Musical development of the child:
33 answers to parents' questions

Part 1. How to determine the musical ability of a child?

"How do you know if a child has a penchant for music?"
"Does he have an ear for music or a sense of rhythm?"
“Is my child strong enough to learn music?”

In this part, we will discuss five questions related to determining a child's musical ability. The answers to these questions will help parents make a serious choice - whether to send their child to study music or not.

Question 1: How to determine a child's penchant for music?

There are three ways to determine the presence of musicality and talent, the level of development of a child’s musical abilities:

• Conversation with a child
• Determination of the general musicality of the child
• Musical Ability Testing

How to determine the musicality of a child in early childhood, at preschool and primary school age, as well as various ways musical ability testing, we'll go into more detail a bit later. Now, I want to draw your attention to the first way.

Talking to a child seems to be the easiest and most elementary way to find out about his abilities and inclination to music, but in practice it turns out to be very difficult. If you just start asking a child, he is unlikely to answer you with anything intelligible. This should be done between times, specially preparing the situation so that the conversation goes naturally, and does not look like an interrogation. You can talk to him during the game or after listening to children's music, you can not talk specifically, but return to the topic you need from time to time.

Be that as it may, the conversation with the child should serve two purposes.

1) You need to determine the emotionality and artistry of the child- how deeply he can experience artistic images and how vividly, emotionally he can convey them. These qualities are equally important for poetry and for music. Therefore, if your child loves and easily memorizes poetry, reads them with expression, tries to convey the mood - he already has a certain artistry and emotionality. All this is an indicator that the child has a penchant for creativity, he can easily study music and achieve success.

If a child is shy, reads poetry dryly and inexpressively, do not draw critical conclusions! Perhaps your child is an introvert, and the deep feelings that overwhelm him simply do not appear "outside". Perhaps he still "does not know how" to express his emotions and feelings (do it consciously). There can be no single approach, each child will have their own characteristics. But if you see that the child is bored, he does not like not only to talk, but also to listen to poetry, it is difficult for him to remember them - perhaps in this case it is better for you to go in for chess or sports.

So, you can determine the emotionality and artistry of a child by simply asking him to recite his favorite poem.

2) Determine your child's interest in music and creativity. What does he know about music, would he like to do it? What does he like more - singing or playing an instrument? Find out from your child what kind of music he likes best (or more specifically: from which cartoon or movie)? What cartoons or movies does he like to watch and why? What books, about what does he like to read or listen to more? Does he have favorite songs? Ask him to sing one of them.

So you can determine the child's penchant for music, as well as find out what he is interested in in life, understand whether he needs to study music more seriously, go to a music school, or is it enough to attend a music and dance club.

Remember, in order to determine a child's interest in music, it's not so much what he answers (most children of the same age tend to have very similar answers), but how he answers your questions. A certain certainty of the child in his tastes is important. If he doesn't care and he doesn't seem to be particularly enthusiastic about music, you should consider whether musical training the child himself (music classes can captivate him, “open”, but they can also reject him - here everything will depend on the child himself and on the skill of the teacher).

If he can say more or less precisely that he likes cheerful, active music, as in such and such a cartoon; that he loves to sing, dance and play on pillows like drums; he loves cartoons about Spider-Man, because he protects everyone and always defeats “bad monsters”, he loves to read encyclopedias about animals, and his favorite song is “ New Year rushes to us ... ”and not only sings, but also starts dancing ... You have every reason to believe that the child will like to play music and he will be able to achieve certain successes.

Question 2: How to determine the presence of musical abilities in early childhood?

Watching a child (or remembering how he was at this age), you can easily determine whether he has or does not have musical abilities.

The following may indicate that a child has a penchant for music and musical abilities developed from birth:

• increased attention of the child to any sounding background,
• a clear manifestation of interest in the sound of music,
• a vivid emotional manifestation of the joy of the baby while playing his favorite music (some children begin to dance without even learning to walk, sitting in the crib),
• the baby loves to listen to different music, not only children's and lullabies performed by his mother.

Some time ago, scientists conducted a special study with babies under the age of one year - with the help of simple tests, they found out that most children supposedly have an “absolute” ear for music from birth. This fact confirms the opinion that all people have approximately the same abilities (including musical ones), and only the level of development of these abilities is different for everyone.

This fact also leads to the following conclusion: the mere presence of abilities does not affect the success of a person in a particular field of activity. You can have musical abilities developed from birth - a beautiful, strong voice, perfect pitch and hate music at the same time. Any education, including music, exists in order to develop the necessary abilities in its field and provide certain knowledge. What then is important for success? What is important is the interest, the inclination of a person to a certain field of activity, which allows you to develop abilities in this area faster than other people can do. In most cases, this is the secret of the talent, giftedness of some people and the apparent mediocrity and “lack of ability” of others.

The tendency to a certain field of activity usually manifests itself quite early. The musicality of a child can be detected already at the age of one year, if already at this age he shows a clear interest in the sound of music.

Question 3: How to determine the propensity for music in children at preschool and primary school age?

At this age, all three methods are applicable - talking with the child, testing (we will talk about it a little later), and determining the general musicality of the child.

What are indicators of musicality and the availability of abilities in children aged 3-7 years and older?

1) Maintaining Interest in Music manifested in early childhood. If your child interrupts his business and listens to suddenly sounded music, if he likes to listen to various music, not necessarily only children's songs, but also good pop music, classical music, tries to sing along or starts dancing to the music - all this speaks of the child's musicality.

