 We can all sing.
The most beautiful sound for a baby is the loving, gentle voice of a loving, gentle adult. Your baby doesn't care if your voice is "In tune" . By singing, you are already in tune with your child. My earliest memory is as a baby, under the stars, my father rocking me gently next to his face. He was singing me a jazz version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" - a recording on a "78" record he used to play all four of us as children. That memory is so profound; I can still hear the voice of my twenty-four year old first-time father, full of so much love, care, tenderness and happiness. He is almost eighty years old now, still so full of love, care, tenderness and happiness. Sing to your baby, sing, sing, sing .... By the way I found that jazz version of Goldilocks on iTunes last year! It's brilliant, sassy and great to sing! It's called "The Three Bears" performed by the Ray Ellington Quartet - hilarious, wonderful, brilliant musicians!
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 Babies respond to every type of music; however, here we enter the gates of taste and preference.
For me, the most precious music for a baby is a loved one's gentle singing voice. Beyond that, there are so many styles of music. The benefits of nursery rhymes and certain pieces of classical music are widely-acknowledged: however, the music that brings you joy (country, folk, gentle pop, ethnic, indigenous, composed, the list is probably endless ... ) is the music you can share with your very little one. Gently and mindfully, of course. And at a comfortably low volume. From my perspective as a classical musician, Bach, Mozart, Handel and Beethoven are ... The Baby Kings! I'm partial to heavy metal, and there are many brilliant and gifted musicians who choose metal as the means by which to express themselves. However my preference would be that absolutely no heavy metal (or sub genres of) should be played - at any volume - to a baby. In my experience, the thrash - no matter how well executed - can be distressing, upsetting and literally physically shocking to a wee one. Bathe a baby in gentle sounds. Give them a peaceful base from which to choose their own music in life. Just sayin' ...  I'm often amazed at what I see over the course of a year when sharing music with groups of babies and their families.
Although the benefits of exposure to certain types of music before and after birth are well documented, watching babies come to innately understand the joy, anticipation and wonder of music completely moves me every time. I usually share music with babies aged from six months of age onwards. Parents, carers and families sing while we clap, tap, shake hands, roly-poly arms, wave hands and clap again - and that's just the first of 45 minutes of moving, instrument playing, allegro and largo walking, rhyming, gentle bouncing, folk dancing, lullaby listening. There is an innate connection there that arises for each child - each has their own experience of it even at such a young age. We all know the many benefits of music for young children in all areas of learning and development. For me, the greatest wonder is the innate, unspoken connection I see in each child - it is beautiful and indefinable. A seed is planted in a soul. |
Danielle Danielle Joynt is one of Australia's leading early childhood music teachers. Archives
July 2016
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