Music

Montessori recognised that there were three separate components to musical understanding and that these were: rhythm, harmony, and reading and writing.

She saw that, for the child, it was necessary to separate these out in the same way that she separated out the sensorial exercises.

"The old methods of teaching music began with a knowledge of the notes on the musical scale apart from music itself. But our method is an example of what we call analysis, that is, the separating of the parts of a sufficiently difficult and complex whole into exercises which can by themselves provide an interesting task." (The Discovery of the Child p 293, Chap 21).

She saw that children spontaneously adapted their movements to the rhythm of different pieces of music and that they should, as elsewhere in the environment, be free to express themselves in whatever way they felt appropriate.

She introduced small musical instruments into the classrooms, which were sufficiently simple for the children to be able to play simple tunes on them. She devised sets of bells that enabled specific notes to be isolated, wooden discs with the names of notes for the children to learn, wooden staves that enabled the notes to be inserted in order, and increasingly complex exercises involving the memorising of notes and the actual writing of simple tunes.

As always it was the child that showed her how to develop her methods and she was delighted to discover that children had an innate love of rhythm and harmony that needed only to be adequately nurtured by the environment.

Quotations

"...success here depends to a great extent upon having a child hear a great deal of music."
The Discovery of the Child p 286, Chap 21

"His environment must be such that it can arouse in him a feeling for, and an understanding of, music."
Ibid p 286, Chap 21

"The preparation of the motor organs for rhythmical gymnastic exercises may be seen in the exercise called 'walking on the line' through which children acquire a perfect sense of balance... When balance has been attained, education in rhythm may then be taken up."
Ibid p 286, Chap 21

"Just as contrasting sensations provided the starting point for the education of the senses, so here contrasting rhythms are the basis of this type of education."
Ibid p 287, Chap 21

"The technique for the education of music consists in picking out a single musical phrase that can be easily interpreted and playing it over and over again. This is analogous to the repetition of the other exercises."
Ibid p 288, Chap 21

"The precise way in which a child comes to mark the tempo of a musical beat without having been taught the divisions into three-fourths and four-fourths time is a proof of the sense education derived from musical rhythms."
Ibid p 289, Chap 21

"Only when the children are older do they study the value of the notes. Their interest in this will be enhanced by the fact that they have already developed and analyzed within themselves a sense of rhythm."
Ibid p 290, Chap 21

"But such movements are followed by a study of harmony and melody. A child can exercise himself in these only if he has at his disposition simple instruments adapted to his size and potentialities, and if he is left free to use them, without being hindered by too many technicalities."
Ibid p 290, Chap 21

"...because of the simplicity of the instruments, he derives a continually increasing interest in them."
Ibid p 290, Chap 21

"But even in Children's Houses it is possible to start making musical notations. This activity is based upon the sense exercises connected with the recognition of the musical sounds given off by the bells, which are first paired and then arranged according to pitch."
Ibid p 291, Chap 21

"It should be noted that the three exercises which have been indicated: rhythmical movements, the reproduction of sounds on musical instruments and the writing of music can go on separately and independently."
Ibid p 292, Chap 21

"Rhythm, harmony, and the writing and reading of music are, however, ultimately united. They are thus three separate interests, three levels of graded work and pleasant experiences that explode into the fullness of a single conquest."
Ibid p 293, Chap 21

"These little people begin to develop general attitudes of body, in relation to the music, which are of the greatest interest... It is not that the teacher 'teaches' the child to change his walk according to the music: the phenomenon arises of its own accord. The child begins to interpret the rhythm by moving in harmony with it. But to obtain this result the teacher must play perfectly, carefully noting all the details of musical punctuation. The creation of musical feeling in the children depends upon the teacher's own feeling and the rigorous accuracy of her own execution."
The Advanced Montessori Method, Vol 2, p 315, Chap IV

"The melody acts as a persuading voice; the children begin to consider the time of the music and little by little their tiny feet begin to strike the line in step with it."
Ibid p 315, Chap IV

"Children feel the rhythm of a piece of music if it is played with musical feeling; and not only do they follow the time with their footsteps, but, as the rhythmic periods vary, they adapt the whole attitude of their bodies to the melodic period, which is developed around the beats constituting the rhythm as around points of support. There is a vast difference between this exercise and that of making children march to the clapping of hands or to the time of one, two, three etc, counted in a tone of command."
Ibid p 316, Chap IV

"Children who have succeeded in identifying and dividing the melody into measures and the measure itself into 2,3,4, understand very easily the time values of the notes. It is sufficient to let the child hear each exercise first and he will repeat it with precision. Thus all kinds of dry explanation of musical values disappear."
Ibid p 326, Chap IV

"A child audience is a very special one. It demands something more than is expected by the average 'intelligent audience'. It is one in which musical intelligence must be developed. Our object must be the creation not merely of higher and higher grades of understanding, but also of higher and higher grades of feeling. In this sense we can never do too much for the children."
Ibid p 348, Chap IV.

Study guide

The Discovery of the Child - Chapter 21

The Advanced Montessori Method Vol 2 - Chapter IV

Journal articles

Barnett, E (1999) 'Montessori and Music', NAMTA Journal, v24, n3, p69-77, Summer

Leto, F (1995) 'Music Every Day', Montessori Life, v7, n2, p16-18, Spring

McDonald, D (1983) 'Montessori's Music for Young Children'. Young Children, v39, n1, p58-63 November

Conference papers

Pageais, M (1997) 'The Power of Music in Communication and Development of the Child', 22nd International Montessori Congress, Uppsala University, USA, July 22-27

Archive resources

Boyd, W (1917) From Locke to Montessori, George Harrap & Co London.

Culverwell, E (1913) The Montessori Principles and Practice, G.Bell & Sons, London.

Kilpatrick, W (1915) Montessori Examined, Constable, London.