Little children march to the beat of their own drummers developmentally. Some walk at nine months, others not until eighteen months. Some start talking before one year, others not until closer to two. Some become potty trained in their first year and a half, others not until three or four years old. We cannot claim giftedness or developmental delay, but rather, marvel at the process of normal growth and development and the uniqueness of the beat of each child’s own drummer.
A child who is tuneful and rhythmic at two years old, may, in fact, be musically gifted, but one who is not yet tuneful and rhythmic at seven years old is not necessarily “not gifted.” We need to learn from parents who scaffold developing speech at every step along the way. They take the child where he is on any given day, interact in the language, respond to the child’s meaning, help the little one say what he is trying to say, prompt appropriate words, challenge the child just beyond his level of development, and model competence in the language—all with the faith that the child is learning to speak, no matter what comes out.
A child with a steady diet of meters and tonalities and the scaffolding of a loved one who understands the process of music learning will become both tuneful and rhythmic. Like potty training, however, it will happen in the child’s own time frame. We provide the “sound environment” and informed coaching for the development of tunefulness and rhythmicity, but it is still up to the child’s own drummer as to when the individual child becomes tuneful and rhythmic—and whether tunefulness or rhythmicity comes first.
What goes into the young child’s musical mind is far more important than what comes out. Children understand so much more than they can deliver, just as with language, and with time and consistency of rich input and interaction, they will learn to sing tunefully and to chant and move rhythmically, just as they learn to speak. If children do not have the rich input in music or in language, however, what comes out will necessarily be limited. With appropriate input and musical interaction, music babble can take whatever time it needs to morph into tunefulness and rhythmicity.
Little children who have become tuneful or rhythmic without the input of meters and tonalities are not necessarily more developed than those who may not yet be tuneful or rhythmic. Too often it is assumed that children who remember all the words to a song are competent singers, or those who get the rhythm—usually attached to the words, are rhythmic, or those who approximate or sing the melody, though without meter or steady tempo, are musical.
Tuneful or rhythmic singing is often generated from imitation rather than from a sense of tonality or a sense of meter. Children are great imitators, and can learn to convincingly recite poems in a foreign language, complete with expressive nuances, yet not understand the language. Many can do the same rhythmically, tonally, or both. Words to songs often lead the way rhythmically and tonally, much like a GPS system leads the way without ever activating the driver’s sense of direction.
It is essential that we provide a “sound environment” for young children, rich in tonality and meter, and thoughtfully scaffold development at every step, meeting young children’s musical needs. Witnessing the developmental process within each child is then a wonder to behold, as the many parades of little children marching to the beat of their own drummers both amaze and amuse.
