Spotlight on Learning: Laugh and Learn for Preschoolers

Lesson Focus: Steady Beat

Do you remember the first time you listened to your child’s heartbeat? Hearing that steady gagon-gagon-gagon-gagon probably made your own heart skip a beat or two (or three or four!). As an infant, hearing the steady beat of your heart coupled with the feeling of being swayed back and forth could lull your child to sleep…usually!

In music, the most fundamental property is beat—the underlying, unchanging, repeating pulse. For your child, feeling and moving to a steady beat develops a sense of time and the ability to organize and coordinate movements within time. Each week in Kindermusik class, we develop your child’s awareness of beat when we greet everyone with a steady beat motion, drum, march along with Liberty wagon, play together with zig zag blocks, or move together on the Merry Go Round. We know your child will use this same sense of steady beat for walking, running, riding a bike, cutting with scissors, and even reading!
Everyday connection: And the beat goes on! Steady beat occurs everywhere. Take turns naming things with steady beats and those without. Try this at home and in the car!