The Childsong Collection

The collection features 103 original songs without words in a variety of tonalities and meters. Suggestions are included for tonic accompaniments, simple harmonic accompaniments, and lyrics. The songs are appropriate for use with students of any age: infants, school children, and adults can benefit from the full musical vocabulary featured in The Childsong Collection. Dr. Bolton is a co-author of The Early Childhood Experimental Song and Chant Book I, Jump Right In: The Music Curriculum, and MUSIC PLAY - Jump Right In: The Early Childhood Music Curriculum. She is an assistant professor of music education at the Esther Boyer College of Music, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

How a Child Responds to Music

A very young child responds to music in a variety of ways. Some responses are social, indicating pleasure at hearing songs, chants, and nursery rhymes. Some responses are musical. A young child may become very quiet and attentive when music is heard or may become active, responding with movement and sound. No matter what a child's response to music, it is natural and normal.

Developing Music Vocabulary

The songs in The Childsong Collection were composed especially to help develop a sense of tonality and meter, the two most important dimensions of musicality. By hearing songs without words in a variety of tonalities and meters, a child will develop a broad listening vocabulary that will serve as a foundation for later music learning and enjoyment.

Songs Without Words

A child learns music and language in much the same way, through listening. When a child hears only songs with words, a child may listen more to the words than to the music. To fully develop a child's musical ear, sing beautifully and expressively without words.

The Importance of Flowing Movement

Observing flowing movement, rather than beat movement, helps a child to develop a sense of how the body moves through space. Move with graceful flowing movement when you sing, using your entire body.

Vocal Harmony

Hearing sustained tonic accompaniments and simple vocal will develop a solid musical foundation that will help a child learn to sing in tune and to understand melody and harmony. There are 14 examples of sustained tonic accompaniment and 30 songs with simple accompaniment in The Childsong Collection. One adult singer should sing the melody while another sings the sustained tonic accompaniment or simple accompaniment. In a music class, parents and caregivers can learn to sing the accompaniments as teachers sing melodies.

How to Help a Child Develop a Sense of Music

Teachers, parents, and caregivers can help to guide a child's development by modeling musical behaviors. To help a child develop a readiness for music learning, adults should:

Model flowing movement when music is sung or when recorded music is played.
Sing. A child will learn to sing in the same way she learns to speak language, by listening to and interacting with an adult.
Sing without language. A child will learn the language of music better if words are not sung. Sing using a neutral syllable such as BUM or use any neutral syllable that feels comfortable.
Show that you enjoy music. Listen to interesting music at home.

Musical Interaction

Music can be learned more quickly and precisely by listening to and interacting with a musical adult than by listening to recorded music. Sing the songs without words from The Childsong Collection with as much expression and animation as you would use when speaking to a child.

Singing in Appropriate Keys

The songs in The Childsong Collection are notated in child-friendly keys. They should not be transposed to other keys, but should be sung as notated. It is important to sing in keys that are easily processed by a child's audiation and singing voice. There are indications from research that a very young child is able to process and respond to the tonal structure of music efficiency if the music is sung in a key that places the song, and especially its resting tone, within the initial audiation and singing range. For that reason, most of the resting tones of songs in The Childsong Collection are placed above middle C.

Songs With Tonic Accompaniment

Fourteen songs in The Childsong Collection should be sung with a sustained tonic accompaniment. The tonic pitch is notated above each of the songs. An assistant or parent(s) should sing the tonic pitch using a neutral syllable while the song is sung by the teacher. It is important that a child hears and learns to audiate the tonic pitch so that all other pitches in a song can be audiated relative to that pitch.

A Variety of Tonalities and Meters

A child should experience the whole language of music, listening to and interacting in a variety of tonalities and meters. The Childsong Collection includes songs in Major, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, harmonic minor, melodic minor, and Locrian tonalities as well as whole-tone, multitonal, and multikeyal songs. Usual duple, usual triple, unusual paired, and unusual unpaired meters are represented and several multimetric songs have been included.

Planning a Music Class

Music interaction in a variety of tonalities and meters should be included in a child's daily experience at home. In addition, both parent and child should attend an informal music class at least once each week. The class should include variety in tonality, meter, timbre, tempo, and style. Repetition and contrast are important elements in a music class. A song should be repeated several times with appropriate pauses between repetitions to encourage audiation. Some new and some familiar songs should be included in each music class.

Parent Involvement

Parents should be actively involved in music interaction with their child. The more a parent sings, chants, and moves to and for a child, the more deeply engaged the child will become in music learning. Parents should copy movement performed by the teacher, sing during class and at home, interact with their child using tonal and rhythm patterns, and show that they enjoy music.

