Arts as Context Educational Series

Listen,
Move,
Think
Volume I

Music and
Quick Start Guide

Created by
Mark E. Turner

Unlockthecreativeandintellectualtalentsof
childrenthroughartisticinnovation.
INTRODUCTION
Theartsarekeyplayersinthedevelopmentofchildrenscogni
tive,social,andemotionaldevelopment.Theyofferchildrena
kinestheticwayofinteractingwiththeirworldatatimewhen
learning via their motor program is essential in fostering the
abilitytothinkcritically.Inordertothinkanalyticallyweneed
tobeabletothinkdivergentlyandcreativelyaboutourworld.
Theartsprovidethisdiversity.

Additionally,weknowthattheartsareaconstantintheworld
ofchildren.Youdonthavetolookveryfartoseeartisticcrea
tions of children proudly displayed on the desks or refrigera
tors of adoring parents. There is something about interacting
withartsthatinspireschildrenscreativityandimaginations.

Becausetheartsareaconstantinthelivesofchildrenandbe
cause they are important in fostering childrens cognitive, so
cial,andemotiondevelopmenttheartsshouldbeseennotsim
ply as entertainment but as a viable and logical context from
which we can move children from their familiar world of the
arts to the unknown world of symbolic literacy. This is the
premiseofListen,Move,Think. Inthisviewofeducationthe
arts serve asthe context from which children unlock the mys
teriesofsymbolicandlogicalsystems,suchasprintedlanguage
andmathematics.Fromconcreteexperiencesandexplorationin
theartschildrencanbegintomasteracademiccontent.

2
WHATISLISTEN,MOVE,THINK?
First and foremost, Listen, Move, Think provides children
qualityartsexperiencesinmusic,movement,andart.
This program offers children a wealth of opportunities to
learnabouttheirworldfromthecontextoftheirownartis
ticcreations.
Thisprogramwascreatedanddevelopedtobringoutcrea
tiveartistryinchildren,theirparents,theircaregivers,and
their classroom professionals, regardless of previous experi
encesinmusicandmovement.
For parents, the music in this volume provides an accul
turation experience in music that will help your children
improvetheirabilitiestohearmusicandbecomemoresuc
cessfulinprivatelessonsandschoolmusicprograms.
Thisprogramprovides
agroundingincreativemovementbaseduponLa
bansMovementEfforts.
a groundingin music based upon Gordons Music
LearningTheory.
an alternative approach to early childhood educa
tionforclassroomprofessionalsforwhomdancing,
moving,andsingingareconstantsintheirlives.

Fromafirmgroundingintheartsandfromthecontextofthe
artsparents,caregivers,andclassroomprofessionalscanguide
children to literacy, numeracy, and even scienceacy through
carefulobservationandthoughtfulquestioning.
MarkE.Turner

3
CD1TRACKS
MovementEfforts
Tracks MusicalElements Suggestions
01Tune 15 Aeolian,duple, Boundflow,suddenmove

bassoonandstrings, ments,allaspectsofthebody,
veryslow space

02Tune 610 Major,triple,tunedper Freeflow,alternatingsidesof

cussion,liltingmoderato body,symmetryofbody,
general&personalspace

03Tune 1115 Mixolydian,triple, Generalspace,freeflow,

vibraphone,bass, curvypathways,levelsofthe
moderato body

04Tune 1620 Aeolian,duple,clarinet, Sudden,alternatingsides,

strings,slowtofast slowtoquick,generalspace
05Tune 2125 Aeolian,horns,duple, Heavy,bound,curvypath
moderato ways,directpathways

06Tune 2630 Ionian,duple,violin, Flexiblefree,curvypathways,

allegro levelsofbody

07aTune 3135 Aeolian,triple,horn, Heavy,bound,direct,strong

timpani,veryslow sustained,levelsofbody

07bTune 3640 Aeolian,triple,violin, Light,flexible,curvypath

glockenspiel,veryslow ways,sustained,bodylevels

08Tune 4145 Dorian,violin,triple, Bodyinmotionandstillness,

veryslow flexiblesustained

09Tune 4650 Major,tuba,duple,slow Bodyinmotionandstillness,

heavy,bound,direct

10Tune 5155 Major,clarinet,duple, Bodyinmotionandstillness,

presto lightflexible,generalspace
11Tune 5660 Phrygian,violin,duple, Bodyinmotionandstillness,
veryslow bounddirect,generalspace

