Latest / ChildCare Conversations / 385: 7 Reasons Music Belongs in Early Childhood, Not Just Art Class with Alisha Kriege

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385: 7 Reasons Music Belongs in Early Childhood, Not Just Art Class with Alisha Kriege · ChildCare Conversations

• 0:03
  Childcare Conversations: Welcome to Childcare Conversations, a growing community of early childhood leaders asking better questions and finding real solutions together.
• 0:11
  Childcare Conversations: The conversations shaping early childhood happen here.
• 0:15
  Childcare Conversations: This episode is presented by North Star School Supply, the one-stop shop for all things school furniture, dramatic play, steam, changing tables, playgrounds, and more.
• 0:28
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• 0:30
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• 0:35
  Childcare Conversations: Visit NorthstarschoolSupply.com to learn more.
• 0:39
  Childcare Conversations: Now let's get into today's conversation, one we think you're really going to enjoy.
• 0:48
  Kate Woodward Young: We are so excited to um have today's guest because, well, she's been here before, not just once and not just twice, but this is guest visit number three.
• 1:01
  Kate Woodward Young: So maybe you're really an unofficial co-host.
• 1:04
  Kate Woodward Young: Is that what this is?
• 1:05
  Kate Woodward Young: So sure.
• 1:07
  Kate Woodward Young: So yeah.
• 1:08
  Kate Woodward Young: So anyway, so Alicia is joining us today.
• 1:11
  Kate Woodward Young: And today we are actually going to talk about music and outside music.
• 1:15
  Kate Woodward Young: And with that, Alicia, tell us a little bit how you found yourself in early childcare, what your role currently is, and then we will go from there and talk about making beautiful music outside.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: Sounds great.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess I've been on the podcast before.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I started with a company called Play with Purpose, which was an educational supply company.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: And then I moved over to North Star School Supply, which is another educational supply company.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then from there, kind of landed at Free Notes Harmony Park.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: And we do the original concert grade quality outdoor musical instrument company.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: So everything we make is meant to be outside year-round, all sorts of weather.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: People always ask me, like, well, I live and it gets buried in snow.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Is that okay?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, yes, these instruments can be buried in five feet of snow.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: We sell up into Alaska and they can be out in the heat and the salty air.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: We have a huge installation down in Miami, Florida.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: So they are truly in all sorts of climate.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I landed there and I am our music recreation consultant.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: So while I wear a sales hat most of the days, I'm also there to kind of help get people excited about music, teaching music, getting kids to hear what tone and how to keep rhythm and find a beat with different instruments.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm kind of just wearing a hat to help everybody.
• 2:35
  Kate Woodward Young: That's so we've talked and I shared that, you know, the local library near us has a set of the flowers, and we've met and, you know, we've seen the flowers in action at early childhood programs.
• 2:48
  Kate Woodward Young: And so although most of our listeners fall into directors and owners of early child care, uh, we are, you know, these are instruments that can be used in your local parks department.
• 3:00
  Kate Woodward Young: They can be used at middle schools, high schools.
• 3:03
  Kate Woodward Young: So uh this is probably one of the few guests that we have that actually covers content that could go pretty much to any age group.
• 3:10
  Kate Woodward Young: So one of the things that I find really interesting as we were talking about uh musical instruments and bringing music back into all classrooms, uh, one of the things that you shared was kind of the that it's it's good for everybody.
• 3:27
  Kate Woodward Young: So tell me a little bit more about what you mean by anybody can do it in that um that that point of view, that perspective.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so Freenotes develops music that is made on the pentatonic scale.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: So we tune everything to the pentatonic scale.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so for people who are unfamiliar about that, it means there's no wrong notes.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_02: There's no sharp notes, there's no flat notes.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: It is your basic scale.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: And that means as people are playing and exploring, like it sounds pleasing to the ear.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: And if I'm over banging on a flower that's got four petals, it's got four different notes, and someone is over on one of our butterflies or our honeycomb hive, which has got like a xylophone, it's gonna sound good together, despite me and maybe Kate having no musical background whatsoever, and we just want to make music.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but what we have done on top of that is created inviting pieces that get kids drawn to it and they want to go bang on it.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: They want to make noise, but when it actually starts to play, they're actually hearing music because of that pentatonic scale.
• 4:33
  Kate Woodward Young: I love that.
• 4:34
  Kate Woodward Young: So they think they get to bang on it and make noise.
• 4:38
  Kate Woodward Young: What happens is that they're actually making music because we've all heard kids bang on a piano, and that is not necessarily music.
• 4:44
  Kate Woodward Young: Um, or even bang on a set of drums, right?