Musical Conversation

The songs in The Childsong Collection were created especially to develop a child's listening and interaction vocabulary in music. Present them informally, as in musical conversation, with no expectation that a child will learn to sing the songs. Listen for a tonal or rhythmic musical response and encourage that response.

Songs With Words

There are 25 songs with words in The Childsong Collection. The same songs are presented in the collection first without words. Some songs are also presented with tonic accompaniment or simple accompaniment. The song texts have been created to appeal to children and parents and to encourage a positive and enjoyable musical and social interaction. It is appropriate to sing songs with words to a young child 1) when the song has become familiar through listening and interaction without words and 2) when a child is old enough to understand the meaning of the words.

Using the songs in
The Childsong Collection
to help older students and adults develop audiation.

TONAL AUDIATION

Sing a song. At the end of the song have students sing the resting tone using a neutral syllable or the appropriate tonal sol-feg syllable.
Sing the tonic function of the song using a neutral syllable or the appropriate tonal sol-feg syllable. Have students echo the pattern. Sing the song, stopping randomly to have students sing the tonic function.
Ask students to sing a sustained tonic pitch as you sing the entire song.

RHYTHM AUDIATION

Move to macrobeats and microbeats as you sing the song. Have students move to macrobeats and microbeats as you sing.
Ask students to move to macrobeats and microbeats and chant microbeats using rhythm syllables as you sing the song.
Ask students to chant a rhythm ostinato using rhythm syllables as you sing the song.

About the Author

Beth Bolton, Assistant Professor of Music Education; Director of the Sophomore Field Experience Program; Curriculum Director of the Early Childhood Music Foundations Program at TUCC. B.S. (music education) Fort Hays State University; M.M. (bassoon), Emporia State University; Ph.D. (music education) Temple University; former teacher in public schools in Kansas and Missouri; selected as "Teacher of the Year" and "Outstanding Young Educator" in Lawrence, KS; author of "Was That A Musical Response? Eliciting and Evaluating the Earliest Musical Behaviors in Very Young Children" Early Childhood Connections Journal for Music in Early Childhood. Fall 1996, "Singing Melody and Harmony: A Middle School Vocal Experience" The GIML Audea Volume 1, Number 4, Fall 1995, "Effective Teaching Through Audiation and the National Standards in Music" The GIML Audea Audiation Volume 1, Number 2, Winter 1995; co-author of The Experimental Song and Cant Book, Jump Right In: The Music Curriculum, Revised, Jump Right In: The Early Childhood Music Curriculum, Jump Right In: The Church Music Curriculum, and Answerkey ; curriculum director of Early Childhood Music Foundations pre-school music program for children from birth to five years old at Temple University Center City campus and a teacher of children birth to 18 months old in that program; co-executive secretary of the Gordon Institute for Music Learning and a member of that organization's working board of directors, editorial board, and higher education committee; member of the PMEA Research Board; member of the Children's Concert committee of the Philadelphia Classical Symphony; frequent presenter at the national, regional and state level in music learning theory, Orff Schulwerk, recorder pedagogy, and creativity and improvisation; B.M., M.M., and Ph.D. advisor.

Link to Beth's Home Page

Table of Contents

Songs Without Words

#	SONG	TONALITY	METER
1	MY PONY, JOHN	Dorian	Usual Duple
2	HELLO/GOOD-BYE	Harmonic Minor	Usual Duple
3	FLUFFY CAT	Phrygian	Multimetric
4	TEP	Major	Unusual Unpaired
5	PRECI-CAT	Dorian	Usual Triple
6	DAFFODIL	Mixolydian	Usual Duple
7	ALEX	Multitonal	Unusual Paired
8	SUSAN	Dorian	Usual Triple
9	GINO	Harmonic Minor	Usual Duple
10	MISSOURI	Mixolydian	Multimetric
11	ELK RIVER	Lydian	Multimetric
12	WHISPER A SECRET	Phrygian	Usual Triple
13	SNAKE SONG	Locrian	Usual Triple
14	VANESSA	Lydian	Unusual Paired
15	LUKE	Melodic Minor	Usual Triple
16	MY PUPPY DOG	Major	Usual Triple
17	LANGSTON	Aeolian	Multimetric
18	JIMMY'S TUNE	Dorian	Usual Triple
19	SARA	Multitonal	Multimetric
20	JOOHEE	Dorian	Usual Duple
21	WISHING STAR	Mixolydian	Usual Triple
22	AMY	Harmonic Minor	Usual Triple
23	HANDS	Dorian	Usual Triple
24	MONKEY, MONKEY	Phrygian	Usual Duple
25	MCOLE	Lydian	Multimetric
26	LULLABY, BABY	Locrian	Usual Duple
27	JOY	Dorian	Multimetric
28	HELENAR	Harmonic Minor	Usual Triple
29	WIGGLE SONG	Dorian	Usual Duple
30	JOAN MARIE	Phrygian	Usual Triple
31	SIOBHAN	Mixolydian	Usual Duple
32	JAMIE	Whole Tone	Usual Triple
33	CHEWBACCA	Lydian	Usual Duple
34	SUSIE	Dorian	Unusual Paired
35	BWIA	Multimetric	Usual Triple
36	BEAR SONG	Locrian	Usual Triple
37	BRIAN	Melodic Minor	Usual Triple
38	VICTOR	Multitonal	Usual Duple
39	SKITTERY MOUSE	Harmonic Minor	Usual Duple

