The milestones of music development in young children are more related to input than output. The making of meaning, whether with music or language, is a fluid, ongoing process rather than a series of absolute stages. There is surely a continuum of development throughout the process of music learning in the young child, but the young child’s musical output is not nearly so much its measuring stick as the musical input.
A two year old’s speech is not necessarily an accurate demonstration of the child’s understanding of language, and a young child’s rhythmicity or tunefulness is not necessarily indicative of the child’s understanding of rhythm or tonal. A child who has been fully immersed in tonalities and meters over time is ready to be introduced to Rhythm Dialogue, Resting Tone Activities, Macro/Micro Beat Activities, and Tonal Dialogue, whatever the response. Children who have been saturated with macro/micro beat patterns in various meters over time are ready for division patterns in those meters, however primitive the response. The greater the input, the greater the output will become, but we must continue to advance the input, however meager the output.
As with language, the longer and richer the immersion and interaction, the more children deliver. Their response continues to increase and develop, while input keeps pace well beyond their level of output. Children who have been immersed in various meters and tonalities, and who have then had considerable experience with Rhythm Dialogue, Resting Tone Activities, Macro/Micro Beat Activities and Tonal Dialogue are ready to become immersed in rhythm and tonal syllables, whatever their rhythm or tonal delivery.
The “sound environment” then moves forward through the same process only with syllables—immersion in meters and tonalities—with syllables, Rhythm Dialogue—with syllables, Resting Tone Activities—with syllables, Macro/Micro Beat Activities—with syllables, and Tonal Dialogue—with syllables. Activities with rhythm or tonal syllables serve best when the activities include equal time on neutral syllables, reaffirming what children know in sound, securing the syllables to rhythm and tonal knowing, and meeting the musical needs of children at various points on the continuum of development. Once children are familiar with rhythm and tonal syllables through Rhythm Dialogue, Resting Tone Activities, Macro/Micro Beat Activities and Tonal Dialogue, they are ready to engage with Discrimination Activities between meters and between tonalities, and then to be “read to” musically, just as with language. At this level, rhythm or tonal narratives can be presented in notation and read by the teacher in rhythm or tonal syllables. As with language, young children will imitate music reading and writing behavior as they begin to make sense of notation.
The making of meaning in the process of music learning is parallel to the making of meaning in the process of learning language. The more we look to the process of learning language, the more we will understand the process of music learning, informed by our understanding of audiation and the idiosyncrasies of the musical mind.
Children learning to speak regularly surprise loving adults with new developments—two word phrases, sentences, quantum leaps. Parents respond to their child’s meaning rather than to a prescribed stage of development. Children developing rhythmically and tonally also regularly surprise loving adults with new rhythm and tonal development, and they need those adults to respond to their musical meaning rather than to a prescribed stage of development. Milestones in music learning are far more dependent upon the quality of input than on the quality of output.
