Contents
Contents
Before you begin
v
Learning outcomes
v
Competency standard
vi
How to use this book
viii
Assessment ix
Developing employability skills
x
Developing an evidence portfolio
xii
Resources
xiii
Introduction: Using music to enhance children’s experience
and development
1
Chapter 1: Providing a range of developmentally appropriate
music and movement experiences
3
1.1 Identifying and providing a wide range of music experiences to enhance children’s development
4
1.2 Identifying and providing a wide range of movement experiences to enhance children’s development
10
1.3 Providing appropriate music and movement resources that are inclusive and encourage appreciation of diversity
14
1.4 Providing opportunities for children to practise developing skills
19
In ACTION
22
Discussion topics
23
Chapter summary
24
Find out more
24
Checklist for Chapter 1
25
Assessment activity 1: Providing a range of developmentally appropriate music and movement experiences
26
Record your employability skills
27
Chapter 2: Supporting, facilitating and extending children’s
participation in music and movement
29
2.1 Setting up the environment to encourage participation in developmentally appropriate experiences
30
2.2 Linking music and movement activities to make them relevant to children’s daily life in care
36
© Aspire Training & Consulting
iii
CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience and development
2.3 Formulating strategies to encourage the development of a child’s individual music and movement potential
40
2.4 Encouraging improvisation with instruments 45
2.5 Designing a program to respond to children’s interests as they arise spontaneously
49
2.6 Using strategies to model appropriate attitudes and interaction to encourage children’s input and participation
53
In ACTION
56
Discussion topics
57
Chapter summary
57
Find out more
58
Checklist for Chapter 2
58
Assessment activity 2: Supporting, facilitating and extending children’s participation in music and movement
60
Record your employability skills
61
Chapter 3: Planning and implementing a range of 63
developmentally appropriate music and movement experiences
3.1 Using observations of individual children and groups of children to
plan developmentally appropriate music and movement experiences
64
3.2 Selecting and presenting a range of stimulating developmentally appropriate and inclusive music experiences
67
3.3 Selecting and presenting a range of stimulating developmentally appropriate and inclusive movement experiences
71
3.4 Evaluating children’s participation in and reactions to planned music
and movement experiences
74
3.5 Making ongoing modifications to stimulate interest and involvement in music and movement experiences based on evaluation information
77
In ACTION
79
Discussion topics
79
Chapter summary
80
Find out more
80
Checklist for Chapter 3
81
Assessment activity 3: Planning and implementing a range of developmentally appropriate music and movement experiences
82
Record your employability skills
83
Final assessment: CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience and development
85
Employability skills
88
© Aspire Training & Consulting
iv
CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience and development
−− core needs that all children and families have in common, and how to provide
inclusive child and family services
−− understanding of particular backgrounds, experiences and needs of children
and families in exceptional circumstances or with additional needs
Skills
It is assumed you have, or will develop, the ability to:
ƒƒ
engender interest and appreciation of music in children and encourage them to
experiment with expressing themselves in music
ƒƒ
use music with children including singing and simple percussion instruments
ƒƒ
choose appropriate settings for movement experiences
ƒƒ
apply the following skills identified as underpinning national child health and
wellbeing core competencies, where they are applicable to the work role:
−− implement effective evidence-based service delivery
−− coordinate service delivery to families with an interdisciplinary teamwork
approach and where possible collaborative interagency practice
−− support infants and toddlers to master key developmental tasks
−− early identification of emerging trends in child needs and how to address them
−− manage children’s health needs, eating behaviours and physical activity
−− provide environments and relationships that are safe for young people
−− engage and work with parents, carers and families.
Competency standard
Learning outcomes are based on the elements and performance criteria of this unit of
competency. The following table details the elements and performance criteria for this
competency standard and outlines where they are covered in this workbook.