40	EMILIA	Major	Multimetric
41	CHOOSY	Mixolydian	Multimetric
42	DONNA'S TUNE	Phrygian	Usual Triple
43	LEE	Aeolian	Usual Duple
44	CAROL	Dorian	Usual Duple
45	EGRI	Multitonal	Unusual Unpaired
46	PEORIA	Phrygian	Usual Duple
47	HELENAC	Harmonic Minor	Usual Duple
48	MOUSE IN THE PANTRY	Dorian	Multimetric
49	IDELISA	Mixolydian	Unusual Paired
50	CHRISTINE	Multitonal	Multimetric
51	BOUNCY	Dorian	Usual Duple
52	BRUCE	Lydian	Usua Duple
53	TRISHA	Harmonic Minor	Usual Duple
54	JULIA	Multitonal	Usual Triple
55	ISABELLA	Multitonal	Usual Triple
56	NAP SONG	Major	Usual Duple
57	CAT	Harmonic Minor	Usual Triple
58	BREAD BAKING SONG	Melodic Minor	Usual Triple
59	HEY GOOD-BYE	Mixolydian	Usual Duple
60	SUSANA	Dorian	Multimetric
61	STOP DANCE	Mixolydian	Usual Triple
62	TO THE ZOO	Dorian	Multimetric
63	JP	Harmonic Minor	Usual Triple
64	OMA	Mixolydian	Usual Duple
65	TERRY	Multitonal	Usual Triple
66	PICKLES AND PIE	Mixolydian	Usual Duple
67	CROWN	Aeolian	Usual Duple
68	SPRING	Multitonal	Usual Duple
69	DAWN	Multitonal	Multimetric
70	HELLO	Aeolian	Usual Duple
71	CHICKEN POT PIE	Mixolydian	Usual Triple
72	ERIE	Harmonic Minor	Usual Duple
73	DAISIES	Mixolydian	Multimetric
74	LIEESONG	Mixolydian	Multimetric
75	BOUNCE A BYE BABY	Mixolydian	Unusual Paired
76	TICKLE SOUP	Dorian	Usual Duple
77	THANKSGIVING	Melodic Minor	Usual Duple
78	MY LIT'ILE ANGEL	Dorian	Usual Duple
79	LAKE AFTON	Major	Usual Duple
80	HIPPOPOTAMUS	Multitonal	Usual Triple
81	CHING CHING	Dorian	Usual Duple
82	BABY DUNDEE	Major	Usual Triple
83	A SHAKE	Mixolydian	Usual Duple
84	HELENA y SERGIO	Multitonal	Usual Duple
85	SONG FOR ANDREA	Multitonal	Usual Duple
86	MOUNT VERNON MELODY	Mixolydian	Multimetric
87	PEEK-A-BOO	Multitonal	Usual Duple

88	LADY FAIR	Multitonal	Usual Duple
89	JOTO	Melodic Minor	Usual Triple
90	MARISA	Mixolydian	Usual Combined
91	AARON	Multitonal	Usual Duple
92	VINCENT	Mixolydian	Multimetric
93	I'M GOIN' HOME	Harmonic Minor	Usual Duple
94	BAH BOP	Major	Usual Triple
95	LA COLONIAL	Aeolian	Usual Duple
96	MARQUIS	Aeolian	Unusual Paired
97	BART	Aeolian	Usual Duple
98	PACHIO	Mixolydian	Multimetric
99	INFANTS	Major	Usual Duple
100	LT''S	Multitonal	Usual Duple
101	BABBY	Dorian	Multimetric
102	BENJERLAIN	Multitonal	Usual Duple
103	RICKETT'S GLEN	Aeolian	Unusual Paired