It should be remembered that the upbringing of the child plays a big role in this matter, but not the main one. If a child is musical by nature, he will show it, no matter if you played music with him or not. If by nature he has no inclination, "thrust" for art, you can "break your forehead", but only develop in the child an aversion to music. All you can do is help your child discover his musicality, give him the opportunity to express himself. If a child showed an interest in music in early childhood, but the parents did not pay attention to it, the child's interest is likely to fade. But this can also happen if you worked hard with your child - sang and learned songs, listened to music, played children's musical instruments. What to do, human nature is a complex and unpredictable thing! :)

2) Your child is easy and for a long time remembers songs he likes. More or less "pure" sings, loves "compose"- compiles some of his songs from words and melodies known to him (in this case, some kind of “potpourri” or something completely unbelievable may come out). Less often - he composes (more precisely, improvises "on the go") his poems and songs - depending on how bright and expressive they turn out (of course, only emotionally, and not in meaning) - one can judge the child's giftedness and the presence of talent. In any case, all this speaks of the musical and creative abilities developed by nature.

3) Does your child love performing in public?, likes to take an active part in matinees and holidays, likes to engage in creativity in any form - sing, dance, draw, sculpt from plasticine. He has a good imagination, he likes to invent - all this is a good indicator of the presence of creativity and music.

Question 4: Does the child have an ear for music?

There are a number of traditional tests to determine musical ear, voice and musical memory. Such tests are usually carried out at an interview when a child is accepted to a music school. These tests are very simple, but they require a minimum set of musical knowledge and skills from parents, and, in some cases, the presence of a piano.

Test 1 Ask the child to come to the piano and turn away. Play two sounds in turn in different registers (upper and lower) and ask him which sound was lower and which was higher.

Test 2 Press one key on the piano and ask the child how many sounds sounded. Now press two keys at the same time (preferably at a great distance from each other), and ask how many sounds have sounded now. If the child finds it difficult to answer, press the same keys in turn. Play any chord with both hands (in a wide range), and ask how many sounds were made (one, or many).

The first two tests check hearing activity, the ability to "navigate in the sound space", to distinguish individual elements from the general sound of music (at the simplest level). They allow you to determine whether the child understands the difference in pitch, as well as the difference between a single sound and several sounded at the same time. If the child finds it difficult - don't worry, it's not so easy to understand these things, usually they are taught at an early stage of education (preparatory / first class of a music school).

Test 3 Sing the note Mi of the first octave (for example, on the syllable "la" or a simple "a") and ask the child to repeat. Then sing the note La of the first octave and again ask to repeat. If you hear that it is difficult for a child to sing in this range, sing the notes higher: Do-Mi of the second octave, or vice versa lower: Small Si - Re of the first octave. Try different notes to determine the range of the child's voice.

It is important that you sing by yourself, without the help of the piano. Use a tuning fork to sing accurately. The fact is that the sound of the piano, as a rule, “knocks down” children, it is more difficult to adjust to it than to the human voice familiar to them. If you don't succeed, and it's hard for you to hit the note exactly, it's better, of course, to use the piano. Do not use children's musical instruments - pipes, xylophones, children's synthesizers and others.

Test 4 Sing a simple, short melodic phrase and have your child repeat it. Here are examples of such phrases:

Test 5 Ask your child to sing their favorite song.

So tests 3-5 allow you to check:

• child's ear for music
• musical memory,
• "reproductive" musical ear(can the child repeat the sounded note and melodic phrase),
• child's voice range
• can the child intotone (sing “clearly”).

Remember, if a child shows an average result, if he can catch at least the direction of the melody without hitting the exact note, then he has an ear for music, albeit poorly developed. There are, of course, exceptions, the so-called "hooters". These children can sing in a very narrow range, have no intonation at all and cannot even understand general direction melodies. In fact, there are quite a lot of such children, but in music schools know how to work with them and, in the end, develop their abilities to a certain level (in addition, the inability to sing does not prevent them from being talented pianists or trumpeters).

Question 5: How to determine the sense of rhythm?

Here are some tests for determining the sense of rhythm, which are also used in music schools during opening talk with baby.

Test 1 Tap (not fast) a simple rhythmic sequence and ask the child to repeat. Repeat the test 2-4 times, depending on the child's progress, using different sequences. For example, these:

Test 2 Have your child march in place to the music. Perform or record any popular, marching music. For example, the song "It's fun to walk together ...".

Test 3 Ask your child to clap their hands to the music (as they do at concerts when the audience likes a song). Play or put on a recording of any rhythmic children's music, for example, Letki-Enki.

If a child has a weak sense of rhythm, this does not mean that it cannot be developed. If a child successfully completes all tests, this means that it will be much easier for him to learn music, but this does not guarantee that he will not get bored in a month.

Conclusions:

1) Parents can easily determine the child's inclination to music, the presence of musical abilities and the level of their development in the above ways.

2) Developed musical abilities, such as an ear for music or a sense of rhythm, do not mean that a child has a penchant for music. It is the interest, the desire to make music that plays a decisive role in whether the child achieves success in music or not (it does not matter, at a professional or amateur level).

3) The absence of pronounced abilities and a clear desire to study music does not yet give the right to consider a child "incapable", "non-musical". Perhaps it is in the process of learning that the child will reveal his abilities and he will have an interest in music (as they say, appetite comes with eating). Thus, until you start making music with your child, you cannot be completely sure that the child does not have the ability and inclination for music.

To be continued...