WHAT MUSIC REALLY
MEANSTO CHILDREN
Music plays a prominent role in the daily lives of children, whose statements about its
purposeand value can help musicteachersdesignmeaningfulschoolprograms.
T en-year-old Alan makes no
bones about it: music is
important to him. He rea-
sons that "some music ...
gives me energy. When I'm
on my bike, listening to music on my
headphones, it makes me pedal fast or
to a beat. I feel like I'm flying." Four-
year-old Michael describes music as
"so sweet," especiallywhen his mother
sings to him. Carrie, a precocious six-
year-old, thinks that "music helps the
stories along," and nine-year-old
Manuel, a drummer in his family's
band, likes music in school because he
gets to learn "moreof the sounds, dif-
ferent sounds, and to read notes."
Music plays a key role in the life of
Tuyen, an eleven-year-oldwho is pres-
ident of her school's music club. Her
tone is determined, and she uses a
questioning inflection at the end of
her comments more as a way of ascer-
taining that her listener understands
her position than of expressing any
doubt about it: "I wouldn't want to be
without it. ... It's not like food; you
wouldn't starve without music. But it
makes my life worth more?"
Music "happens"to children, and
many are immersed in it all the day
Patricia
ShehanCampbell
is professor
of music
and chairof music educationin the School of
MusicattheUniversityofWashington inSeattle.
32
Childrensocialize,vent
emotions,and entertain
themselves
through
music.
long. They socialize, vent emotions,
and entertain themselves through
music. Their bodies stretch, bend,
step, hop, and skip in rhythmic ways,
while their voices rise and fall melodi-
cally, becoming fast and then slow,
loud and then soft. Children experi-
ence both the music that they make
themselves and the music that sur-
rounds them-the music that others
are making and that is "mediated"to
them via television, radio, and record-
ings.
Yet, despite textbook claims about
musical children who sing, move,
dance, and listen with rapt attention, I
MUSIC
didn't "get it" until I took time to step
away from teaching in order to watch
and listen. Over weeks that turned to
months and finally became more than
a year, I observed children making
music beyond the direct influence of
their teachers.And I listened to them
talk-sometimes nonstop-about
music that they valued and just had to
have in their lives.1
WatchingThemMakeMusic
How does music figure in the lives
of children? When I began to probe
children'svaluing of music, their uses
of it, and the types of music that they
were making their own, it was clear to
me that I needed to enter their world.
I needed to become the anthropologi-
cal "fly on the wall," learning about
their musical and social worlds first-
hand, from what I could see and hear,
without becoming a participant in
their musical play. I sought slices of
their musical life, and I was greatly
rewardedfor my efforts.
Consider the following scenes for
what they show about music'sconstant
presencein children'slives:
* Music emanated from the farthest
corners of the Horace Mann school-
yard. Two third-gradegirls jumped in
a hopscotch pattern painted on the
blacktop, singing familiar songs as
they moved. One afternoon, their
music included segments from the
theme song of the TV show Friends
EDUCATORS JOURNAL
along with a few commercialjingles, a
verse of "Oats, Peas, Beans, and Bar-
ley" (an Anglo-American singing for hopscotch
Figure1. Solo andostinatoaccompaniment
game), and many repetitionsof"Sansa skipping
Krama"(a singing game from Ghana).
Four eight-year-old boys rapped a
rhythmic ostinato with their voices as
^ roup
a background "track" to the words
sung by the girls (figure 1). |a u4 I. lt lJ' if Ar!
Not far from the children playing
hopscotch, two fifth-grade girls were
at the top of the monkey bars. A girl
below was jumping, her arms raised
towardthem. She was chanting:

_ t l0 ' 7 ) 1p * ~ :11
Jump down! Jump down!

Boh dah kee - Boh dah dah dah

Her friends soon joined in, adding
to her rhythm:
b} j }S J jJ I i C J l
~ 1 p P ' I7 p 11 walk - ing, talk - ing, pow - er to the peo - pie ran - gers.
huh - uh huh - uh

Together,these two phrasesformed Note:MusicexamplescreatedusingtheSibeliusMusicNotationSoftware.

