I was in the Supermarket today with my toddler staring at the shelves trying to decide what sweets to put on a cake, when I heard two women talking. As soon as I heard the first woman's voice I recognised it straight away, then I heard the other one and I recognised hers too! I couldn't see them as I was facing the other way but it made me realise how distinctive our voices are and how great we are at being able to notice the subtlest of changes in voice. Now, I haven't seen or heard from these women for over three years and I only knew them through my classes, so they weren't close friends. They did come to music classes though for a good few years with their children. When I eventually looked around I realised I had identified them correctly! I felt very pleased (gold star for me!). Perhaps this is because of my music training? It amazes me how quickly we do recognise voices and how training our ears to not only voices but the subtle differences in musical sounds is actually very easy to do. I run several children's music classes in my home town of Horbury in Wakefield. In these classes I play many singing games. One of my favourite for training ears is a song called Doggie, Doggie. I first start to sing the song with the Babies and Toddlers but introducing the game to pre-schoolers and older children is really when the magic happens. Actually its funny how much even older children (9 and 10yrs) still enjoy playing it!
Preparation of song
To prepare little ears I usually sing this song using a dog and a cat puppet, as the dog sings he nods his head to the pulse and when the cat sings I make his head nod too. I also ask the parents of babies and toddlers to help by singing the dog and the cat parts so the children can experience and listen to different voices. As the children get older I ask them to practice being the dog or the cat and sometimes we get very funny voices! Not only is this great for listening to different voices but it is also teaching the structure of question and answer.
you can listen to the song here......
The Game
The children make a circle sitting down. One child is the dog and kneels down in the centre making sure they cannot see. A toy bone is placed behind the dog (I got one from a pet shop but you could use anything!). All the children in the circle sing the questions: "Doggie, Doggie where's your bone?" The dog answers: "Someone stole it from my home" - at this point I usually point to a child to come and take the bone however if the children are older perhaps they can decide themselves!"Who stole your bone?" "I stole your bone!" - this is sung by the child who has stolen the bone. If you are working with very young children my suggestion would be to have practiced the song first by using puppets (as above) and also pick a more confident child to sing first. The dog then has to guess who has the bone so the child who has taken it should hide it behind his back and all the other children should put their hands behind their back too. If the dog cannot identify who's sung I ask them to sing again (whilst dog is not looking) and try to listen more carefully as to which direction the singing came from. The game starts again with the new dog being the child who stole the bone. I have played this game many times with children and you would think they would get bored but they don't. I even changed it a little with the popularity of the film Frozen to: Olaf, Olaf where's your nose? Someone stole it I suppose Who stole your nose? I stole your nose! We played with a carrot instead of a bone! Most children are very, very good at being able to distinguish voices and even if they do not know the person they can still pinpoint the exact location of where the voice came from. Other children have no clue what-so-ever and these are the ones that need to practice their listening skills and ability to distinguish timbre. Everyone's voice is very different and practicing this is great for music learning for example being able to distinguish different instruments playing within a piece of music or different qualities in singing voices. Even though instruments may be playing the same note they do not sound the same! Being able to distinguish these subtle differences makes better musicians but not only that just increases listening skills in children which in turn makes them better learners. Of course this game is not just a listening game it also builds confidence in solo singing and the social activity of turn taking. There are lots of similar songs and games in my music classes for children to encourage these kind of musical skills. You may not have considered your child growing up to be a musician however just being able to participate in these types of musical activities can help children become more confident and better learners. For more information on children's music classes in Wakefield you can contact me here!
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