3 Educational Philosophies Every Parent & Teacher Should Know!
Incorporating ideas from the Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia approaches into music lessons.
As someone who does not believe in a “one size fits all” approach to education, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about these three alternative philosophies. I am not dogmatic in my teaching and believe that it is not necessary to follow any of these “to a T” in order to gain the benefits. But rather, picking and choosing certain elements from each may offer the best educational experience for the child.
As a little disclaimer, I will state that I am not an expert or professionally trained in any of the following approaches. Please use this article as inspiration to do your own research and get more information on these methods in order to fit them with your own student’s or family’s individual needs.
1. Montessori
The Montessori Method (founded by Dr. Maria Montessori) is an educational approach that fosters self motivated learning through hands-on activities. Montessori education is student-led and self-paced. The Montessori classroom is multi-aged and is notoriously well organized. You will find child-sized furniture and a clean minimalistic environment. The materials for each activity are placed on a tray and laid out on a shelf for the children to choose from.
WHAT I LOVE:
-Use of on hands-on, kinesthetic materials
-Sense of choice, freedom, and autonomy for the child
-Focus on practical life skills
-Fosters independence in children
-Minimalistic environment
-Teachers support & guide but don’t instruct
-Laid-back, nurturing atmosphere
-Mixed age classrooms
Downsides
-Activities have a right way and a wrong way
-Curriculum doesn’t always value creativity
-Discourages fantasy play
MONTESSORI INSPIRATION FOR MUSIC LESSONS:
I love the Montessori approach and incorporate so much of this style into my teaching. I find that children of all ages are much more focused and engaged in their lessons and practice when they have hands-on manipulatives.
2. Waldorf
Waldorf education (founded by Rudolf Steiner) integrates the arts into all academic disciplines. Beginning in the early childhood program and continuing into later grades, Waldorf education values imagination and creativity. The Waldorf approach seeks to nurture the whole child; “the head, the heart, and the hands.” This threefold learning process of “thinking, feeling, and doing” allows students to take an active role in their education becoming independent thinkers and problem solvers. Surprisingly, in a Waldorf school, teachers typically stay with the same group of children for five to eight years! This allows them to develop a strong relationship with each student and better understand their development, needs, and learning style.
WHAT I LOVE
-Waldorf’s approach to early childhood
-Integration of the arts into all academic disciplines
-Prioritizes creativity & imagination
-Nurtures the whole child
-Teaching methods are appropriately tailored to the child’s developmental stages
-Students take an active role in their education
-Teachers develop long-term relationship with students
Downsides
Rudolph Steiner also developed a philosophy called Anthroposophy. Although this is not taught directly in Waldorf Schools, Waldorf teachers do study Anthroposophy and may use insights from Steiner’s work to apply to their students’ development and education.
Another potential downside is very little technology is used in a traditional Waldorf environment. (This could also definitely be seen as a benefit, depending on your perspective!)
WALDORF INSPIRATION FOR MUSIC LESSONS
For me, one of the biggest take-aways from Waldorf (particularly in the early childhood setting) is the sense of wonder and enchantment that can be created in the classroom. The Waldorf atmosphere is magical. From the way the teachers create a sense of family with their students to the way the environment is filled with soft, beautiful colors, this approach clearly captures the essence of childhood. I resonate so well with the Waldorf way, where creativity, imagination, and play are at the heart of education.
3. Reggio Emilia
The Reggio Emilia approach was developed in Italy after WWII when the community was looking to rebuild their schools and create a new progressive way of learning. The name Reggio Emilia actually comes from the city in Italy where it was founded.
A Reggio inspired model of education focuses on student/teacher collaboration and follows an interest based curriculum. It is centered around the belief that all children have high potential and are capable, competent, and creative. The environment is seen as the third teacher and is designed in a way that ignites and supports learning.
Reggio inspired teachers treasure the many ways children explore the world and express themselves. This belief that children use art, music, language, movement, experimentation, relationships, and many other avenues to learn is referred to as the “hundred languages.”
What I Love
-Self-guided curriculum/ interest based learning
-Project learning
-Sensory based learning
-Integrated subjects
-Teacher learns alongside the student
-Encourages children to follow their curiosity
-Uses a variety of learning modalities
Downsides
Interest based curriculum puts the power of learning in the hands of the child and I believe that is absolutely wonderful in so many ways. However, when there are specific skills that we would like students to learn, this approach may leave us parents & teachers wishing we could steer the ship in a certain direction.
Reggio Inspiration for Music Lessons
So how do we combine interest based learning with teaching children the basic instrumental (or academic) skills that everyone just needs to know?
