Rainbow Music^TM for Young Children (2-4 years)

In your child's third year many new achievements in music are possible. Learning to count beats and bars through clapping is one way that your child learns about the structure of songs. Learning to count beats is a great way to begin learning to count since in music usually one only counts to four.

Call and response songs are featured in these programs. The leader of the group sings a phase in a song and the children and caregivers respond in song. The children simply repeat back what the leader sings. This method of learning by imitation is the oldest, easiest, most natural, and perhaps the best way of learning music. One simple example of this method in action is our welcoming song used at the opening of each class:
Leader: Hello
Group: Hello
Leader: Hello everybody Hello
Group: Hello everybody Hello

This simple structure is repeated for each child in the class with each child's name substituted for the word "everybody" in each verse. A version of the song is used at the end of each class to say good-bye. Such songs can be used at home in many different family settings.