Music enhances the education of our children by helping them to make connections and broadening the depth with which they think and feel.
– Yo-Yo Ma, cellist

In the article, “Fall Fa-La-La: Celebrating the Season through Music and Movement,” Jeannette Fresne and Rebecca M. Giles explore the transformative impact of music and movement on young children.

According to the authors, “Music making is a natural outlet for creativity and self-expression, and young children possess an innate tendency to express themselves musically. Immersing children in ‘intentionally responsive, play-based, developmentally appropriate music engagement opportunities’ respects their abilities as music makers. Providing autumn-related music activities that emphasize playing, singing, and moving is an authentic and pleasurable way for children to encounter the richness of seasonal changes and traditional happenings, while also promoting socialization, feelings of belonging, physical abilities, and cognitive development.”

Vocal exploration—the playful experimentation with different sounds—is highlighted as crucial for young children, as one’s ability to make new sounds diminishes with age. The authors note, “While not sung, fingerplays, rhymes, and chants provide varied opportunities for children to explore their voices. They also offer opportunities to practice auditory discrimination, while laying a foundation for phonemic awareness tasks such as hearing, identifying, and manipulating individual sounds in spoken words. Short poems like ‘The Floppy Scarecrow’ give children the opportunity for vocal exploration as they speak in different pitches.”

Here’s an example featured in this article:

The Floppy Scarecrow

Line 1: The floppy, floppy scarecrow
Flop around waving arms while speaking “Floppy, floppy” using a low-pitch voice

Line 2: Guards his field all day.
Stand at attention with arms straight down

Line 3: He waves his floppy, floppy hands
Flop around waving arms while speaking, “Floppy, floppy” using a high-pitch voice

Line 4: To scare the crows away.
Flap arms like a bird while making the sound of flapping wings