Julie Bogart (who is not associated with the Reggio Emilia approach) wrote a book called “The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life.” In her incredible book, Julie states that “You can learn everything from anything!" I use this approach all the time to combine the child’s interests & ideas with whatever musical skill I would like to teach them. Here’s how it works: You take whatever the child is really into like dinosaurs, ballet, Paw Patrol, or marine biology and teach everything else through that thing.
By allowing children to learn how to play the flute through the lens of their own unique passions, you automatically capture their interest and attention. They learn better, focus longer, and will grow up to be more invested in their education.
While this seems like a lot of extra work for the teacher, sometimes I just tell the student straight up," “Hey so today we need to practice this and that. Can you create a flute game so we can use your mermaids and also play the song?” Every time I’ve said that, it’s led to an extremely productive lesson. When a child hears that you value their ideas and they understand that you are on their team, learning becomes a collaboration and not a power struggle.
That is how I combine the Reggio idea of the self-guided curriculum while also teaching core skills.
The hands-on activities of Montessori, the colorful & creative atmosphere of Waldorf, and Reggio’s integrated subjects following the child’s interests are the main pillars that guide my approach to teaching young children.
What parts of Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia resonate with you?
Holiday Themed Music Activities
Try these fun holiday inspired music activities to transform your child’s practice time into play time!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! As we all decorate our homes for the holidays, why not decorate our flutes too?
You can also learn how to make these adorable mini flute hats:
Or purchase one already made:
Aside from flute decorating, there are plenty of other ways to use your holiday decorations for music lessons or practice at home. It just takes a little bit of creativity!
Try printing out a big musical staff and using bells for notes! This is a wonderful way to continue practicing note reading when you might be on break from lessons. Including hands-on activities to your music practice routine is a wonderful way to keep young children engaged.
Bows can also be a very versatile manipulative for games! Try using them for rhythm bingo or I Spy for musical symbols.
Here we made a DIY Ice Air Hockey Rink for a seriously fun way to practice air & breath work!
Make the rink by filling a tray with water and then putting it in the freezer for a couple of hours. You will also need a straw for each player and a flat bottom gem for the puck. Using a straw, each player tries to blow the puck to the other side for a goal. It seems simple, but this really works your lungs! Taking deep breaths and blowing long, sustained air are important skills for any woodwind player.
And if you don’t want to make it an air game, you can simply use game pieces for the “pushers”. It really does feel like you are playing air hockey, just on a smaller scale!
Of course playing your favorite songs of the season for family and friends is a wonderful way to connect and spread that holiday cheer!
Build Your Own Instrument (DIY Flutes!)
Instrument making is so much fun for kids and is a great way to combine music, art, science, and engineering! Straws, paper, and bottles are great recycled materials for DIY flutes!
Instrument making is so much fun and is a great way to combine music, art, science, and engineering!
Here are some ideas for building flutes with…straws!
You can also use paper to build flutes!
Keep in mind that even if your DIY flute doesn’t “work”, having a pretend flute is wonderful for practicing posture and fingers, and is loads of fun for your little one’s imaginary play.
And now my personal favorite, building flutes with bottles!
This is a great activity for beginner flutists because it helps with air direction and making a sound!
When making your bottle flute, be sure to experiment with various shapes and sizes to make different sounds. You can even add water to change the pitch!
Whatever materials you choose to use for your DIY flute, be sure to decorate with ribbon, stickers, and lots of accessories. You could even gain inspiration from flutes around the world. Happy instrument making!
Incorporating Child-Led Learning into Music Practice
When we partner up with children in their education and collaborate with them to incorporate their own interests, practicing music becomes more than just something we must do, it becomes a fulfilling creative endeavor.
When kids start music lessons, they are usually very excited to practice at home! Everything is fresh and new and the instrument is almost like a special new toy. But then after a while, the child begins to realize that doing this "thing" is hard work and suddenly it doesn't have the same novelty as it did in the beginning.
Cue the power struggles, frustration, and tantrums that all stem from a disconnection between what the child wants and what the parent wants.
Child-led learning is when we follow our children's interests and support their passions for optimal self-motivated learning. But of course, there are many things that we want our children to learn like math, science, literacy, and perhaps a musical instrument.
So what are we to do...follow our child's passions like dinosaurs, minecraft, and legos or teach them the things they need to know?
What if I told you there was a third way...
Perhaps, we could combine the two and create experiences for the child to learn flute (or those core subjects) through the lens of their own unique passion.
Because, as Julie Bogart says in her book The Brave Learner,
"You can learn everything through anything!"
Let's say your little one loves princesses and only thinks about that all day. For music practice at home, you might dress up and play flute inside the castle that you built out of cardboard boxes.
Or if your child is interested in birds, you might find some flute music where the flute represents the bird. You could learn to identify the bird calls of various species and then compose your own birdsongs. You could take your binoculars outside, do some bird watching, and then play to the birds.
