Global Minded Music and Children
When I was a child I remember thinking and reading about children from other countries and it all seemed so ” foreign .” ( Pardon the pun. ) Children of today are surrounded by people, food and media from other cultures all the time. They go to school and church with children from other cultures. Now, you are going to hear me get on my soap box a bit. I believe with all my heart that children are not born with a heart of discrimination . I believe racism is taught from adults in a child’s life through actions and words or … sometimes lack of action or words. Like it or not, our children are going to need to be globally minded in order to thrive in the future. It is our job to teach children to appreciate people and ideas from other cultures. How do we do that ? In small ways we we incorporate other cultures into our children’s day through music or books or conversation. By doing this the children become curious about those that live outside of their circle.
This week we are talking about music and today we focused on music from other countries. We listed to some yodeling from Sweden and some funny and upbeat polka music from Poland. We listened to an Arabic chant and some African tunes too. We listened to some Mexican music . The kids thought when the polka came on that ” sounded ” like the music they hear in a Mexican restaurant .
Another thing we did today that the kids might recall is we talked about our question of the day. It was ” do you like loud music or soft music ?” The answers used the musical symbols for loud ( forte’) and soft ( piano.) We sang ” Mary Had a Little Lamb” and we did it forte and piano. Then we talked about how songwriters write songs. We changed the words in the song to make a new song. Mary had a little cat , little cat , little cat. Mary had a little cat , its fur was gray as a goat. The kids loved making up new verses and changing the words.
Mr . Randy brought out some fun today. Did you know he worked in the radio business for over 20 years ? He showed the kids an old 78 record, a 45, a reel to reel, an 8 track tape , a cassette tape and a micro cassette . The kids even recorded on the micro cassette and listened to themselves singing a song.
One of the more popular centers this week continues to be the old DVD player we are letting them tinker on. The children will spend large amounts of time turning a mini screw driver and taking those tiny screws out. Today is day two and they have it in three pieces already. I will be looking for more electronics that don’t work for us to explore.
