The first aspect of music that children interact with is rhythm. It is never too early to start your baby’s musical education, so in this post I’m sharing a musical activity for your baby to help you get started. The first and most accessible musical activity for babies is rhythmic swaying.
What is rhythm, anyway?
Rhythm can be a bit of a broad term. A fairly dry definition says that rhythm is the pattern of sounds and silences. But, is that what comes to mind when you think of someone having good rhythm? I think not. A musician with good rhythm will be able to play or sing a complex pattern of rhythm notes while keeping them organized in groups with proper emphasis, but even that is more than what we typically mean by good rhythm. A lay-person with good rhythm instinctively knows how to move to music. It isn’t any more complicated than that.
That’s why I define rhythm as movement in music.
We use our sense of rhythm when we dance and clap, or when we move to a song we like. You might have noticed that you prefer listening to faster paced songs when you exercise, or slower songs when you are trying to relax. This “synching” to the pulse in a piece of music is called “entrainment” and comes naturally to humans. Yoga classes use music to help coordinate movement and breath through the various poses. Music therapists even use entrainment to music as an aid in physical rehabilitation for those relearning how to walk.
How does this help babies before they’re walking and crawling?
Babies are active listeners, constantly learning. And they LOVE to move. I know, I know, they can’t really get anywhere on their own at first, but think of how much a baby loves to be carried and bounced. I remember the days when I would be standing somewhere and realize that I was bouncing up and down… with no baby in my arms. I did that motion while holding my daughter so much that it had become subconscious!
Babies are listening and love to move. That sounds like the perfect combination engaging with music through motion, to me!
So, what should you do to encourage your baby’s sense of rhythm? Hold them and move to the pulse, aka the strong beats in the music. When you move to the pulse, the baby feels the strong beat in their body (just like one needs to for clapping and dancing!), and hears the divisions of the beat, aka the faster notes.
To get more of a sense for how this works in action, follow along with this video. I’m demonstrating with Miss Violet the deer stuffy as my assistant.
When I sing and move to the lullaby Bim Bam, ‘Biri, ‘Biri, ‘Bam, baby gets to hear long notes that last for one or two sways, and short notes that fit two or four into a sway.
You can move like this to any piece of music, and the popularity of baby-wearing has made this so much easier. When my daughter was very young, we did a lot of rocking in a chair, but as she got older and we got a bit more active I started popping her in a wrap or a structured carrier so that we can listen to music and sing and move while we’re going about the house.
You can move to ANY music, so you can really make this activity your own, but if you need some musical inspiration, check out the Pandora station I made to use with my daughter. (Did you know the Barenaked Ladies put out children’s albums? I seriously can’t get enough of them, they are hilarious!)
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