Music babble, like language babble, is a necessary part of the process of learning the language. Babble is more than nonsense sounds in music or language. It is a child’s attempts to speak the language, whether music or words; to imitate what he has heard; to make his own meaning. With music and with language, having been saturated in the Mother Tongue, young children understand much more than they can speak. It is through babble and through interaction with one who understands the language, responds to intended meaning, and models more developed skill at every stage that young children learn to speak the language, whether words or music.
Rhythm, tonal, or movement babble may occur in response to a musical narrative or a rhythm or tonal activity that invites musical response. Or, it may come seemingly out of nowhere, in response to a distant musical narrative or interactive music activity that is being replayed in the child’s musical imagination. You may hear children engage in music babble before, during, or after class, and you may hear reports from parents or teachers about children initiating music babble at home or in preschool. Spontaneous music babble may be a child’s invitation to you to engage in “playing music.” Whenever or wherever it might occur, music babble is the young child’s way of “practicing music.”
A young child’s speech travels the full gamut from the slightest imitative utterance to the independent making of meaning. A loving parent responds to a child’s meaning, no matter how primitive. A baby’s “da” may be filled out with, “Yes, Daddy is going to work.” The parent does not “correct,” but rather, expands the baby’s utterance, helping the baby say “what he means.” A thoughtful parent responds to the child’s precious attempts to speak, prompting slightly beyond the child’s level of development, inviting imitation and providing a model. Prompts like “Is this a book?” “What is this?” “Yes, this is a book,” through many repetitions, with or without a baby’s response, leads the child to associate the word with the object and verbalize that association. “Can you say, ‘Thank You, Grandma?” prompts the child to use the appropriate words in context, scaffolding the child so that he might get closer to using language appropriately by his own steam.
Similarly, we must scaffold children through music babble—respond to a child’s “musical meaning,” fill out a child’s musical utterance—help him to sing or chant “what he means,” establish or reinforce a meter or tonality, create opportunity for many repetitions and for imitation, model musical response, interact with a child’s primitive musical response and prompt it slightly beyond the child’s current level of development. It is by providing rich musical content in a variety of meters and tonalities, stimulating interaction with rich musical content through activities that invite music babble, imitation, and musically meaningful interaction with a loving adult, and scaffolding the young child’s making of meaning, that we lead children to tunefulness and rhythmicity, founded in musical understanding.
