Your children’s response to Rhythm and Tonal Activities may be active or passive. It is easy to assume that active participation demonstrates musical response and that the children like the Activity, and that doing nothing means that the children do not like the Activity. Pure rhythm and tonal speak to the musical mind. A class that simply attends to the Rhythm or Tonal Activity is demonstrating a very musical response. Some children may exhibit a “deer in the headlights” stare, showing extreme focus. Quiet, focused children in CCS Activities are trying to make sense of what they are hearing—musical sense—a sense of meter and a sense of tonality. We all tend to “concentrate” when we are learning. Great joy develops from musical understanding, with or without animated response.
Children who engage actively in Rhythm and Tonal Activities are being “moved” by the music to interact physically. This, too, is an important musical response. The longer your children are immersed in Rhythm and Tonal Activities, the longer they will engage with the Activities, whatever their response. You may be surprised by their increasing attention span.
You may hear children chanting “bah bah bah” or singing “too too too” anytime during the day. Those children are “practicing music,” and engaging in “music babble.” Children need to babble in order to learn language, and children need to babble rhythmically, tonally, and in movement in order to learn music. It is part of the process of becoming tuneful and rhythmic. Some of your children may appear to be tuneful or rhythmic, but children are great imitators. The difference between imitating tunefulness and rhythmicity and actually being tuneful and rhythmic is the difference between tracing a picture and being able to draw without a model.
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