a hocketed, holistic pattern that for a
while seemed to dominate all other
sounds in the Horace Mann school-
yard.
*At the LakeshoreChild Develop-
ment Center, I was captivated by the
musicality of the preschoolers' play-
time activities. Sarah and Clara were
dancing a stuffed raccoon to a rhyth-
mic rhyme that they spontaneously
Figure2. Preschooler'simprovisedsong accompanyingwaterplay
generated:"Meeko'smy friend, on the
river bend. He's just at the end,
Meeko, my friend." Robby clomped
across the floor in oversized cowboy
boots, telling no one in particularthat
"I'm going to catch a mouse in here."
He held a basket out, calling, "Here, DIJ Im 1- ; I jI
mousie," in a sustained sol-mi pattern. I love to stay in the wa - ter. The cold-er, the bet-ter it
Molly jumped with both feet into a
pail of water and sang happily (figure
2).
iJ. --.
I a p ,Z I
* Children in the Rundale School
cafeteria demonstrated the natural
is. It's hap -py here, hap -py wa -ter here.
connection between eating and social-
izing, making music, and moving. A
glance down one table of first graders
showed a wide arrayof polyrhythmic
movement. One little girl was rotating
her sandwich in a pulsing motion on
its Saran Wrap in half-circlesin front
of her. The next girl was tapping the
bases of two carrotson the table at top table, two older boys who had finished was tapping with two plastic forks
speed. On the other side of her, a boy lunch were creating rhythms in com- (figure 3a). Meanwhile, his friend had
was bouncing his milk carton in a syn- plex, interlockingpatterns. One strad- devised another pattern that he was
copated beat. A girl was sucking a lol- dled the bench, which he was using as pounding out on the table. He played
lipop in a loud rhythm. At the next a drum for an ostinato pattern that he the accented beats with his fists and