• 4:46
  Kate Woodward Young: Like they they might figure out a little rhythm, um, but that might be it.
• 4:51
  Kate Woodward Young: So if a program is even remotely interested, what if their teachers are like, oh, I I I I I don't even sing in the shower, like, you know, like I don't sing in the car, I don't sing in the shower, music's not my thing.
• 5:05
  Kate Woodward Young: What resources are out there for those teachers?
• 5:09
  unknown: Yeah.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: So we actually recently developed what we call the harmony method.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_02: And this method is to help get everyone kind of comfortable with teaching music and also allowing kids and parents and community members to thrive.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it is a guided standard-based videos, QR codes that are on five of our instruments right now.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: We will expand into more, but we started with more traditional instruments to start.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: But it's a QR code that takes you to a webpage with I think there's like 10 to 15 videos per instrument, different standards, different instructions.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, this is what this instrument is, this is how you use it.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: Here's a different video on a game you can play, or how can you keep a beat with you and your friend?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so we're trying to take the guesswork out of these instruments and instill confidence in not only the parents who are maybe taking the kids to the park, or your parents that are touring your childcare center, or even the teacher who now all of a sudden your school bought this, your child care center bought this, and you go, I don't know what this is.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: The kids are just gonna bang on it and make noise.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: Now there's a QR code, you can scan it, you can watch the videos and feel confident teaching your students, your children, a little bit about music theory, even.
• 6:24
  Kate Woodward Young: Oh, I love that.
• 6:26
  Kate Woodward Young: So I don't have to be musical.
• 6:28
  Kate Woodward Young: I don't even have to be able to carry a tune.
• 6:30
  Kate Woodward Young: And you have resources that are gonna help me educate my kids.
• 6:35
  Kate Woodward Young: Now, one of the things as we were, as as you said that, that kind of popped into my head that I think would be really cool is what a great way to get the community involved in your early childcare program.
• 6:46
  Kate Woodward Young: So a lot of times, every accreditation program wants to know about your parent involvement, your community involvement.
• 6:54
  Kate Woodward Young: What a great way to actually get the community involved.
• 6:57
  Kate Woodward Young: You could have some of these musical instruments that can be outside all day, every day, um, as part of playground, outdoor space.
• 7:08
  Kate Woodward Young: And you can invite the community in to actually help with being teachers.
• 7:13
  Kate Woodward Young: Like if again, if your staff don't feel comfortable, it gives you an excuse.
• 7:18
  Kate Woodward Young: Like, yes, there's a resource for the teacher, but what a great excuse to reach out to the local choir, handbell group, whatever might be in your community, to come in and go, hey, we would love for one of your volunteers to come and share your music passion with the kids.
• 7:37
  Kate Woodward Young: And this way you don't have also traditional musical instruments that are sitting in a box somewhere, because we've all seen that.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: And you hit on it too, Kate.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: When you're involving the community, and because these are concert quality musical instruments, if you've got a community member who's in a choir, who can play piano, who plays the xylophone, or maybe even like a harp, they can come in, look at our, look at our catalog, look online, figure out which note is which key, and have a concert.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: So you can now host mini concerts and little fundraisers at your child care center.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: You can get kids excited.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Kids go home.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I don't know.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: I took piano for like five years, stuck in my head a little bit.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know, Kate, if you took piano too.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: But I think most kids at least try or dabble in some kind of musical instrument as they go.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: The recorder.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: We all are playing the recorder at some point in in our lives.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Fourth grade, fourth grade.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, here they can take that, they can bring that into the classroom, they can bring that learning that they're doing at home and now of a part and partner with the instruments that you're putting in their everyday environment.
• 8:46
  Kate Woodward Young: Absolutely.
• 8:47
  Kate Woodward Young: So as a mother of four children who all took piano, uh, I also took piano and we had some percussion and we had some string.
• 8:55
  Kate Woodward Young: Um, we had um everybody had to start with piano.
• 8:58
  Kate Woodward Young: So before you could play any other instrument, you had to learn how to read music and play piano.
• 9:03
  Kate Woodward Young: So um not sure the reading music did a whole lot of good for the bugle players.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: Or was it classics only?
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_02: Classics only on the piano?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, not like anything.
• 9:11
  Kate Woodward Young: No, no, no, and then I have one who can play by ear.
• 9:16
  Kate Woodward Young: Um, so child number two, um, you can pretty much play a song and he can follow right along.
• 9:22
  Kate Woodward Young: Uh so uh, but yeah, so they all you know played instruments at some point in time.
