Here is a recording of impromptu rhythm reading with Grandchild #1 at 3 years 7 months. He was more interested in playing with the microphone, but became distracted enough by the notation to read with Grammy. He was true to form in wanting to call the shots, directing which Rhythm Storybook to read and when. Each Rhythm Storybook has a vehicle on the cover so children can easily tell them apart and select their favorites.
There are a number of things in this recording to observe about this child’s musical processing. You can hear that he is really not ready to be going back and forth from Duple to Triple meter, as he attempts one meter with his musical imagination still in the other. Yet as the recording goes on, he seems to get more comfortable alternating meters. The two little Rhythm Storybooks included only Macro and Micro beats, but he is obviously trying to work through a Division pattern, which falls in place for him in Duple meter but doesn’t quite transfer to Triple meter. Still, his musical mind knows there is a similar pattern in Triple meter that should fit. Grammy’s response was much as it would be to help a child pronounce a word he was trying to use. You can hear him also play briefly with the relation of tonal to rhythm, apparently deciding tonal didn’t fit.
The child’s rushed tempo and lack of weight on Macro beats in some sections is a function of notation distracting the musical mind. This child is usually securely in the meter and tempo when chanting without notation. It was almost as if he realized that he stayed better in the meters when Grammy read with him—that he still needed training wheels.
Just as with language, the child is “reading” what he knows rather than what is on the page. He is to the point of understanding that the print represents what he knows in sound, but does not yet understand the direct correlation. He is demonstrating “reading readiness” behavior. His proud delivery of the numbers he sees in the notation shows his awareness of the relationship between print and numbers, even though the numbers aren’t relevant to his music reading.
This unedited recording captures the joy of Grammy’s Laboratory.
Who? Hey! Who? |
