Inspiring songs

Babbling, shouting, whispering, whooping, singing - "the voice - our first musical instrument". This is the music education approach in the Song sparks for music lessons in the 1st cycle, for children between the ages of four and eight. Music lessons are not packed into music lessons here, but appear in various moments of everyday school life: when greeting and saying goodbye, on children's birthdays, in connection with learning about natural phenomena or in connection with life-science topics. In general, the present song arrangements pay great attention to an age-appropriate reference to everyday life. One chapter is called "Children's everyday life", and one song in it is called Plaster, ointment or tea? The other chapters are entitled "Grüezi und Adieu", "Draussen unterwegs", "Winterzeit" and "Nachtstimmung". They organize the songs according to content.

Special attention is paid to "verses and sayings" and thus to the relationship between language and music. The "finger verses" combine speech with motor skills and rhythm in a humorous way - "Chömed all' zu mir zum Znacht, ich han us Schnee e Pizza gmacht!" - also with a view to children with German as a second language, for whom the verses help them to acquire language in an imaginative way.

By embedding the songs and language games in social interaction, music becomes an instrument that uses the personal experience and the community-building power of music to promote both subject-specific and interdisciplinary skills: expressing oneself by singing, dancing and making music or listening to each other promotes musical expression as well as independence and the ability to cooperate. The 24 songs in the book refer explicitly and in detail to the skills specified in Curriculum 21. However, the focus is on the diverse and playful ways of developing the songs composed by the author - explained simply and clearly.

Christina Schnedl: Song sparks. Sing, dance, make music, 127 pages, Fr. 51.00, Verlag LCH, Zurich 2021, ISBN 978-3-908024-31-6