August 2021 Parenta magazine

Using music to develop
listening, attention and
understanding as an
Early Learning Goal
Listening is a skill that is fundamental to learning. It is
necessary to develop listening before speaking, writing,
and reading skills can be introduced, so this is especially
important in the pre-school years. The ability to listen
covers a variety of skills beyond hearing, including the
ability to pay attention and understand. These skills all
work together when taking in information in order to react
with a suitable response. Music often involves a wide variety
of listening aspects. Music from pop to classical pieces
combine different musical instruments and multiple voices
that come in at different times. Musicians must be able to
not only hear but also respond appropriately to musical cues.
The ability to follow different voices or timbres of musical
instruments helps musicians to follow printed music, and studies
have shown that musicians are often able to hold successful
conversations in the busiest, most distracting situations.
In a study published last year, Hashim et
al (2020) used the Fuzzy Delphi Technique
with experienced teachers and lecturers
to identify the most important skills
needed in order to successfully develop
listening skills in pre-schoolers. Fifteen
expert teachers were asked to assess a
number of skills involved in the delivery of
teaching listening in the early years. Using
a questionnaire and Likert scale (rating
level of agreement to statements from 1-5),
the scores given indicated the sequence of
important factors involved in listening.
The most important skill was identified
as the clarity and volume of the adult’s
voice. The clearer the adult’s voice, the
more effectively children were able to
engage their attention and listen to the
adult. The next was making the activities
fun and exciting. By doing this, children
were more likely to take part, take risks
and retain information more successfully.
The third element involved using actions
and expressions through body language,
as children are naturally adept at reading
body cues. Finally, the use of ageappropriate
language allowed children to
more easily understand their adult.
The following traditional children’s songs
and rhymes reference listening:
A Wise Old Owl
A wise old owl sat in an oak
The more he heard the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard
Why can’t we all be like that bird?
This lovely rhyming poem is a traditional
children’s verse with a clear message:
listening can be more useful than talking
for the sake of talking. Learning verse by
rote has benefits including remembering
story sequences using rhyme as cues,
getting to know the rhythm and pace of
different words, as well as the ebb and
flow of sentence formation.
Three Little Kittens
Three little kittens they lost their mittens,
and they began to cry,
“Oh mother dear, we sadly fear that we
have lost our mittens.”
“What! Lost your mittens, you naughty
kittens!
Then you shall have no pie.”
“Meeow, meeow, now you shall have no
pie.”
“Meeow, meeow, now we shall have no
pie.”
The three little kittens they found their
mittens, and they began to cry,
“Oh mother dear, see here, see here for
we have found our mittens.”
“Put on your mittens, you silly kittens, and
you shall have some pie”
“Meeow, meeow, and you shall have
some pie.”
“Meeow, meeow, now let us have some
pie.”
The three little kittens put on their mittens
and soon ate up the pie,
“Oh mother dear, we greatly fear that we
have soiled our mittens.”
“What! Soiled your mittens, you naughty
kittens!” then they began to cry,
“Meeow, meeow,” then they began to sigh.
“Meeow, meeow,” then they began to sigh.
The three little kittens they washed their
mittens and hung them out to dry,
“Oh mother dear, do you not hear that we
have washed our mittens.”
“What! Washed your mittens, you are
good kittens, I smell a rat close by,”
“Meeow, meow, I smell a rat close by.”
“Meeow, meow, we smell a rat close by.”
This little ditty is another traditional song
with a moral, and mentions listening in the
context of the story. This could be used to
introduce listening to animal sounds, and
what animal behaviours may mean.
http://nurseryrhymesforbabies.com/thehistory-of-three-little-kittens/
Little Bo Peep
Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
And doesn’t know where to find them.
Leave them alone and they’ll come home,
Bringing their tails behind them.
Little Bo Peep fell fast asleep
And dreamt she heard them bleating,
But when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For they were all still fleeting.
Then up she took her little crook
Determined for to find them.
She found them indeed, but it made her
heart bleed,
For they left their tails behind them.
It happened one day, as Bo Peep did stray
Into a meadow hard by,
There she espied their tails side by side
All hung on a tree to dry.
She heaved a sigh, and wiped her eye,
And over the hillocks went rambling,
And tried what she could,
As a shepherdess should,
To tack again each to its lambkin.
This traditional song appears to have
originated in the 18th century about a
short shepherdess who lost her sheep,
hoped they’d return, and then went to find
them. One reference to the verse links it
to wool smugglers in Chelsfield, Kent –
another to the stocks where criminals were
said to be “playing bo-peep through a
pillory”. However, there are references in
Shakespeare to a 16th century children’s
game called ‘Bo Peep’: saying “Bo” and
placing a blanket over baby’s head,
and then saying “Peep” when lifting the
corner. In fact, in the northwest of England,
many parents still play “Peep-Bo”, more
commonly known as peek-a-boo.
• http://www.dover-kent.com/2014-
project-b/White-Hart-Chelsfield.html
• http://nurseryrhymesforbabies.com/
history-little-bo-peep-2/
• https://interestingliterature.
com/2018/10/a-short-analysis-of-thelittle-bo-peep-nursery-rhyme-originshistory/
Listening attentively is a personal skill that,
like many others, develops best within the
home environment. Being aware of ways
that can allow us to create an appropriate
environment to encourage listening gives
adults an ongoing opportunity to allow
children to succeed.
Frances Turnbull
Musician, researcher and author,
Frances Turnbull, is a self-taught guitarist
who has played contemporary and
community music from the age of 12. She
delivers music sessions to the early years
and KS1. Trained in the music education
techniques of Kodály (specialist singing),
Dalcroze (specialist movement) and Orff
(specialist percussion instruments), she
has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology
(Open University) and a Master’s degree
in Education (University of Cambridge).
She runs a local community choir, the
Bolton Warblers, and delivers the Sound
Sense initiative “A choir in every care
home” within local care and residential
homes, supporting health and wellbeing
through her community interest
company.
She has represented the early years
music community at the House of
Commons, advocating for recognition
for early years music educators, and her
table of progressive music skills for under
7s features in her curriculum books.
Frances is the author of “Learning with
Music: Games and activities for the early
years“, published by Routledge, August
2017.
www.musicaliti.co.uk
24 August 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | August 2021 25