Our Music and Sound Inquiry continues...

In Inquiry based learning, the learning is not steady paced. Instead, it ebbs and flows along with the interest of children. Our Music and Sound exploration has been our favorite and longest running inquiry till date. How do I know if the kids have temporarily paused an interest in a topic or they have completely moved on to a different subject? I observe their talks and play to know their interests.
I set up provocations like the xylophone exploration, water xylophone exploration or making musical instruments to see if they are willing to take their explorations further.

We have been listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons Violin concertos frequently.

"How do you feel when you listen to this music?" I asked. They responded with feelings of happiness and sadness. They could relate the tempo of music with emotions. The faster the tempo, Sid said "I feel happy". With slow tempo he said he felt sad whereas Shrini said "I am happy but I think the Violin is sad!".

We have started discussions on compositions and composers. Sid asks "Is composer a conductor?"
I am trying to find right kind of resources to explore more on this topic with them. This inquiry may be slow paced but I love that the interest sustains and hope to update more on this soon. 

Integrating Music and Pattern Inquiries

" Even the youngest children have the potential to inherently respond to music and the mathematical constructs it contains."

I recently came across this article on The Patterns of Music which talks about importance of exposure to music at early years to support developing mathematical concepts in children from infancy to 5 years of age. Coincidentally the twins' teacher also suggested to get them a xylophone at home to practice music. So I did and took this as an opportunity to let them make the connection between music and pattern inquiries.

Xylophone exploration:
    I presented the xylophone with color coded music sheet for playing "Twinkle Twinkle little star". To my surprise, Shrini very quickly caught on the concept of playing according to the notes. Very soon she started singing along "Red,Red, Blue,blue, Indigo,Indigo,Blue" to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle little star. Then she observed "Look Mom, it is like AB pattern 2 times".
Here is a short video of her playing the tune the first time.

She also observed that the xylophone had rainbow colors and decided to paint one by herself.

We are now planning to explore what patterns we can find in "Baa Baa black sheep". What fun!!

Can you make Musical Instruments?

Provocation : Random objects

Can you make musical instruments with these objects?

I set up this provocation to check if it would provoke an interest in the mechanics of musical instruments. Here are pictures of what they tried and explored.

Does it make sound when I blow through a ring?

"Hey! This looks like a Tambourine but doesn't make sound when I shake it?"

"This bowl is just a drum."

"This is Not a Straw! This is a drum stick!"

"This foil makes sound when I fold it!"

"Stringing couple of rings makes a chime"

"Look mom! I filled this shaker with water and now shaking it makes sound!"