Four little children have served as special consultants to Come Children, Sing! from their earliest days of life. These precious little ones, all under the age of five, continue to provide their grandmother with a unique laboratory for the observation of music learning. The grandchildren are all involved in CCS Online Music Classes with their parents. Seeing the children keep pace musically without their grandmother is exciting, and makes the process of music learning appear even more transparent.
Every musical context provides a unique window from which to view music learning. Consistencies across contexts of early childhood music, children’s chorus, elementary classroom, high school and college chorus, and parent and teacher education helps to further uncover the process of music learning. Each of these settings, however, requires that the students come to the teacher, leaving much of themselves behind as they enter the classroom. In contrast, Grammy’s Laboratory provides for the observation of music learning in the intimacy of the family context and in relation to the development of the whole child. The parallels between the processes of music development and language development come alive in the home environment, and their relationship to physical, social and emotional development make an interesting backdrop for the study of music learning.
The home context offers new challenges for the seasoned music educator. A teacher can charm little children to engage in classroom activities, with group participation discouraging two year old contrariness and three year old needs to be in charge. In the home, however, two year old behavior is in full bloom and three year olds want to lead the way, so a teacher’s charm doesn’t necessarily get a grandchild to elicit musical response on cue. Time with Grammy might stimulate musical interaction on one occasion and reading books or playing with blocks or trains on another—no matter what Grammy’s intent might have been.
A teacher in a classroom cannot spend extended time in musical interaction with just one child, yet has the benefit of children in the classroom serving as models for the others. There are no peer models for the oldest siblings in the home, nor other children waiting for turns. One-on-one musical interaction can go on as long as the child cooperates, or as long as Grammy outlasts, if not outsmarts, a child’s determination to be obstinate, giving time and opportunity for the child to get back on track musically.
A teacher can plan to record or videotape musical interaction in a classroom, whereas in the home, little children are not only distracted by audio and video recorders, they want to play with them. A third party with the camera is equally distracting to intimate musical interaction, and hidden cameras limit the area of activity, hence the child and movement. The unpredictability of the child at home further sabotages planned efforts to digitally capture musical behavior. Most grandparent/grandchild musical interaction happens spontaneously, so the best laboratory examples are not digitally recorded.
This rich laboratory for the study of music learning fully supports findings from many years in the classroom and further illuminates the process of music learning—all in the context of the joy of grandchildren. Grandmothers are always happy to show snapshots of the grandchildren. Grammy Lab offers musical snapshots.
