Hi All,
This topic came up on another thread - but I feel it’s really important and I’m sure we all do different things so I thought it would be great to share so we can swap ideas :biggrin:
I was asked
I know there is drawing and things like that but what do you guys do with your kids to enhance their creativity using music? I sing songs and rhymes, have instruments and make our own, play a lot of music too and my little one is a passionate music lover but i’m not sure what else there is that I can do to provide more possibilities to explore music? My Lo is a vivid music lover and any suggestions would be great, thanks!
We let our son play with many instruments and we don’t expect him to play them the way they are intended. We let him explore the instruments. Yesterday he was using my violin bow on my electric guitar (not an altogether pleasant sound I must say) he gave himself a big clap as he thought it sounded great. We encourage this sort of creativity by describing the sounds he is making and attributing themes or feelings to them.
Another game we play is the reverse of the old pattern repeat. So when he beats a pattern on the african drum my husband (the drummer in the family) will repeat his pattern back to him. We do this so that he feels that his ideas are good ideas, Wayne might also explain to him something like “Wow you did a flam - I liked that”. We’ve been doing this since he was just a few months old. You can watch Sabian and Wayne playing this game at http://www.acrodancer.com/sabian.html
The instrument I feel we’ve had the most success with was the harmonica. It’s one of those instruments that is difficult to master but anyone can get a nice sound out of it, even in the beginning. Sabian was always quite obviously aware that with the harmonica he was making “music” and he loves to create little (or sometimes quite lengthy) pieces on the harmonica. They’re great because the only skill they need is the ability to breathe and hold the instrument. We didn’t teach him anything and he worked out for himself that he could make different sounds with blowing than with sucking and that he could use his breath to control the dynamics. It’s also good for developing an ear for harmony as it naturally produces those intervals.
With the keyboard we play a similar game to rhythm repeat except that it has the added element of pitch repeat so I will sing back a phrase to him, sometimes just with “das” sometimes with the note names sometimes making up words. I might tell him his song was a happy song that made me think of sunshine or that he had chosen a minor key and that it made me think of cloudy days etc.
Our aim is to let him know that the instruments are a means to express yourself and that there is no right or wrong. We want this firmly instilled before he takes his first lessons in an instrument (probably in the next few months when I find a teacher I’m happy with).
As ex-music teachers (my husband taught drums, I taught piano, singing and guitar as well as dancing and acrobatics) we always gave our students impro time. I think that not enough music teachers give children creative time on their instrument and I think it is really important to foster the creativity alongside the scales and pieces so that the child’s improvisational and composition skills are always at the same level as their knowledge and technique. Young children are also far less inhibited in this so the younger it is fostered the more they can harness their techniques to create.
I look forward to hearing what other parents do 
So if there is anyone from France on this forum, please let me know of any lessons they may have.
). He shows a definite preference for Dream Theatre (I think it’s the odd time signatures) though loves opera as well but he wont tolerate bad music - he can’t stand listening to bands that aren’t tight and if he’s going to watch a solo demonstration he wants quality. Even as a baby he’d yell at you to turn things off (such as the Eurovision competition on tv lol)