Rhythmic Performances of Young Children

Chet-Yeng Loong, Ph.D.

Frega (1979)• Purpose:

– was to determine which rhythmic tasks could be completed by young children.

• Subjects & Methodology: – Forty-five children from Argentina ages 3, 4, and 5

were observed for 6 months during their music lessons. Observations of the children’s rhythmic tasks were recorded.

• Results:– Frega found that the children’s performance sequence

started from chanting vocally with steady beats, to using speech patterns, to clapping hands, and continued with playing an instrument while using large muscle movement.

– Frega reported that there were rhythmic performance differences among the children ages 3, 4, and 5, and that competency increased steadily with age. In addition, it was found that all children had difficulty keeping a steady beat with a slow tempo.

Rainbow, Edward and Owen’s (1979)• Purpose:

– was to determine the ability of preschool aged children to learn specific rhythmic tasks.

• Subjects & Methodology:– Two groups of 27, 3-year-old children and two groups of 25,

4-year-old children were evaluated under the following categories: motor tasks using large muscles, motor tasks using simple instruments for response, and tasks using vocal sounds for rhythmic response.

Results:– There were significant differences between the mean scores

of the 3- and 4-year-olds, the 4-year-olds scoring significantly higher for all tasks.

– Rainbow, Edward, and Owen found, as did Frega, that rhythmic tasks requiring large muscle movements were difficult for 3- and 4-year-old children to perform. They concluded that “activities such as marching to music or marching and clapping rhythms present problems for 3- and 4-year-old children. The tasks that are most successful involve the use of (playing) simple rhythm instruments and the use of speech patterns or chanting (p. 86).”

Loong (1999)

• found that marching and instrument playing activities were not found to be difficult tasks for this group of subjects to perform. This indicates that children can do equally well in stepping/walking and playing instruments if they are exposed to both locomotor and instrument playing activities.

Klanderman (1979)

• conducted a study to examine the auditory perception and performance skills of preschool children on pitch, rhythmic, and melodic tasks.

• Subjects & Methodology:– Forty-seven subjects, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old

children, were tested to assess auditory recognition of pitch, rhythmic, and melodic tasks.

• Results:– Klanderman found that subjects’

performance level on the auditory perception and performance skills of preschool children increased steadily from age 3 to age 5.

Schehing (1952)• conducted a study by observing the natural rhythms expressed

by preschool children during their free vocalizations and free motor activities.

• Subjects & Methodology:– Schehing observed 36 children, 3- and 4-year-olds, for 10

weeks. • Results:

– Schehing found that 67% of the 3- and 4-year-olds’ rhythms, shown in both vocalizations and body movements, were presented in note values of equal duration. In addition, 92% of the rhythms were in duple meter.

– Schehing found, as did Frega; Rainbow, Edward, and Owen; and Klanderman, that older children, as compared to younger children, performed better on rhythmic activity tasks and were more creative when developing rhythmic patterns.

Summary• Rhythmic performances of children ages 3 to 5,

increased in complexity with their chronological age (Frega, 1979; Klanderman, 1979; Schehing, 1952; Rainbow, Edward and Owen, 1979). Rhythmic pulses, created by young children, were generally presented in note values of equal duration (Schehing, 1952).

• Three- to 5-year-old children were more successful in vocalizing/chanting simple rhythmic patterns and playing simple rhythms on instruments than performing movement exercises which required large muscle groups. In addition, 3- to 5-year-old children had difficulty keeping a steady beat with music played at a slow tempo (Frega, 1979).

Improvisation Potential of Young Children

Fifield (1980)• studied children’s spontaneous musical responses

while participating in designed activities. • The subjects were children who were 3, 4, and 5

years old. In a testing situation the subjects were asked to play a single bell over an ostinati pattern.

• Fifield found that 95% of the improvisations played on the bells consisted of notes of equal value. The result was similar to Schehing’s (1952) study such that the 3- and 4-year-olds’ rhythms, shown in both vocalizations and body movements, were notes of equal duration. Like Frega (1979), Fifield found that children synchronized the tempi pulse more accurately when the tempi were fast as compared to slow.

Flohr (1984)• conducted research which was to characterize

and describe the improvisatory behavior of young children. The subjects were forty 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children.

• There were 10 children in each age group. Flohr used a xylophone as a tool to assess the performances of children engaging in improvisatory tasks. The children worked with the researcher for 15 minutes. Flohr grouped the improvisation levels into 3 distinct stages of development. – The first stage, motor energy, occurred

between the ages of 2 and 4. The 2-year-olds, Flohr found, tended to strike the xylophone “in plodding and accented durations.” A child often repeated the same pitches.

Cont.– Flohr’s second stage of improvisation,

experimentation, occurred between the ages 4 and 6. It was characterized by the children experimenting with their own capacity for sound production. In this stage, the children tried many techniques in the exploration of various instruments and varied rhythmic material more frequently.

– The third stage, formal properties, occurred between the ages of 6 and 8. In this stage, children demonstrated the concept of form. For example, children, performed improvisations with short codas which corresponded to the length of the bordun accompaniment.

Reinhardt (1990)• replicated Flohr’s (1984) methodology with 3-, 4-,

and 5-year-olds. • The purpose of the study was to provide a

description of the rhythmic elements found in the improvisations of young children.

• The subjects (N = 105) were interviewed individually and asked to improvise a song on an alto xylophone.

• Reinhardt found that the use of different durations and rhythm patterns varied and increased with age. Reinhardt also reported that the subjects’ ability to improvise with a steady beat and meter stabilized by the age of 3 years.

Loong (1999)• In this study, it was observed that when younger

subjects (aged 1 and 2) were asked to play a drum while “Pease Porridge Hot” was sung, they basically just tapped the beats.

• On the other hand, when older subjects (aged 3, 4, and 5) were asked to play a drum while “Pease Porridge Hot” was sung, they tended to play either the beats or the rhythmic patterns of “Pease Porridge Hot”, stopping with the rests at the end of each phrase.

• Thus, it appears that older children (age 3, 4, and 5) who are able to comprehend words better that younger children (aged 1 and 2) tend to “think” more about the phrasing and the rhythmic patterns of a song and pay less attention to the pulses.

Cont.• It seemed that the phrases and rhythmic patterns of

the songs gave more meaning to children age 3, 4, and 5. Thus, even though it is believed that teaching steady beat is the starting point of early childhood musical learning, teaching phrases and rhythmic patterns should not be delayed until kindergarten and grade one as suggested in many music textbooks.

• This assumption should be challenged and reconsidered. Early childhood music educators should pay more attention to the different note duration values and rhythmic patterns which are created by children who are just beginning to comprehend language.

Summary

• Improvisatory potential of children ages 2 to 5 increased with age (Flohr 1984; Reinhardt, 1990). The use of equal durations rhythm patterns was very common among 3-year-old children (Fifield, 1980). In addition, 3-year-old children tended to play on the same pitch on the pitched instruments (Flohr, 1984). Four- and

• 5-year-old children were found to experiment and improvise on instruments with different note duration values and rhythmic patterns (Flohr, 1984; Reinhardt, 1990).