• 9:28
  Kate Woodward Young: My favorite resource ever was electronic pianos and electronic drums that had a port for headphones because we did not have Pentatonics version, Penonic, whatever versionic version of the piano or of the drums, because you definitely knew if it was not the right key.
• 9:54
  Kate Woodward Young: And so, but I loved the children were able to develop that passion.
• 9:58
  Kate Woodward Young: And so I love watching I go by the library that has the flowers and the butterflies on a regular basis, and it's always fun to see the kids out there uh playing them.
• 10:09
  Kate Woodward Young: Um, I think it's really great.
• 10:11
  Kate Woodward Young: You also share that you have a scout, an Eagle Scout, which means that there are probably more than one opportunity for Girl Scout Gold Awards, Girl Scout Silver Awards, and Girl Scout Bronze Awards to connect with this equipment.
• 10:23
  Kate Woodward Young: You can tell I'm uh a Girl Scout uh to uh perhaps uh potentially look to and reach out to you and maybe build something like that in their community as a community uh service project.
• 10:37
  Kate Woodward Young: But I totally derailed the conversation when I was thrilled.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I was gonna pull this back, Kate, because you talked about headphones.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: You talked about pianos with headphones, and we get asked that all the time.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: How loud are these?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_02: Kids are outside running around a playground, they're screaming, they're laughing, they're giggling as they go down slides or ride their trikes and race each other.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: But how loud are these?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we have childcare centers that are in neighborhoods and they might be down the block from a house.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: And yes, it is fine to be loud, you know, a couple times a day, but all day.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes the neighbors complain.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: We actually have done decibel level testing, and all of our instruments are no louder than a lawnmower.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_02: So if you are standing right next to mom and dad who are mowing the grass or your maintenance crew, that is as loud as that instrument is gonna get, even if a kid is banging as hard as humanly possible.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: And then as you move 10, 50, 100 feet away, that sound like kind of just eliminates itself.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: So that's something else to keep in mind that if you're ever concerned about like what can we add that's not only pleasing to the ear, but it's going to make the community happy, these are great.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: This is a great piece to put in.
• 11:46
  Kate Woodward Young: That's so a lot of times we know playgrounds, well, they can just be, let's be honest, expensive.
• 11:53
  Kate Woodward Young: But playgrounds are also one of your biggest marketing tools.
• 11:57
  Kate Woodward Young: I mean, when you're doing a tour, there are two things that the families look at: your parking lot and your front door, and your playground.
• 12:05
  Kate Woodward Young: To be perfectly honest, parents don't really care what you're serving people, they don't care where they put their milk in the refrigerator.
• 12:11
  Kate Woodward Young: That's not on their to-do list, right?
• 12:13
  Kate Woodward Young: The kids want to look at the playground.
• 12:15
  Kate Woodward Young: The parents want to make sure you can take care of them.
• 12:18
  Kate Woodward Young: So as a place to start, I think that first of all, ditch the box of musical instruments.
• 12:25
  Kate Woodward Young: Go put that tote someplace, donate it to somebody else because this is a great way.
• 12:30
  Kate Woodward Young: A, you got to be outside twice a day anyway.
• 12:32
  Kate Woodward Young: So make one of those music time or give every kid that option as a rotation.
• 12:39
  Kate Woodward Young: And you have, what'd you say?
• 12:41
  Kate Woodward Young: There's there's there's there's flowers, there's butterflies, 37 different instruments.
• 12:48
  Kate Woodward Young: Okay.
• 12:48
  Kate Woodward Young: I'm going with the I'm thinking the little portable ones.
• 12:52
  Kate Woodward Young: Got it.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, technically, almost all of ours can be portable.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: But but we are not portable, we are not making that xylophone portable.
• 13:00
  Kate Woodward Young: It might be able to be portable.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_02: I know where you're going with this, Kate.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: You want to know what are the cost-effective instruments that can be put on a playground or in your outdoor space that aren't going to break the bank, right?
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's where we're going to be able to do that.
• 13:15
  Kate Woodward Young: Absolutely, as a place to start.
• 13:17
  Kate Woodward Young: Because again, I love the concept, but I've looked at the catalog and the ones I want, well, they're shiny instruments.
• 13:26
  Kate Woodward Young: And so I want yeah, I want the big deal.
• 13:29
  Kate Woodward Young: Yeah, what the big ones that are gonna handle everything, right?
• 13:32
  Kate Woodward Young: So if I am a director and I'm thinking, okay, this really sounds interesting.
• 13:38
  Kate Woodward Young: I love the fact that there's there's musical resources, so my teachers don't have to know, but we can still teach the kids.
