Grandchild #2, 4 years, 6 months, spontaneously sings quite a repertoire of songs throughout the day—children’s songs, Beatle songs, and any other she hears. She surprised Grammy by including a song Grammy introduced to her that day. The little girl’s renditions of Beatle songs were enough to recognize the songs, as were those of songs she learned in preschool. Most of the time, she approximates melodies, seemingly led by the words. Amidst the on-again, off-again tunefulness appeared a high pitched, fully tuneful rendition of “You Are My Sunshine,” reaching a G an octave and a 5th above middle C. Then back to approximating Beatles songs, totally unaware of tunefulness or lack thereof.
Rhythm dialogue in a couple of long car rides drew out very sophisticated rhythms from the four year old—more advanced than those introduced in the online music classes. She was so secure in meter that even her trying to use funny sounds with her improvisations didn’t shake the underlying meter. The fact that Grammy was in the front seat and the child in the back encouraged the spontaneity of her response, as this child easily clams up musically in face to face encounters.
She initiated singing throughout the day, yet became shy about singing a song with piano accompaniment while sitting next to Grammy at the piano. The only way she was willing to sing along was by making a turtle puppet sing with the piano. The turtle sang beautifully on pitch when he sang, but he, too, was quite shy. Of course, the child later sang the song tunefully without accompaniment. Her on-again, off-again tunefulness and her hesitation to sing on cue are typical of the age. We often learn more about a young child's musical behavior by witnessing it rather than by trying to initiate it.