12Tune 6165 Dorian,violin,cello, Lightunbounded,flexible,

moderato general&personalspace

2007 All music composed by Mark E. Turner.

4
CD2TRACKS
MovementEfforts
Tracks MusicalElements Suggestions
13Tune 15 Aeolian,meterof7,tenor Curvypathways,flexible
sax,bass,moderato sustained,generalspace

14Tune 610 Lydian,violin,glocken Generalspace,bodylevels,

spiel,triple,allegro lightfree,lightflexible

15Tune 1115 Phrygian,bassoon,tim Heavy,sustained,bounded

pani,veryslow,triple flow,personal/generalspace

16Tune 1620 Phrygian,trumpet,tim Heavy,sudden,quick,per

pani,meterof5,presto sonal/generalspace,levels

17Tune 2125 Dorian,oboe,cello,triple, Lightsustained,curvypath

allegretto ways,generalspace,body

18Tune 2630 Dorian,harp,oboe,triple, Flexiblefreeflow,indirect

moderato movement,generalspace

19Tune 3135 Lydian,strings,duple, Directpathways,bodylevels,

moderato lightfree,generalspace

20Tune 3640 Dorian,cello,glockenspiel, Boundflow,strongindirect,

triple,slow bodylevels,partsofbody

21Tune 4145 Mixolydian,clarinet,tim Lightfree,sudden,direct,

pani,triple,allegretto partsofthebody,symmetry

22Tune 4650 Aeolian,violin,triple, Lightfree,directfree,partsof

allegro thebody,levelsofbody

23Tune 5155 Major,meterof7,violin, Curvypathways,lightfree,

tambourine,allegro sustained,levelsandspace

24Tune 5660 Phrygian,guitar,duple, Sustained,bounded,personal

veryslow space

25Tune 6165 Phrygian,harp,triple, Lightsustained,general

moderato space,asymmetry,bodyparts

So, why no titles? Titles are programmatic, they conjure up mental

images that will forever influence how we hear and move to music.
To eliminate the influence of a title on childrens imaginations, I titled
each tune with an arbitrary number.

5
QUICKSTARTHOWTOGUIDE

Playthemusic.Yourchildrenwillbenefitgreatlyfromsim
ply listening to the music. Use the music on these CDs in
addition to, or to replace the music you normally use as
background music in your home and classroom. Read
throughthesectionAPrimeronGordonsMusicLearning
Theory.
Prepare the childrens ears by beginning their listening/
moving experience with the short introductory tonal set.
The music on the CDs is arranged in sets of five. There is
thetonalsetandthenfourrepetitionsofeachmusicalselec
tion.
For Parents: By simply play-
Use the music in ing this music and allowing
gross motor centers. your children to move as they
wish will prepare them for
Encouragemovement structured music lessons. Move
with the introduction and play with your children as
they listen and move. Dont
ofmanipulativessuch
worry if your children wont
as scarves, streamers, sing or move. The aural stimu-
lation is all they need to influ-
weighted movement
ence their aural musical devel-
balls (i.e., medicine opment.
balls), etc. Ideally,
childrenwillmoveartisticallywithouttheneedforexternal
itemstomanipulate.Realistically,childrensometimesneed
somethingtangibletogetthemthinkingcreatively.
When children are moving to music keep your eyesopen.
Careful observation is a key to successful early childhood

6
 education. When you see a movement that is thoughtful,
ask questions of the child in a nonintrusive way. That
wasinteresting.Whatwereyouthinkingabout?Fromthis
simple question, and others like it, the child will begin to
reflect and explain, and you can begin to guide their
emergingknowledgeoftheirworld.
Systematically help the children to explore new ways of
moving about the room. This part of their arts education
shouldbedoneasacircletimeactivity.Eventhoughthey
are moving individually you are guiding the entire class
knowledgeandskillinmovingartistically.ReadtheLaban
EffortsPrimerinthisguide.
Focusononemovementeffortatatime,lowspaceforex
ample. While the children will also use other movement
efforts,focusyourquestioningstrategiesonyourpredeter
minedeffort.HOWEVER,ifthechildrengoadifferentdi
rection,1)followalong,2)observe,and3)askquestions.
Wheninteractingwithyourclassoryourpersonalchildren
always, always begin with the joy of moving artistically.
Children must be physically and emotionally engaged in
themusicandmovementbeforeyouattempttoaskthemto
thinkcriticallyabouthowandwhytheyaremoving.
Highlight diversity. The beauty of childrens artistic crea
tionsisthatthereareampleideasfromwhichcontentcan
emerge.
KNOWTHYCURRICULUMandbeflexibleenoughtofol
lowthechildrenslead.

