Małgorzata Tęczyńska-Kęska

Children’s world of sounds — musical education of a preschool child

Music is around us — every day music is the noise of trees, the rustle of leaves, the sound of a passing tram, the barking of a dog. We learn it while studying in kindergarten and school, but above all at home. This is where the child learns the first melodies. Initially, these are sounds from the immediate environment, starting with the mother’s heartbeat and the melody of her words. Then we expand our knowledge of sounds with children’s counting, acoustic experiments, short song chants, kindergarten songs and music accompanying the game. It’s all a child’s world of sounds, but what’s the key to that?

The natural musical development of humans is observed between the ages of 1 and 13, and this is when the most important changes take place in the body, including the maturation of the auditory analyzer and psychomotor performance. Therefore, a variety of musical activities of parents, and then teachers, which are aimed at developing the child’s musical abilities, are very significant at this time. They can be realized by singing together, listening to music of different styles, creating ostinato on instruments and simple instrumentation. Free and directed movement as well as instrumental improvisation are also important.

To understand music, you need to be extremely sensitive to its beauty. This is a trait that cannot be taught to children just like that, but it is possible to create any conditions for them to experience music emotionally. This main goal of children’s music education should be realized with the use of five forms of musical activity, which will be discussed in detail in this article.

Keywords: music education, singing, playing instruments, movement with music, making music, listening to music, forms of music activity