MARCH 2000 33

Figure3. Interlockingrhythmsproducedby upperelementary
students
a. Ostinatopatterntappedon the lunchroombench
4 n n j
b. Longer patternpoundedon the table
then opened his hand to use his palms
on the unaccented ones (figure 3b).
Together, they played this rhythm for
several minutes, while other children
at the table bobbed their heads in
expressions of interest and approval:
they had caught the boys' "groove."
* Sometimes I rode the school bus,
an experience that took me into an
underground world where I heard
children'sjokes and jeers, rhymes and
cheers,and riddles and songs. Many of
the songs that the boys sang were par-
odies of tunes in the traditional chil-
dren's repertoire-a nursery rhyme
("Little Miss Muffet"), a Christmas
song ("We Three Kings"),and a patri-
otic hymn ("The Star-SpangledBan-
ner"). One afternoon, I heard several
fourth-gradegirls singing the Scottish
folk tune "Over the Sea to Skye," a
few verses of "Froggie Went a-
Courtin'," and "Hey, Ho, Nobody
Home" as a canon. These perfor-
mances were the real thing-not paro-
dies at all.
Some of the younger girls, mostly
between first and third grades, were
eager to chant and clap the rhymed
verses. This they did softly and with
little facial expression,while staring at
their moving hands or partner's face
and speaking almost as though they
were in a trance. None of their reper-
toire ("Appleon a stick," "Three, six,
34
l j I1 j
) !
X XI
nine, the goose drank wine," and
"Fudge, fudge, call the judge," for
example) was new to me. In fact, all
their pieces were variantsof composi-
tions printed in collections of chil-
dren'slore dating back severalgenera-
tions.2
* On a hunch, I visited a premier
toy store. I suspected that children's
musical behaviorsat home and at play
were stimulated at least in part by
their toys. My trip turned up the usual
musical toys, such as plastic flutes,
harmonicas, saxophones, and dolls
that talked, sang, and danced. Yet,
what fascinated me was the extent to
which the nonmusicaltoys were able to
trigger musical behaviors in the chil-
dren interacting with them. By the
furry plush animals, a girl of kinder-
garten age was cradling a very real-
looking brown-and-white bunny and
softly singing, "I caught a rabbit, uh-
huh." A preschool boy climbing onto
the back of a large giraffe was squeal-
ing, "I'm higher than anybody," to a
spontaneous sol-mi-la melody. In an
area set aside for remote control cars,
several boys and girls, about seven to
ten or eleven yearsold, were rumbling,
roaring, and "vrooming" with their
voices in imitation of engine sounds.
Severalof the carsproduced their own
sound-effects-swooshes, skids, and
squeals-that blended polyphonically
MUSIC
with the children's vocalizations.
Watching the cars pass, a small boy
stood mesmerized and then remarked
to no one in particular,"It sure sounds
like racecar music here."
The music of all of these children
was a blend of mediated, family-
inspired, invented, and school-learned
music. Sometimes consciously but
more often unconsciously, the chil-
dren were singing, "rhythmicking,"
chanting, and dancing their way
through the events that comprised
their day. Whether their musical utter-
ances were offered spontaneously or
with deliberation, they were certain
testimony to the integral place of
music in the children'slives.
Talkingto ThemaboutMusic
After observing children in their
playful musical engagements, I moved
next to engaging them in conversa-
tions about music and its meaning.
What music did they know, listen to,
sing, and play? How did they use
music? How did they acquire their
musical knowledge and repertoire?
What did they value from their musi-
cal experiences at school? I learned
some answers to these questions
through the responses of the children
who spoke with me:
* George is a kindergartner at a
modern suburbanschool. He plays his
father'sbass guitar because he likes the
"strong sound" he hears through the
"ear muffs" (headphones) when his
father plugs it in. He also enjoys his
six slide whistles because their sounds
make his tummy tickle "like going up
on a rolley coaster."He prizes his two
harmonicas because they sound
"thickerthan whistles."On the subject
of popular music, George explainsthat
song and dance belong together and
that "it's important to do both if you
want to be a good musician." His
valuing of music is intimately con-
nected to its kinetic quality; music for
him is a nonverbal,often unconscious,
and physicalexperience.
How music is produced is a ques-
tion that intrigues George. In his
father's tool shop, he collaborates on
the creation of the slide whistles,
flutes, and wind chimes of his dreams.
His only mention of music at school is
in relation to the wind chimes: "I've
EDUCATORS JOURNAL
been watching them getting played in that song until my cousin's funeral.
music class, and they'rebeautiful. But But I heard it, and could just join in
there'stoo many kids in my class, and and learn it, so now I sing it all the
too few times to play."This last com- time. Even in school, to myself. Even
ment will sadden music teachers,who in my sleep."
understand the "too little time" syn- Ramona enjoys music in school.
drome all too well. But at least chil- She particularlylikes her teacher and
dren like George can have their musi- the singing games that the students
cal interestsstimulated at school, lead- learn in music class. Demonstrating
ing to their development on the out- the melody used in the "Bluebird"
side. game ("Bluebird,bluebird,go through
my window"), she traverses three
tonalities and ends in a bluesy flour-
ish. Music is woven into the fabric of
Ramona'slife: she plays games, dances,
and dreams of making a video-all to
the accompanimentof music.
* Alan is a ten-year-oldgrowing up
in a small town just off an interstate
highway. His family's double-wide
Nonmusicaltoyswere mobile home accommodates a great
deal of music. Alan's father plays the
ableto triggermusical guitar,his sister plays the clarinet, and
Alan himself plays a tabletop key-
behaviorsin thechildren board. He plays by trial and error,
interactingwiththem. without formal instruction. He watch-
es others perform, listens carefully,
and then runs home to figure out the
tunes on his keyboard.Alan has what
he calls "humming music"inside him-
self-melodies that are always just
below the surfaceof his consciousness,
to be called up quickly: "I sing in my
mind-not out loud-and my inside-
singing is my guide to playing."Alan
At seven, Ramona is a gregarious resists compartmentalizing music
second grader in an inner-city neigh- away from his other subjectsat school:
borhood of littered streets, graffiti- "We can only do music in music class,
covered buildings, barred windows so I find myself singing in my mind a
and doors, and "block watch" signs. lot during math or spelling or social
She has her musical fantasies: she studies." He holds his music teacher
