Music and Creative Arts for Preschoolers Music, movement

Music and Creative Arts for Preschoolers
    Music always seems to have the ability to evoke some type of response or participation from people of all ages and cultures. Therefore, it is not by accident that music, movement, and the creative arts are discussed here together. They are linked by commonalities of appreciation, enjoyment, free expression, discovery, engagement, and uniqueness. There is little that is right or wrong when children participate in activities in these essential areas. Rather, young children have opportunities to express their own individuality and imagination more fully and take pleasure in the very acts of creation. In these developmental areas, the end product is not as important as the participation in the creative event.
    Music, movement, and the creative arts also are connected because they provoke strong emotions, especially in young children. When participating in activities in these areas, children activate both the right and left sides of the brain, stimulating and expanding all the brain’s cognitive, social, and emotional regions.
    Therefore, it follows that not only will young children freely enjoy and participate in activities that evoke strong feelings, but they also will remember and learn from these activities. A strong art foundation builds creativity, concentration, problem-solving, and self-discipline. The creative arts have a significant place in a preschool framework for several reasons.
    First and foremost is the core role that all the arts play in the aesthetic development of every child. The active engagement and enjoyment of children as they participate in any visual and performing art activity is valued in itself, although it also may lead to further appreciation and knowledge of the beauty inherent in the wide spectrum of artistic creations. Children live in the moment of their participation and interpret their reactions and emotions through movement, song, or other artistic responses. Recent discussions in early childhood circles have focused on the necessity for more opportunities for preschoolers to develop an understanding and appreciation of art. Preschoolers are not too young to begin to use appropriate language to describe what they see and do in their own artistic work and observe in the work of others. Modeling specific descriptive language will widen preschoolers’ receptive and expressive vocabularies while deepening their understanding of the concepts that are portrayed in thart itself. Educators need to help children develop an appreciation of the arts and the vital role that they play in children’s lives and environments. Children should learn how their world is brightened and enriched by the broad diversity of art forms.
    Second, music and movement easily lend themselves to transition times during the preschool day. Preschool teachers change activities quickly to hold the attention of their students, and music and chants help to signal that changes will take place. They prepare the children’s minds and bodies for new activities and new demands for attention. They also are an important part of routines that provide a safe structure and a nonthreatening environment for young children away from their families. Children feel more comfortable when they begin to recognize a routine and realize that the same thing happens in the same way every day for some parts of the school day. For example, in one preschool, the children know that first thing every morning, they will get their personal book boxes and "pretend to read" until they hear the teacher start the welcome song. Then, they put the book boxes away and head for the circle meeting place. These times of routine and structure reassure each child that there is a certain amount of predictability each day.
    However, these times also enable children to be more confident in taking risks at other times when there is a new activity or a new person in the classroom. For example, preschools with pre-established routines and procedures allow children to feel more comfortable and less threatened when there is a guest or substitute teacher in the classroom. There is probably a song for every routine in the preschool day and many versions of each song. Preschool teachers should find ones that they like and that their students find easy to learn and sing. However, learning a new routine song often can be fun and challenging for all. Common routine songs include ones for welcoming or saying "good morning;" naming the days of the week or the months or seasons of the year; and noting the time to clean up, get into a circle, do show and tell, listen, or go home.
    Third, all the creative arts have a powerful and effective link to literacy acquisition and learning in other curricular areas. When children are developing their musical capabilities, they also are strengthening their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical domains. The active engagement and interest of the children as they participate in musical activities help to trigger new learning or cement their mastery of other concepts while also being fun and memorable. Music activates more than the right brain. It elicits emotional responses, receptive or aggressive states, and stimulates the limbic system. The limbic system and subcortical region are involved in engaging musical and emotional responses. But more importantly, research has documented the limbic part of the brain is responsible for long-term memory. This means that when information is imbued with music there’s a greater likelihood that the brain will encode it in long-term memory. Although we will present music, movement, and the creative arts separately in the following sections, children participate in them as part of an integrated experience.