Importance of Music, Movement and Drama in Early Childhood Education

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE 1
Early Childhood Education and Care
Name
Institutional Affiliation

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE 2
Introduction
Music, drama and movement are essential components of early childhood curriculum.
Children are able to learn a wide variety of skills that turn out to be of great aid in their day to
day undertakings. Such children are also able to develop relevant problem solving techniques, a
factor which greatly improves their overall competency (Roy, Baker & Hamilton, 2015).
Children who participate in dramatic plays in the course of Early Childhood Development
Education display significant differences from those who do not participate in such programs. It
is however the role of parents to ensure that their children are members of institutions where
music, movement and drama are part of the curriculum. Home based enlightening of children
with appropriate music is also recommended for parents. If the three factors are availed to a child
in the early growth stages, they will definitely grow up healthy and knowledgeable.
Critique music, movement and drama theory and its value in early childhood education
It is documented that music as an art cannot be learned with ease as an immediate action.
The chief elements building up the music block are tone, rhythm, pitch, dynamics, texture,
timbre harmony and melody. Different styles of music however have different ways of covering
the elements as some may de-emphasize or emphasize these elements while others completely
omit some of the elements (Friedman, 2010). Social and cultural contexts are known to bring
about significant variations in definition, creation and significance of music. Kodaly maintains a
strong belief that learning how to play music emanating from individual cultural backgrounds
should be a top priority activity for children. It was also his belief that for effective learning, the
process should be meaningful and sequential with the starting point being what the students
already know (Goopy, 2013).

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE 3
On the other hand, Orff, a German educator and music composer was actively involved in
developing ideal music for children with a renowned example being “never alone, but connected
with movement, dance and speech- not just to be listened to, but rather to be an active
participant”. He concurred with the thought coined by Kodaly that music ought to be full of
meaning and that by use of speech, dances and movements, the aforementioned would be
achievable. In addition, he stated that for children to gain full experience of music, it calls for
them to put into use their full bodies. He further advocated for children to improvise music so
that chances would prevail for them to explore and exploit their entire capabilities and
possibilities of providing their own music. As mentioned by Orff, significant drivers to
understanding music are; movements, drama, singing, chants/speech and use of instruments
which could be either pitched or unpitched.
In music, movement and dance are means of self-expression that are conducted by
constant change of body positions. It is a basic human activity that is traceable to many years
back the human race line. It is through music and dance that satisfaction of mental, emotional
and physical needs of the children’s body are satisfied. For children to successfully create
patterns, dances and rhythms, time, body and space development is crucial and is only
achievable through active engagement in dances. Bearing in mind that dance and music are for
the mind, spirit and body, interacting with the children closely greatly influences vocal
exploration as well as development of movements. A good teacher will therefore be in a position
to socially guide children into composition of simple movement sequences, communicating their
feelings and ideas with their elders and more importantly construction of dance movements
(Cinc, Nedimovic & Stolic, 2014).