7
APRIMERTOGORDONSMUSIC
LEARNINGTHEORY

Asparentswhoareinterestedinprovidingthebestopportuni
tiesforourchildrenwespendagreatdealoftimeandmoney
onactivitiesthatenrichtheirlives.Oneoftheseactivitiesisthe
ubiquitous, and for children, dreaded piano lesson. Few par
ents would deny the benefits of studying piano in rounding
outtheirchildseducation.Butletstakeacloserlookathow
we traditionally go about providing that experience. As you
recallfromyourownpianolessonswebeginbysittingchildren
atthepianoandthenopeningabeginningpianobook.Lessons
arevisual,youlearntoreadnotation.Andnotationisaformof
logical/mathematical thinkingtheres lots of fractions and
division.Eventhoughthechildmaynothaveonetoonecorre
spondence, we begin by introducing fractions (i.e., eighth,
quarter, and half notes). Is it little wonder that most children
hatetheexperienceandlongforthedaythattheycanquite?

EnterEdwinGordonandhisnotionthatlearningtothinkmu
sically and make music is much like learning to speak and
write.AlthoughGordonisnotthefirsttosuggestthatchildren
musthaveastrongauralbackgroundinmusicbeforetheycan
be expected to hear the structures of music, to sing music, to
play musical instruments, and to read and write music, he
theorizes that children must be able to audiate (his word for
hearingmusicinyourheadandbeingabletomanipulate/alter

8
itinyourhead)beforetheyshouldbeintroducedtonotation.

Audiationbeginswithanaural/oralexperience.Thinkofanin
fant.Wewouldntdreamofexpectingaoneyearoldtoreadbut
wewouldexpecthertobabbleaftershesbeenexposedtoarich
aurallanguageexperience.Thissameauralexperienceisimpor
tantforchildrensmusicaleducation.Eventhoughchildrenare
five years of age their musical development is not as rich as it
should be, most likely. Because our society primarily listens to
popstylesofmusicchildrenneverhavetheopportunitytohear
anythingbutonetypeofmusic.Thinkofaninfant,again.Lets
say that we never change the way we speak to a child as she
grows. If adults never move from a cutesy wutesy way of
speaking to a child, she will neverdevelopa largervocabulary
andwillprobablyspeak,evenasasixyearold,asshehasbeen
spokento(e.g.,cutesywutsey).

This is exactly what happens in music. Children only hear one

wayofmakingmusicandneverdeveloparichauralvocabulary
of music. Without getting into the messy details, the music we
tendtolistentoisbaseduponanextremelylimitedmusicalvo
cabulary. And so, if we want to improve the way our children
can hear music and later to sing and play and read and write
music, we must provide for them diverse tonal and rhythmic
aural experiences. The music for Listen, Move, Think was spe
cificallycomposedtoexpandchildrensmusicalvocabularyus
ingmusicthatwillcapturethemphysicallyandemotionally.