would like to study piano, play the in high regard. "She knows a lot and
saxophone, and sing and dance like understandskids," he says. "She plays
too."
Janet Jackson, with all the glamorous good,
Yet, the image of Alan that has the
trappingsof the star system.
Music has multiple uses for greatest staying power for me is of
Ramona. She describesholidays when him singing all alone in a field. He
she and her family produced rhythmic confides: "I have a stump where I go.
festive music with kitchenware. But It's an old tree that was cut down, in
on the occasion of a cousin's funeral, the fields behind our home, way back.
she learned a song that was anything I ride my bike back to that spot, or
but festive: somber sounds of mourn- sometimes I go when I'm walking
ing that served to buoy up members Angus [the family's dog]. There's no
of the family and createa sense of soli- houses, no people. It'sjust way back in
darity. Describing the song, called the fields. There are sticker bushes all
"Silver and Gold," Ramona explains, around it, kind of to keep people
"We just sing and clap, and move away.No one goes there. The stump is
from side to side. ... I didn't know about this high and this wide." Alan
MARCH 2000
gesturesto show a height of about two
feet and a width of four feet. "I just
get up on the stump, and think there.
And I sing, as loud as I can. No one
can ever hear me. It feels pretty good."
This image underscores the vital role
that music plays in channeling and
releasingenergies, emotions, and ideas
in Alan and many children like him.
Eachchildbringshis or
heruniqueperspectiveto
a song,instrument,or
musicalevent.
* George, Ramona, and Alan repre-
sent the vast population of children
who find that music is a meaningful
part of their daily lives. Analyzing ele-
ments of music scientifically may not
reveal all of music's meaning. It may
be necessaryto look closely, as anthro-
pologist John Blacking did, at the
"constructions which people put on
it."3 For George, musical meaning is
in the way it feels and in how instru-
ments are constructed, while for
Ramona, it resides in music's multiple
uses for holidays, funerals, dancing,
and game-playing.Alan is wrapped in
music and is conscious of its presence
inside him and its capacityto flow out
when he plays at his keyboard,
engages in other studies at school, or
is far from others and can "let it go."
Each child brings his or her unique
perspective to a song, instrument, or
musical event, so that its meaning is
based on who the child is and what
his or her experience has been. No
35
doubt, music offers children powerful
aural images by which they come to
understand themselves symbolically
and emotionally. Music reflects their
varied moods and helps them figure
out who they are or are in the process
of becoming at particular times and
places. Through music, they examine
themselves, their experiences, and the
relationshipsthat they have with their
friends and members of their family.
Nothing besides music gives them the
same way of thinking and feeling
aloud. Separate songs and styles hold
unique meanings for each child based
on who he or she is as the result of his
or her personal, cultural, and musical
experience.
Musicreflectschildrens
variedmoodsand helps
themfigureout whothey
areor arein theprocess
of becomingat
particulartimes
andplaces.
WhatChildren TeachUs
Although children are musical
without expert guidance, they become
more so as a result of it. Their lives are
enhanced by education in and
through music as they become all that ought to be occasions for us to sit
they can musically be. As they
progress,they become more human, as and to learn about their knowledge of
well, by knowing music at many lev- and regard for music. Without this
els, in many guises. There is good evi- information, the very best plans that
dence that children have a natural adults can fashion for children may
inclination to think and act musically, still be far removed from the realities
but they also have a right to know
36
moremusic betterso that they can use development as thinking and feeling
it to full advantageto enrich and give individuals.
meaning to their lives. This is where
we come in.
Children become more musical
through authentic interventions that
teachers provide in thoughtfully pre-
pared programs of school music.
Teaching strategiesare authentic when
they are rooted in children's actual
needs and interests. The ways in
which children use and value music
Childrenbecomemore
should serve as the foundation for the musicalthrough
instructionalplans that we design and
deliver to them. In effect, children authenticinterventions
have much to teach us about how to
teach them.
thatteachers
providein
When eleven-year-old Anna an- thoughtfully
prepared
nounces that "music gets me going
and gives me strength,"I am remind- programsof school
ed to select pieces and styles that will
help children grow socially and emo-
music.
tionally. When five-year-old Darryl
quips that "music is about stuff you
do," I am inspired to design instruc-
tion that centers on children and
involves them actively in making
music and responding to it. When
twelve-year-old Jonathan wonders
"how a violin would sound hooked
up to speakers,"I see the need to sat- I now know better than ever that
isfy the curiosity of children who listening and watching children in
want to know about the mechanics of their musical behaviorscan be a trans-
musical instruments, electronic sound
systems, and computer applications in
forming experience. Children are sur-
prisingly accomplished listeners, cre-
music. When eight-year-old James ators, and performers. We should let
excitedly reports that "the violins their behavior and needs shape our
sounded good when we were that designs for their musical education.
close," I realize that school music Perhapsby hearing them out, we can
instruction must bring live musicians find ways to augment the role that
in from the community to give the music already has in their lives and
children direct and personal contact thus help them acquire even greater
with music. And when children make musical riches.
music while playing games, interact-
ing with friends, eating together, and Notes
passing the time on buses and in toy 1. Patricia Shehan Campbell, Songs in
stores, I am impelled to listen and Their Heads: Music and Its Meaning in Their
learn more about their involvement
Lives (New York: Oxford University Press,
with music.
1998).
If teachersare to be responsiblefor
2. See Roger D. Abrahams, Jump-Rope
children'seducation and welfare, there
Rhymes: A Dictionary, American Folklore
back to watch children at musical play Society Bibliographical and Special Series,
vol. 20 (Austin: University of Texas Press,
1969); and Carl Withers, A Rocket in My
Pocket (New York: Henry Holt, 1948).
3. John Blacking, Music, Culture, and
Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago
of what children may requirefor their Press, 1995). -
MUSIC EDUCATORS JOURNAL