CHCFC507A Use music to enhance
children’s experience and
development
Where covered in this workbook
Element 1: Provide a range of
developmentally appropriate music
and movement experiences
Chapter 1: Providing a range of
developmentally appropriate music
and movement experiences
1.1 Identify and provide a wide range of
music experiences for children that
may be used to enhance children’s
development
1.1 Identifying and providing a wide range of
music experiences to enhance children’s
development
1.2 Identify and provide a wide range of
movement experiences for children
that may be used to enhance children’s
development
1.2 Identifying and providing a wide range
of movement experiences to enhance
children’s development
continued …
© Aspire Training & Consulting
vi
Before you begin
… continued
CHCFC507A Use music to enhance
children’s experience and
development
Where covered in this workbook
1.3 Select and provide appropriate music and
movement resources that are inclusive
and encourage appreciation of diversity
including cultural diversity
1.3 Providing appropriate music and
movement resources that are inclusive and
encourage appreciation of diversity
1.4 Provide opportunities for children to
practise developing skills
1.4 Providing opportunities for children to
practise developing skills
Element 2: Support, facilitate and
extend children’s participation in
music and movement
Chapter 2: Supporting, facilitating
and extending children’s
participation in music and movement
2.1 Set up environment in a way that
encourages children’s participation in
developmentally appropriate music and
movement experiences
2.1 Setting up the environment to encourage
participation in developmentally
appropriate experiences
2.2 Link music and movement activities and
make them relevant to children’s daily life
in care
2.2 Linking music and movement activities to
make them relevant to children’s daily life
in care
2.3 Formulate strategies to encourage
development of a child’s individual music
and movement potential
2.3 Formulating strategies to encourage the
development of a child’s individual music
and movement potential
2.4 Encourage improvisation with instruments
2.4 Encouraging improvisation with
instruments
2.5 Design a program to respond to children’s
interests that arise spontaneously as
they participate in music and movement
experiences
2.5 Designing a program to respond to
children’s interests that arise spontaneously
2.6 Use strategies to model appropriate
attitudes and interaction to encourage
children’s input and participation in music
and movement experiences
2.6 Using strategies to model appropriate
attitudes and interaction to encourage
children’s input and participation
Element 3: Plan and implement
a range of developmentally
appropriate music and movement
experiences
Chapter 3: Planning and
implementing a range of
developmentally appropriate music
and movement experiences
3.1 Use observations of individual children
and groups of children to plan
developmentally appropriate music and
movement experiences for children
3.1 Using observations of individual
children and groups of children to plan
developmentally appropriate music and
movement experiences
3.2 Select and present a range of stimulating
developmentally appropriate and inclusive
music experiences for individual children
and small groups of children
3.2 Selecting and presenting a range of
stimulating developmentally appropriate
and inclusive music experiences
continued …
© Aspire Training & Consulting
vii
Introduction: Using music to enhance children’s experience and development
Introduction
Using music to enhance children’s
experience and development
Music is a significant part of many people’s everyday lives. Adults and children alike
are continually exposed to a variety of musical experiences. We hear music in film and
television themes, on the radio, in the supermarket and in our cars and homes. Music
has also been used by generations of parents to soothe their infants with lullabies; to
amuse and stimulate older children with rousing dance and marching music; and to
enjoy the social experience of singing songs together.
Most young children instinctively respond with pleasure to music; infants in particular
are very discriminating listeners. Research has even indicated that infants in the womb
can and do hear and listen to voices (and music), and are able to identify the distinctive
sound of their own parents’ voices from birth. This suggests that it is never too early to
begin a child’s musical education.
Music and movement experiences in the early
childhood care setting
There is no doubt that regular physical activity is essential for the health and wellbeing
of all young children. Therefore, all early childhood programs must include frequent
opportunities for children to practise the skills they are acquiring, in as varied a selection
of activities as possible. The experience of a range of musical and movement activities
helps facilitate children’s development of physical, social and emotional, cognitive, and
speech and language skills. Depending on the type of activity, fine and gross motor
skills, and fundamental movement skills such as running, jumping and balancing are
also practised and refined. Important social skills such as listening, remembering,
communicating and interacting with other children and adults are further enhanced.
© Aspire Training & Consulting
1
CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience and development
Assessment activity 1
Providing a range of developmentally appropriate
music and movement experiences
The following table maps the assessment activity for this chapter against the element
and performance criteria of Element 1 in CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s
experience and development. The activity has been designed for all learners to
complete.
Part
Element
Performance criteria
A
1
All
B
1
All
Part A
1. Why is it important to provide a variety of musical experiences for children?
2. Briefly outline the values of providing different movement experiences for
children.
3. How do music and movement experiences help infants and toddlers master key
developmental tasks?
4. Plan and describe one combined music and movement experience for each of the
following age groups – infant, toddler and preschooler. Ensure you describe what
resources you require in your response.
5. How can you identify and provide opportunities for children to build on emerging
skills?
6. What is meant by ‘proprioception’ or ‘body awareness’?
7. What is the value of exposing children to the music and movement experiences of
different cultures?
8. List at least five resources that can be used in movement and dance activities, and
that would encourage appreciation of cultural diversity.
