Make It Up!

Growing up on a farm in a large family, I spent a lot of time in my own imagination. I remember driving my family wild making up songs in the car. Anything I saw I would weave into my songs – apparently ‘clouds’ was my favourite topic. I still remember in year 5, I would always be writing songs during ‘creative writing’ time. Were they masterpieces? Of course not. However, I can still belt out a few of those phrases 20 years later, because I was creating and singing from my heart.

But somewhere between the ages of 10 and 30, this spontaneity slowly disappeared as I became more aware of what others thought of me, and corrections/suggestions led to some unhelpful perfectionism. From then on, I only played or sung music that was written down, and not composed by me.

As I moved more into classroom music teaching, and became a mother myself, I have been making a conscious decision to try to add some musical spontaneity into my home. And I have to say, this has only filled my heart with joy as I watch my little one engage, react and now begin to initiate these moments.

So, how can we work towards this? Firstly, it is important we get out of what some educators call our comfort zone and head towards the STRETCH ZONE.

Source: https://www.crowe-associates.co.uk/

Here are some ideas to get you started:

---

• 1. Try to develop trust in your voice by singing songs without the radio or Youtube playing at the same time.

  Did you know that your little ones will actually hear the melody and words better if they’re unaccompanied? A lot of popular music is often quite thick in texture, and it is hard for our little ones to discriminate between the different sounds. Plus, when you have the freedom of singing yourself, you can take some fantastic dramatic pauses to build suspense (or encourage your little one to join in!)

• 2. Try some familiar songs that have some action/word improvisation built into it, for example:

  Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush,
  The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush
  Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush
  On a cold and frosty morning

  This is the way we *brush our teeth*
  *Brush our teeth, brush our teeth*
  This is the way we *brush our teeth*
  On a cold and frosty morning

  *change actions

  When we ask our little ones to come up with actions, we then need to make changes to our rhythm to accommodate for different words stress or syllables. This will not only add some playfulness to your song, but also build your skills at making it up on the spot.

• 3. Try changing the words to tunes you already know

  Try singing a familiar tune (eg. Twinkle Twinkle), but substitute the words to be a running commentary of what you are doing or need to do.

  How about we try the slide?
  Grab your hat, we’ll go outside
  Are you ready? Where are your shoes?
  That’s OK, I’ll wait for you
  Oh dear me, where are my keys?
  Goodness me, they’re under your knees

  Does it need to rhyme? No, but it is extra fun to try to make them up in the moment. My poor son has put up with me mid song, just singing ‘oh dear, no rhyme!’

• 4. Make jokes by changing predictable words in well-known songs

  This can be a great way to make jokes with your little ones!

  Humpty dumpty sat on the wall
  Humpty dumpty had a great fall
  All the kings horses and all the kings men
  Jumped up and down and blew a kiss

I do hope some of these ideas will help you build a little more spontaneity and playfulness into your musical journey.

Always remember: it’s FANTASTIC to make mistakes and show your little one how you learn from them and continue trying. Have fun!