9
So why is this music better for childrens musical
development than HipHoptilYourSocksStop? For
thefollowingreasons:
1. Anauraleducation.Childrenneedasolidandlengthyau
ral music education. They need to hear many different
tunes in as many different modes and meters as we can
provide them. The music on these CDs provides you an
opportunitytojumpstartyourchildrensmusiceducation.
2. Diversity. The music is in many different meters and
modes. Typically, the music we offer young children is in
majortonalities(e.g.,thinkofhappytunesorTwinkle,Twin
kle)andinduplemeter(e.g.,thinkofmarching).Themusic
offered in this collection was composed in six different
modes and in four different meters. Compare the numer
ous combinations of meters and modes on these CDs to a
catchyHipHopBoppidyBoprecordingwhichwillhave
onlymajorscalesandduplemetersandyouwillinstantly
see the advantages. Remember, its all about diversity
especiallyduringtheearlychildhoodyears.
3. Easy to sing. I created each melody by singing it. There
fore, each melody lies easily in most individuals vocal
ranges. While the recordings feature instruments you can
easilysingthesongsforyourchildren.Infact,singingthe
songsispreferabletoplayingtherecording.
4. Short. Each tune is short and easily remembered by chil
dren. You will note that each selection is no more than a
minuteinlength,usually.Icreatedshortmelodiesbecause
10
 overthepasttwentyyearsofworkingwithyoungchildren
Ihavefoundthattheyprefershort,tunefulmelodies.
5. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Because the selections
are short they can be easily be repeated in their entirety,
manytimes.Asweknow,childrenneedendlessrepetitions
of any new skill or information. The CDs were created to
helpwiththis.Eachselectionisrepeatedfourtimes.These
repetitionswillfurtherchildrensauralmusicaleducation.
6. Tunesthatstickintheirheads.Onlywhenchildrenbegin
to sing for themselves are they creating music in their
minds.Thesimplicityofthetunesandtheirrepetitionson
the CDs helps them get stuck in childrens head so that
thechildrenbegintosingthetunesforthemselves.
7. Tonal context. Educational epistemologists suggests that
our minds hold information about our world in schemas
(i.e., file cabinets and folders). If we get new information
wemustplaceitinthecorrectfileortheinformationmight
bemisplacedorinaccessibleinthefuture.Forthisreasonit
isimportanttoestablishcontextwhenprovidingnewinfor
mation to children. We often do this by beginning with
somethingtheyknowandmovingtosomethingthatdont
know.Forexamplewemighttalkaboutnamingwordsand
thenintroducetheideaofnouns.Therefore,thebrieftonal
passageheardpriortoeachtunewillestablishthemusical
context of each tune for the children. Itisveryimportant
thatyouallowthechildrentohearthesepassages(e.g.,singthem
orplaythem)priortosingingthetunesorplayingthem.

11
8. HighArtversusPopArt.ThemusicontheCDsisneither
high art nor pop art. It is somewhere in the middle. We
need to provide aural experiences that bridge the gap be
tween their current musical world of pop music (most
likely)andtheotherextremeofWesternArtMusic.Indo
ingsowecanmaximizeourimpactontheirmusicaleduca
tionandallowtheirinnatemusicalcapabilitiestoshine.
9. Research. Research suggests that early childhood is the
optimaltimetoinfluencechildrensmusicalabilities.Using
themusicalexamplesontheseCDswillcontributetoyour
childrenssuccessinmusicthroughouttheirlives.

APRIMERTOLABANSMOVEMENTEFFORTS

Music is all well and good but children, especially those in

early childhood, learn from physically interacting with their
world. The kinesthetic mode of learning is very important.
WiththisinmindIincludedmovementasaprimarymodeof
experiencingart.However,themovementsuggestedinListen,
Move, Think is not the ordinary early childhood ballet/tap
classes we may have experienced as youth. In order for chil
dren to think creatively and divergently they must be given
licensetomoveastheywillwithoutthepressureoffollowinga
seriesofprescribefootmovementpatternsorbodymovement
patterns. Remember, the key to successful implementation of
Listen, Move, Think is allowing for diversity and creativity.
Fromthistheindividualgeniusofeachchildwillemergeand

12
thethoughtfulparent,caregiver,orclassroomprofessionalwill
beabletoaskquestionsthatwillhelpchildrenlearnabouttheir
world.
Ohgreat.NowIvegottoturnthechildrenlooseand
hopeforthebest.Thatssheermadness!Noitsnot
becausetheresmethodtothemadness.
What Laban proposed is that in the daily humdrum every
daynessoflifewemoveandinthosemovementsweputforth
effort. We might move with confidence and conviction, or
around and in between things, but we will always move. His
idea to movement education was based upon the notion that
we should help children to develop movement skills that will
prepare them to create artistically based upon the everyday
movements in their lives. With this in mind he developed a
seriesofmovementthemesrelatedtohiseffortsthatwecanuse
to develop childrens artistic and creative imagination as well
as use as the context of their emerging knowledge of their
world.

Always remember that the body, the music, the art

prepares the child for all content. The Laban efforts
are a way to create and move artistically. As such the
parent, caregiver, or classroom professional should
begin with engaging children in art and then look for
interesting movements, for example. Our tendency is
to come to the children and state Were going to learn
about asymmetry today. In Listen, Move, Think you
are going to help the children move creatively and then
observe. As you observe one of the children will move
asymmetrically, for instance. Now you can highlight
asymmetry.