Or if the passion is video games, maybe you find some music theory apps with note reading and ear training games. Or download Acapella or Soundtrap and your child could record themselves playing and learn about video editing, sound engineering and music production.
If your child loves to swim…practice in the pool!
When we partner up with children in their education and collaborate with them (instead of forcing our adult agenda on them), the resistance fades and makes way for passion. With this approach, education is more than just things we must learn, it becomes a fulfilling creative endeavor.
5 Fun Music Literacy Activities
Learning to read music is hard work, but it can also be so much fun! Try these creative, hands-on games to spice up the way you practice note reading at home.
Learning to read music is hard work, but it can also be so much fun! Try these creative, hands-on games at home to spice up the way you practice note reading.
1. “I Spy” Notes & Symbols
“I spy with my little eye... a quarter note, a crescendo, a barline, the note B!”
This is such a fun way to explore musical notation and identify notes and symbols. Play with a magnifying glass to really feel like a musical detective! Little gems or stones are great to cover each thing that you find and also makes it easy to count and compare.
2. Note Match Game
You can find treble clef sticky-notes online, as well as regular colored post-it notes.
Draw 3 or 4 notes on each of the musical staff sticky-notes (keep it in the range of whatever your child is currently learning). Draw the matching letters on regular colored sticky-notes.
Mix them up and match the letters to the notes on the staff!
Play each one on your instrument as you go, and then put them all together to make a song at the end!
Don’t forget to switch roles too! Kids then draw the notes and make the cards for parents to match.
3. Melodic Contour Tracing
This is such a fun activity to do with pipe-cleaners, as they are easy to bend and turn, following the direction of the music. You can also use yarn, string, or ribbon.
Melodic tracing allows kids to visually see the range of the song and locate the highest and lowest notes. It also shows ascending and descending lines as well as the overall shape of the phrases.
You can either print out a musical staff and plot some notes on your own or just use any sheet music that you have. Keep it simple and use a song with not too many notes.
At the end, you have a really cool shape to compare with other songs!
4. Musical Alphabet Words
The musical alphabet only has 7 letters (ABCDEFG), but there are still over 30 words that you can make!
To play the game, you will need musical staff paper and a pencil.
One person thinks of a word and draws the notes to spell that word on the staff. The other person has to guess the word and play it!
It could be an easy 3-letter word like “egg” or a big 7-letter word like “cabbage”! How many words can you make with the musical alphabet?
5. Note Stamping
Make a copy of your music so the original doesn’t get marked up and then let your child stamp out the notes! You can even print out a musical staff and identify each note before you begin. ⠀
What are some of your favorite ways to practice music reading…through play?
5 Cool Ways to Practice!
How do I get my child to practice their instrument? If you are stuck in a rut and not making much progress with music lessons, here are some fun ways to spice up your practice routine at home and have some fun!
Make a musical board game!
Think Monopoly, Chutes & Ladders, or Candy Land! Make your own game board and laminate it. Each week, write your practice items, review songs, and scales on the board with dry erase markers. Find a dice and some game pieces and play together as a family! Keep it simple or get extra creative with lots of rules, challenges, and components.
Photo by Flute Play
2. Make a fortune teller
Make a paper fortune teller and fill it with items on your practice list. Scales or rhythms go on the outside and songs & technique go on the inside flaps.
3. Build an obstacle course
Does your child need movement while practicing? Then this one's for you! Set up an obstacle course either outside in the backyard or in the middle of the living room! Jump, spin, skip, run, and leap through as many challenges as you like. Pillows, jump rope, blankets, hula hoops, whatever you have around will work great.
Then, pick 2 or 3 spots throughout the course to add stop signs. When your child gets there...FREEZE! You hand them the flute and they play through their song or repetition. Timing the race is fun, but pause the stopwatch while they are actually playing. We don't want to encourage messy, rushed practicing.
4. Draw a Card
Write everything you need to practice down on little pieces of paper. Fold each one up tight, like a secret message! Then drop the papers in a hat, shake it up, close your eyes and draw one at a time. Simple but fun!
You can also do this virtually by downloading a spinner app on your tablet or phone. Input your practice points, spin the wheel, and see what you get!
5. Color-by-Number
You can find color-by-number pictures online and print right from home. Each number is already assigned a color. Your job is to assign each number something to play on your flute.
Here are some examples:
1= Blue= G Major Scale
2= Orange= New Song “A” Section
3= Yellow= New Song “B” Section
4= Purple= Review Song
And so on...
Print simple pictures that you can finish in one practice session or go for a more complex design that will take you all week to complete.This is such a rewarding experience because at the end you get a beautiful piece of artwork to display!
It also shows your child that each little piece matters, every repetition counts, and new skills are built one step at a time.