encouraged him to pretend he was the animals. I think its also important that they move to music, and its pretty hard to stand still with a good waltz on. We also play a bit of folk and other types of music (Johnny Cash, Abba, Lorenna Mckennet). I think just watching you parents enjoy good music goes a long way for instilling an appreciation for it.
I like the ideas in the Waldorf for having songs for certain rhythms of the day. It sounds like a beautiful tradition to this singer, lol.
My son is also behind in speech and can't really put words together well enough to sing a song on his own, but I'll sing Twinkle, Twinkle and let him fill in "star" at the appropriate times (which, the melody is Mozart by the way  ). We do the same with the old lady who swallowed a "fly", though its not quite so high brow as Mozart, lol.
I think that the approach to music in the different theories is much like their approaches in other ways. Montessori seems very methodical in wanting the child to experience perfect pitches and understand theory. Waldorf seems to desire that music stir their soul and inspire their imagination. I really think a fair amount of both would be the way to go!
I am very interested in seeing if others have more sources to share that would explain in detail the approach of them both, especially that in the preschool level.
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Mary G
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| Posted: Sept 13 2007 at 8:21am | IP Logged
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I don't use any of the Waldorf music or Montessori -- I just have classical on when they're doing quiet or table work ... we also have Beethoven's Wig cd that we play for fun. Another they REALLY like is Classical Cats.
We do have alot of Irish and other folk music that my dh and I enjoy ... we'll often have those playing and the kids listen/dance as they feel "moved".
I guess, the bottom line is we play music that we enjoy and the kids enjoy it because they're sharing with us. Except for when we're doing composer study (which we don't do as regularly as we should  ), music is an environmental thing ... in the car or during quiet times ... with no articifica structure to the learning .... yet, anyway 
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SusanJ
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I was a music major in college as well, and my husband comes from a family of professional musicians (though neither of us is very musically active these days). I never studied Music Ed. and I know nothing about Montessori or Waldorf. All that said . . .
I would just play music a lot. We have a four-CD changer that gets changed daily and plays pretty much constantly. We like a huge variety of music, so it's a pretty eclectic mix--but it's mostly what most people call "classical". Start with what your family already enjoys and branch out from there, encouraging your son to move to the music. Our son is almost three and we often point out what is being played. He can pick out instruments pretty accurately (I don't know if this is normal for his age or not), and sometimes recognizes the performer (for example, anytime he hears Bach Cello Suites he would say it was Yo Yo Ma because that's the recording we have).
We also have lots of instruments around and we try to find things that are durable, not too expensive, and produce authentic tones. We have lots of different whistles and flutes and also a harmonica and lots of percussion. We own a piano, bu it is, unfortunately in storage right now. I'd love to have a xylophone or something with good tone quality. It's fun to watch our son develop a sense for different pitches just from playing around with stuff.
Learning to play an instrument will most definitely improve music appreciation, but it can really become a battle. I would see if your son has interest or aptititude before enrolling him in classes. Lessons are really useless if you don't practice regularly.
I would also add that our family distinguishes greatly between what we listen to on the CD player and what we "perform". We mostly play high quality, "classical" music but we sing all kinds of silly songs to each other and my husband plays lots of folk music on the guitar. I think making music together as a family has a lot of value and should not be restricted to performances of Beethoven Sonatas on the baby grand at Christmastime.
This might be a bit convoluted--hope something helps!
Susan
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CrunchyMom
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SusanJ wrote:
I think making music together as a family has a lot of value and should not be restricted to performances of Beethoven Sonatas on the baby grand at Christmastime.
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What a great distinction!
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aiereis
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I don't know anything about the Waldorf or Montessori styles either, but I did want to agree with Susan. My husband and I think that it is very important to expose our children to quality music and give them the opportunity to play musical instruments.
When my son turned two he was given a xylophone that also had an octave of piano keys on it. He loves that and "sings" along while he plays. He also has a wooden flute similar to a recorder and we plan to get him a harmonica for Christmas. We recently got a piano and he plays and sings on that as well. He doesn't know any real songs, but he doesn't bang or pound on it either. We sing with him and he often asks us to sing more or to play a song on the piano. We happen to be in a temporary polyphonic choir practicing for a friend's wedding and he loves listening to everyone sing.
All of this is just an introduction to music, a Real Learning music appreciation type thing. When he gets older we will give him piano lessons and hopefully find a children's choir for him to be in.
--Christina
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4Real Forums : The Arts in the Everyday
Topic: Music for the Younger Crowd
