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Background Music


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Hi all,

 

I was having a discussion with a colleague today about playing music on the iPod/radio.

 

Whilst there are obvious benefits, we were discussing any detrimental effect of near-constant background music on language development.

 

Also, as an adult, I feel a sensory overload when entering the preschool room of 32 children plus blaring music.

 

Any thoughts, comments, articles etc would be much appreciated.

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Hmmmm. Maybe I was being generous!

 

I see the benefits of musical exploration in general, but I'm not happy with the way it is currently used in our setting.

 

I suppose I'm looking for change without seeming like a killjoy! And preferably with some research to back me up...

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We use music intermittently. We never have it on day in day out. The hall we work in has quite a high ceiling and so does create echo which for children of this age is not good (around 1 in 4 will experience some sort of hearing issue!) We do use it to liven the children up or quieten them down depending on mood and we have a wide variety of music (elvis Presley going down well at moment) We have made a decision not to use the radio as we cannot control what is going to be said in the news or played on air.

Music can certainly be a key element for some children and in fact some do seem to concentrate better with a small bit of background noise (only found this recently ....suspect it is because they are used to it at home!)

I would love to add noises to the small world and role play areas (does anyone do this?) so the sound of the sea, or a busy street and see what effect this has.

I have lots of children with interesting learning styles at the moment and several of them react very favourably to music, it can increase their use of language (polish child singing let it go constantly!) or improve steady beat little one with asd tapping along on the radiator! increasing confidence (dancing in a group) I have one little chap who has hearing issues who will press his ear against the speaker and dance with great joy!!!

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I have always had music playing at lunchtime, I find it is helpful tool to prevent the loud volume of children when they are sat at the lunch table and is a good focus for discussion. I use the iPod and we play the same music for a couple of weeks so the children become really familiar with the tunes. I have a selection which includes classical, pan pipes, Bollywood, jazz, piano, violin, so it is also a good way of broadening children's musical knowledge beyond Frozen and One Direction which seems to be this cohorts musical obsessions

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We use music intermittently. We never have it on day in day out. The hall we work in has quite a high ceiling and so does create echo which for children of this age is not good (around 1 in 4 will experience some sort of hearing issue!) We do use it to liven the children up or quieten them down depending on mood and we have a wide variety of music (elvis Presley going down well at moment) We have made a decision not to use the radio as we cannot control what is going to be said in the news or played on air.

Music can certainly be a key element for some children and in fact some do seem to concentrate better with a small bit of background noise (only found this recently ....suspect it is because they are used to it at home!)

I would love to add noises to the small world and role play areas (does anyone do this?) so the sound of the sea, or a busy street and see what effect this has.

I have lots of children with interesting learning styles at the moment and several of them react very favourably to music, it can increase their use of language (polish child singing let it go constantly!) or improve steady beat little one with asd tapping along on the radiator! increasing confidence (dancing in a group) I have one little chap who has hearing issues who will press his ear against the speaker and dance with great joy!!!

Finleysmaid have you ever checked out the BBC Schools (radio)website page, I downloaded seagulls earlier this term when we all went to the "beach" for a couple of days, the children were quite amazed. They have lots of different sound bites as well as some sweet programmes for the children to listen to if they are so minded, you can download/podcast for nothing.

Edited by Panders
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Finleysmaid have you ever checked out the BBC Schools (radio)website page, I downloaded seagulls earlier this term when we all went to the "beach" for a couple of days, the children were quite amazed. They have lots of different sound bites as well as some sweet programmes for the children to listen to if they are so minded, you can download/podcast for nothing.

brilliant ....when ive finished my blasted reports ill go and listen to something soothing!

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I think music can be used at particular times for a particular purpose. But any background sound can make it MUCH more difficult for children with any hearing difficulty at all.

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