• 13:44
  Kate Woodward Young: Um, you talked about standard aligned, so that means that they're all aligned.
• 13:50
  Kate Woodward Young: So the the musical learning is aligned with um national education standards, which I think is great for those who might have um any sort of public-private partnership with a local school district, or um maybe you're working with a voucher program or a private school.
• 14:08
  Kate Woodward Young: Here is an opportunity for you to absolutely know what education standard.
• 14:13
  Kate Woodward Young: Now, currently they're aligned on national education standards, so you'd have to go in and tweak and match it, your match your state standards, but that's easy enough.
• 14:20
  Kate Woodward Young: And if it's not, send us a message.
• 14:22
  Kate Woodward Young: We'll have to.
• 14:23
  Kate Woodward Young: That's what I'm here.
• 14:23
  Kate Woodward Young: Okay, that's what I'm here for.
• 14:24
  Kate Woodward Young: The music recreation consultant.
• 14:27
  Kate Woodward Young: There you go.
• 14:28
  Kate Woodward Young: There you go.
• 14:29
  Kate Woodward Young: So talk to me about what are the different pieces that they could incorporate into a playground that they could, you know, build up their um, their little, their little beautiful orchestra.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: So most eye-catching, cost-effective, exciting ones, I think, for child care centers and even just early learners in general are gonna be our flowers and butterflies.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: They're brightly colored.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: Each petal or butterfly wing makes a beautiful sound, kind of like a chime.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: And they're again pleasing to the ear, they're exciting, they're eye-catching for kids.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: With the harmony method, um, I would say our most popular is probably gonna be our drums.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: We have a tuned drum set that, again, kids love to bang on things, but now you've got these standards aligned to it.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not just banging, we're making music, we're learning.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, our duet, which is gonna have a bunch of different keys, and so they can really learn the scale.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_02: And those are really in like the four to five thousand dollar range, where our butterflies, they and flowers start at about$1,500.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: So we've got a little bit of wiggle room and range there.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: However, the more you buy, the more you can save, the more we can kind of put together a unique package that's going to fit what you are actually looking for.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: What does your sender need?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: And what gap do you have?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know, maybe you've got a bunch of color already on your playground.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: So you want something more traditional that's gonna be a little bit more muted, that's gonna bring that in, or you're lacking color, you're lacking excitements, you're gonna go that route.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but again, we have them to align to your standards and we have a piece for everybody that does fit every budget.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: And if you really are like, oh, I really need to save more money, if you got a brick wall, we can save you even more money by mounting that to the brick wall.
• 16:16
  Kate Woodward Young: I love that.
• 16:17
  Kate Woodward Young: And all I need is a brick wall.
• 16:19
  Kate Woodward Young: Um, but I think one of the things that's really kind of interesting that we can also kind of maybe help the folks explore is that even privately run programs can partner with their community.
• 16:31
  Kate Woodward Young: There are um some, you know, you could find a nonprofit in the community that wants to sponsor the equipment and get a grant to donate it back to your privately run program.
• 16:41
  Kate Woodward Young: Now, what that means is that basically you don't own the the xylophone or the expensive piece of equipment, but it means that you now have a community collaborator who went and got a grant on your behalf because I have yet to meet a community that has too much music.
• 16:59
  Kate Woodward Young: Right, right?
• 16:59
  Kate Woodward Young: Like nobody's got too much music.
• 17:01
  Kate Woodward Young: So what are so let's wrap this up in case somebody isn't a hundred percent sure of maybe the benefits of music.
• 17:09
  Kate Woodward Young: So why should an educator think about bringing music back or bringing music into their curriculum as a featured element?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: First and foremost, music, hearing, you're touching in your senses, so the cognitive learning for kids and picking up what's the right sound, wrong sound.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_02: But on top of that, it's the encouraging of inclusive play because you don't have to be perfect with it.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_02: And kids are just going to gravitate to each other.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: So you're teaching that kind of inclusiveness and also expression, letting kids be themselves and express themselves.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: Those three things are I would say are some of the most important with bringing in music, but then you can also, you know, build confidence in your kids as they explore these pieces, as they learn, as they master their skills.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, music is for everyone.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have to be a master musician to make beautiful music and sounds.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what we kind of strive.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: We take these concert grade quality instruments and make it accessible to everybody.
• 18:10
  Kate Woodward Young: What a great thought! So hopefully you've gotten some seeds planted in the show notes.
• 18:15
  Kate Woodward Young: You definitely know that in the show notes are all of the resources to be able to find information about the harmony method, how to get in touch with Alicia so that Alicia can connect you with the right musical equipment for your situation.
• 18:31
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• 18:40
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