9. Consider the program for the children you work with, then list all the times when
you could incorporate a music or movement experience that would allow the
children to practise their developing skills.
Part B
1. Closely monitor the daily routine at your workplace for a period of one week. Make
notes of the times and duration of all musical and movement experiences. Include
the experiences that occur every day, such as transition songs and actions. Identify
passive listening experiences, such as music played at nap time. Note any experiences
that are specifically designed to build on observed emerging skills, and those that
reflect cultural diversity.
© Aspire Training & Consulting
26
CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience and development
2.1 Setting up the environment to encourage
participation in developmentally appropriate
experiences
The environment in which children spend their time is critical to their development;
for example, infants and toddlers develop through sensory and motor explorations
of everything in their immediate surroundings, including people. Whatever they see,
hear, taste, and touch creates lasting impressions and helps them to learn. Therefore, the
quality of the care environment is vital in that it must encourage participation, which in
turn facilitates children’s participation in developmentally appropriate experiences.
What part does music play in your children’s service? For example, is it only played during
transitions or structured activities? Or are there times when it is used spontaneously?
An important consideration is to avoid having background music playing at all times,
as often children learn to ignore it. Instead, enhance the atmosphere by using music
regularly throughout the day for programmed musical experiences, to signal transitions
and for specific purposes such as lulling the children to sleep at nap time.
Family and the social environment
The external environment plays an important role in the child’s development and
participation. A carer may think they don’t have much control over how a child is cared
for in the home, but the reality is that first-time parents often accept and appreciate
advice and ideas from professional carers.
A child in care will already have been exposed to many experiences in their home
environment that affect their perceptions and developmental progress. The stability
and social context of the home and the community in which the child is raised have
a marked influence on the child’s development, and can produce different reactions
in the child to the environment you establish. Understanding each child’s home and
community environment, and hence the developmental influences these present, need
to be acknowledged.
The following table describes some factors that may affect families and children, and
also the influences of the community on these people.
Factors affecting
families
Factors affecting the
child
Community influences
Financial situation
Time with parents
Availability of social support
programs
Health issues
Nutrition
Religious and/or cultural
beliefs and pressures
Relationship stability
Developmental activities
undertaken in the home
Socioeconomic environment
Extended family influences
Extended family support
Welfare support
continued …
© Aspire Training & Consulting
30
Chapter 2: Supporting, facilitating and extending children’s participation in music and movement
2.4 Encouraging improvisation with instruments
Musical improvisation is a valuable creative experience for children. Apart from being
fun, activities that encourage experimentation with a variety of instruments support
children to develop cognitive skills, along with fine and gross motor skills and preliteracy skills. You should provide ample opportunity for children to explore ways
of using many types of instruments to make different sounds, and discover new
combinations and patterns of sounds.
The musical resources available in a children’s services environment should comprise a
wide selection of child-sized real percussion instruments, along with a small collection
of musical instruments from diverse cultures.
Percussion instruments are the most suitable for use with very young children (infants);
for example, offer maracas, tambourines, castanets, triangles, small hand drums, drums
that require sticks, xylophones, glockenspiels and bells, as well as rain sticks, rhythm
sticks, chimes and gongs. All these are easy and fun to play, produce immediate and
satisfying results, and are ideal to help children understand and use the basic musical
concepts of rhythm, tone and tempo.
Music corner improvisation
Choose a location the children can easily access to store a selection of instruments for
periods of free play. Arrange the area in a way that suggests creative use of equipment,
and include musical instruments as appropriate when setting up role-play areas. For
example, put a bell on the counter of a role-play shop or café, or leave a box of floaty
scarves and ribbons next to the instrument box. Many instruments can be used in more
than one way, so offer these in an open-ended fashion to facilitate improvisation and
creativity.
© Aspire Training & Consulting
45
CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience and development
In the following example a carer used a variety of strategies to encourage improvisation
with instruments.
Example
Pam often starts a group activity with singing, and clapping and tapping out the rhythms with
hands and feet, to get everyone in the mood. The children are then encouraged to choose
different instruments to shake, strike or bang to the beat in the same way. The children are
allowed to change to a different instrument at the end of each verse when singing a song, but
sometimes they are happy to stick with their first choice for the whole session.