13
 TheFirstFourMovementThemes
The BodyThe body can be still and it can move. The body
has a right and left half. The body can move on one side and
then the other. The body has symmetry or can be asymmetri
cal.Thechildcanmoveherlegs,head,arms,torso.Thechild
canleadmovementwithotherbodyparts,suchasthenose,the
elbow,thetoe,etc.Forchildren,theywillmostlikelymoveby
leading with their chests. Using the imagination, there are an
endlessnumberofmovementpossibilities.
EachtuneontheCDscanprovideopportunitiestoengage
childrenineachaspectofthiseffort.Checkthetableofcon
tents for specific selections that might work particularly
well for individual efforts. *Please note that these sug
gestedmovementeffortsarejustthat,suggestions.
Weight and TimeThe body must overcome the forces of
gravity. The body can move heavily and can move lightly.
There is internal resistance and external resistance. The body
canmoveslowlyorquickly.Thebodycanmovesuddenlyorit
cansustainamovement.Thebodycanmove:

Strongsustained Individual words and or

Lightsudden mental images can assist
children in discovering these
Strongsudden
movement qualities.
Lightsustained
Heavysustained Use this opportunity to in-
crease their vocabulary.
Heavysudden

14
SpaceFocus childrens attention on environment as well as
self. Explore the three dimensionality of space. There is high
space,middlespace,andlowspace.(Mostchildrenandadults
move in middle space.) Additionally, there is personal space
andgeneralspace.Thingscanbenearorfarfromthebody.The
bodycanoccupyspaceabove,below,around,andthrough.

FlowMovementsflowfromonetoanother.Thereisfreeflow
and bound flow. Flow movements that are not restricted but
theycanberestrained.Thebodycanmoveincurvypathways
and direct pathways. Various combinations and permutations
offloware:
Flexiblefree Strongfree
Flexiblebound Lightfree
Directfree Strongflexible
Directbound Strongdirect
Suddenbound Lightflexible
Suddenfree Lightdirect
Sustainedbound Directsudden
Sustainedfree Directsustained
Strongbound Flexiblesudden
Lightbound Flexiblesustained

BuildingVocabulary
When working with movement it is important to use words
that communicate precisely what sensation the children are
feeling. Working from movement you can expand your chil

15
dren vocabulary. An expanded vocabulary will help to im
prove childrens writing. In this regard the children are using
movementasawaytoconnectanevergrowingvocabularyto
theconcretesensationsintheirbodies.

WhyareLabansideasformovementbetterforchil
drenthantheMacarena?
1. Engagestheentirebody.Muchofwhatwegivechildrenin
the way of movement activities only impacts the arms or
the lower body. With Laban you will engage the whole
childincreatingartisticmovements.
2. A movement education. Instead of seeing movement asa
way for children to take a break and let off some en
ergywithoutgoingoutsideyoucanbegintodeveloptheir
movementskillsandimprovetheirabilitytoexpressthem
selvesnonverbally.
3. Diversity. If our goal is to help children understand pat
terning by imposing a prescribed handjive upon them,
then the Macarenais a great activity. There are many folk
dances with prescribed movements that assist children in
understanding pattern as well. However, if our goal is to
allow children to create and to use their imaginations to
explore different ways of moving then using the Labans
Movement Efforts is a better choice. When you come to
yourchildrenwithascriptinhand,withaseriesofmove
ments,youtakeawayanypossibilitythatthechildrencan
thinkdivergently,theresnoscopeforimagination.Re

16
 member,thepremiseofListen, Move, Think istoletchil
dren communicate via their motor programs and then al
low them opportunities to translate this into verbal com
munication. This permits children to lead the lesson more
effectivelythanimposingouragendauponthem.

Caveat: It takes a different set of classroom

management skills to use a more open-ended
approach to gross motor movement but the
benefits really do outweigh the risks. It may
take timegive it time.

SUGGESTIONSFORSCIENCEAND
MATHEMATICS
Familiarity with the movement effort and the music are para
mount. Children must move from a known experience to an
unknownexperience.Preparechildrenbyallowingampletime
fordiscoveringhowthebodycanmove.
1. IfyoulookattheLabaneffortsyouwillnotethatthreeare
directly related to math and science. Weight, time, and
space are components of how we measure things in our
world.
2. Commenting on a novel movement sequence you might
ask how long it took for the child to begin and end the
movement.Useaclock.Howfardidthechildtravel?Use
nonstandardmeasurements,suchasthelengthofachilds
body,orscarves,orUnifixcubes.

