ABSTRACT

This chapter helps readers develop a broad vision of what musical activity in the early years can look like. Of course, singing and music-making can be seen as support for language development, maths and numeracy, the development of physical awareness, and the acquisition of our knowledge of the world. Singing is undoubtedly one of children's most natural means of musical expression. As children move and dance through their lives, there is rhythm and phrasing in their movement. Children are, of course, natural movers, and encouraging action songs, finger rhymes and lots of movement with music will allow children to move naturally to a beat and become aware of patterns within the music. Young children are natural sound-makers, from body sounds and sounds found all around us to choosing and playing from the selection of musical instruments offered in our settings. Small group activities enable the adult to extend ideas that have been seen in the free-play music area.