Music, Curriculum, and Early Childhood

Abstract

Music influences young children’s development and learning in many ways. Music as a communicative tool is a natural way to express emotions and thoughts (Yazejiian & Peisner-Feinberg, 2009). Not only is music intrinsically fun and motivating for young learners, it helps improve children’s language, literacy, and communication skills (Paquette & Rieg, 2008). Further, it helps promote children’s creative inquiry and expression, and their aesthetic and holistic development as human beings.

The above musical outcomes are achievable, notwithstanding the level of musical training or the ability of the teacher. There is incredible value in teachers’ integration of music activities into daily practices in today’s diverse early childhood classrooms.

In this research project, I explore these propositions using narrative inquiry. I share stories of my personal and professional music experiences and, drawing from these stories, I reflect on my own teaching practices and how these experiences have shaped me as an early childhood teacher. I support and connect my narratives to literature written by early childhood educators and music specialists. I provide a review of literature on the benefits of music in early learning environments, a review that provides theoretical and curricular support for early childhood educators to enhance their play-based pedagogy with musical activities.

Through the use of video segments, I demonstrate and describe ways to incorporate music into routine early learning environments. The viewer then can see for himself/herself the in-class dynamics and form his/her own impressions. This resource provides teachers with ideas, leads, resources, and hands-on activities that will assist them in integrating play-based music activities into daily classroom practices.