We started this semester out with a focus on steady beat. A beat is the most fundamental property of music. It’s an underlying, unchanging, repeating pulse. Feeling and moving to steady beat develops a sense of time and the ability to organize and coordiante movements within time. At week six we shifted out focus to tempo which is the speed of the beat. So while we are still working on keeping that steady beat we are now experiencing the contrast of opposites such as slow and fast. One of the bonuses of early childhood music is that your child will learn more than music during our simple activities. Coordinating movements within time for instance is a math skill. As we use colorful words to describe our opposite movements we are aiding early reading skills. At home this week try singing A Ram Sam Sam to different tempos. Dance with your child as you find different words to decribe your movements. You can glide slowly like an ice skater, plod along like a turtle, swoosh quickly like an airplace, or burst like fireworks.