Using pentatonic chime bars in your preschool music lesson can be quite tricky – especially with three year old children. Here are some hints and tips for running a melody and harmony activity.
I supply the chime bar sets in the picture. Each child collects the little case and sits on the floor. I ask them to take out the ones that are in the song, usually some or all of these notes: C, D, E, G, A. (C Major Pentatonic Scale; also A Minor Pentatonic). I find that separate pentatonic chime bars are much easier to use than a fixed-bar instrument such as a glockenspiel. Rather than letter names, I use terms such as “the long brown one”; “the blue number 5”; or “the short black one”.
We all put our selected pentatonic chime bars on the floor and close the lid. It doesn’t always work and I don’t insist! I can stand the slight musical dissonance if there’s an occasional semitone clash when they play an F or a B note. It’s better than the social dissonance if they have an emotional melt down over it. The three year olds can’t always follow instructions but older children in the class will gain more and more control. By the time they are ready to follow everything you are doing, you know it’s time for them to learn an instrument formally (e. g., violin or piano).
Next, we all have fun experimenting. Then we practise making our notes ring by striking in the centre of the bar. Play is the way. I model the way I want them to hold the mallet so it’s bouncy and loose. I don’t “teach”. I’m just a musical member of their environment and if they are engaged they are learning at their level. On that point, it’s not always possible to know if they are engaged. Sometimes they are listening and/or watching. I have often been told by a parent, ‘He went home and did what you did”. Or “She sang all the way home in the car”.
I like to instill a little audience etiquette in my groups. The way I do this is by saying “Who wants to play for us?” Someone always does. If they have been improvising over Diddle Diddle Dumpling I might say, “Play us some sleeping music,” or “Play us some silly music”. I ask them if they want to play along with the backing track or alone. They usually want to play along with the music. It also gives us a natural stop point where we can clap in appreciation.
This is teaching them the convention of being in a concert audience. It never fails to amaze me how willing they are to sit still with their mallets on the floor, their hands folded, and listen to 2, 3 or more children having a turn.
The letter name notation charts I supply are there for the teacher and any helping parents or child care professionals, I don’t expect the children to use them, it’s way too much strain on their intellect. The other adults and I sing and we all play pentatonic chime bars together a couple of times with the backing track.
When a child can sing and play at the same time something special and complex is going on in their brain. In my classes, I have only noticed these two skills happening at once with a child who is almost five. That doesn’t mean that younger children won’t sing and play at the same time when they are contentedly playing at home. That’s a good reason to have some pentatonic chime bars in the home!
I’d love to hear from you if you have experiences to share on this topic. Please write your comments below. You can find Diddle Diddle Dumpling wall chart and the music in the lesson plan called Uh-Oh In Sing and Play 3 Preschool Music Program.
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