Pam finds that the children also enjoy when she plays recorded music, as they can join in and
play their instruments as they listen. She encourages the children verbally and also by joining
in with dancing, clapping and foot-tapping. Now and then Pam picks up an instrument and
does something slightly different with it; for example, a bell instead of shaking, she will strike it
with a stick. She does this a few times and then puts it back on the mat to see if anyone in the
group will pick up on what she did with a stick and incorporate it into their music or movement
experience.
Practice task 8
Research and design two instrumental improvisation music experiences for each of the following
age groups: infant, toddler and preschooler.
Describe each activity, including details of the various resources you would require to
implement each experience, and your ideas on how you would set up the environment to
encourage participation.
© Aspire Training & Consulting
48
CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience and development
In ACTION
Team Leader Jen is aware that cultural diversity in music and movement activities is not well
represented in her room at the long day care centre. There are a number of posters representing
diverse cultures on the walls, along with a world map, and the instrument box contains maracas
and castanets; however, that is the extent of it.
Jen has recently completed her Diploma of Children’s Services and knows the importance of
representing diversity in all areas of the care environment. This is particularly important at her
centre, as there are over 17 different cultural backgrounds represented. Jen decides to raise the
issue of lack of cultural diversity at the next staff meeting.
After much discussion and input from colleagues and the Director, it is agreed that Jen’s room,
and indeed the others, are deficient in resources. It is decided that the following strategies will
be implemented immediately:
1. Authorisation is given for the purchase of additional resources including:
‚‚ CDs representing the music of diverse cultures including Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander, African, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Malaysian, Chinese, Spanish, Greek
and Italian
‚‚ a representative selection of culturally diverse percussion instruments
‚‚ picture books and wall posters depicting people of other races and cultures engaged in
music and movement activities, in some cases using the same instruments that are to be
acquired – these will be places where children can access them independently.
2. Using these resources Jen commits to do the research necessary to enable her to design
developmentally appropriate music and movement programs that present these new musical
sounds, songs and dances in their cultural context.
3. It is agreed that parents and family members, particularly those of various racial and cultural
backgrounds, will be invited to visit the centre to share their music, song and dance traditions
with the children.
The following week Jen reports that one of the parents in her toddler group, who is a professional
classical Spanish guitar teacher, has kindly agreed to visit the centre to play Spanish songs for
the children. In preparation for his visit, Jen focuses her music and movement program on
Spanish music, songs and dance, and even has the children make their own maracas they can
use to help express themselves during the music session. Jen sets up the area the night before
the visit to ensure access for all the children, and puts on offer costumes and other instruments,
including tambourines and child-sized guitars, to allow them to fully express the rhythms of the
music as it takes them.
The next day during the visit, the excitement is too much for one toddler, who wants to take the
tambourine of the boy next to her. Jen is prepared for this and to restore peace, she offers the
toddler another tambourine, telling her, ‘We don’t take from other children, we ask nicely. But
we all have our own to play with today, don’t we?’ This calms the toddler and she happily plays
her own tambourine.
After the visit, Jen includes all the children in a discussion about what they liked and felt with
the new music, and asks if they would like to do some more special dancing to that music in
the future.
© Aspire Training & Consulting
56
Final assessment: CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience and development
Final assessment
CHCFC507A Use music to enhance
children’s experience and development
To be assessed as competent in CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience
and development, you must provide evidence of the specified essential knowledge and
skills. Details of the essential knowledge and skills can be found in the ‘Before you
begin’ section of this workbook.
Assessment mapping
The following table maps this final assessment activity against the elements and
performance criteria of CHCFC507A Use music to enhance children’s experience and
development.
Part
Element
Performance criteria
A
All
All
B
All
All
C
All
All
Detailed mapping of this workbook against the methods of assessment, the elements,
the performance criteria and essential skills and knowledge is available in the Aspire
Trainer’s and assessor’s guide for this unit.
The following activity forms part of your assessment of competence. You may also need
to provide various workplace documents or third-party reports. Your trainer will give
you guidance in this area.
The following activity has been designed for all learners to complete.
Part A: Essential skills
The following skills have been identified as essential for this unit of competency:
ƒƒ
Engender interest and appreciation of music in children and encourage them to
experiment with expressing themselves in music
ƒƒ
Use music with children including singing and simple percussion instruments
ƒƒ
Choose appropriate settings for movement experiences
ƒƒ
Apply the following skills identified as underpinning national child health and
wellbeing core competencies, where they are applicable to the work role:
−− implement effective evidence-based service delivery
−− coordinate service delivery to families with an interdisciplinary teamwork
approach and where possible collaborative interagency practice
© Aspire Training & Consulting
85