17
3. If the children are exploring weight and are moving a
heavyobject,askhowheavytheirobjectis.Recordthison
the board and then sequence the objects from heaviest to
lightest.
4. Identifythecolorofeachobject.Whichisthemostcommon
color?Useagraphtocollectdata.
5. With regards to space you could ask your children about
theareaoftheroomthattheirheavyobjectcoversnotjust
onthefloorbutverticalspaceaswell.Movingtowardsvol
umeandthreedimensions.

SUGGESTIONS FOR LANGUAGE ARTS AND

READING
1. With all movement activities use a rich vocabulary. This
willtakesomeresearchonyourpart,possibly.Usewords
thatthechildrendonotuseordonotuseonaregularba
sis. Connecting new vocabulary to concrete kinesthetic ac
tions will help to make the words more meaningful for
each child and will help them to recall the words as they
moveinotherartfulactivities.
2. MostofthemovementsintheLabansFlowthemecantie
easilytoadjectivesandadverbs.
3. Childrencancreateeasyreadingbooksforthemselveswith
sight words, color words, and objects/animals taken from
their creative movement activities. For the classroom pro
fessional,knowingwhatareasofthecurriculumneedtobe
highlightedwithhelphermakecarefulobservationswhen

18
 childrenareinthemidstofmovingandcreatingart.Thisis
much like employing classroom strategies that rely on an
emergentcurriculum.

SUGGESTIONSFORCREATIVEWRITING
1. Children are good about stating the obvious, for example
The dog ran. Using creative movement, music, and art
canassisttheminseeingbeyondthemundane.
2. UsetheLabanEffortstoengagetheirentirebodiesinpush
ingaveryheavyobject,forexample.Therearemanymusi
calexampleswhichcanassistyou.
3. After allowing enough time for the children to explore
heaviness and moving an object ask what type of object it
was.Howdiditmakeyoufeel?Wherewereyoupush
ing it? How long did it take you to push it? Did the
objectwanttobepushed?Didyouwanttopushtheob
ject?
4. UsuallyIhavethechildrencreateapictureasawaytocap
ture the moment of them pushing something heavy, for
example. As they write ask them questions about whats
not in the picture. I can see that in your picture. Tell me
why

Creativewritingis,oddlyenough,creative.Creativemovement
and creativeart arealso creative. To move childrenpast a pe
danticmundanewayofwritingyouneedtouseacreativeap
proachtoyourdailyactivitiesuseListen,Move,Think.

19
SAMPLEQUESTIONS
Below are examples of how to question students about their
movementsandhowfarafieldtheiranswersandyourques
tionsmighttaketheclass.
MusicandMovement(fourtimes)
Oh,lookathowJuanismoving.Whatwereyouthinking
aboutasyouweremovingJuan?
Imwalkingonalogtryingnottofalloff.
Whydoesnteveryonewalkonalog.
MusicandMovement(onetime)
Howlongdoyouthinkyourlogis?
Aboutfivefeet.
About100feet.
Aboutamillionfeet!
Whydontyoumeasureyourlogbyputtingonefootright
infrontoftheotherHowlongisyourlog?
MusicandMovement(onetime)
Fivefeet.
Whatkindoflogareyouwalkingon?
Abiglog.
Butbeforeitwasalogitwasatree.Whatkindoftreewas
it?

Remember the music and movement activity

stimulates and perpetuates the childrens
thinking. Much more time would be spent
questioning, reflecting, and graphing data than
is presented in this vignette.

20
 Apinetree.Anoaktree.Acedartree.Amapletree.
Dopinetreesandcedartreeslosetheirleaves?Howabout
oakandmapletrees?
Ifweweregoingtomovelikeatreehowfarcouldwe
travel?
Whatkindoftreewouldyoube?Allofthetreeswith
leavesthatfalloffcomeoverhereandallthetreeswith
leavesthatdontfalloffgooverthere.(Youcouldtalkabout
forests.)

Remember the music and movement activity pro-

vides the context, the jumping off point for
thoughtful inquiries of content as it emerges dur-
ing the course of childrens creative, imaginative
interactions in the arts.

MusicandMovement(onetime)
Ifyoucouldhaveanykindofleaf,whatkindofleafwould
youhave?(Chataboutvarietyofcolors,graphthem,
spellthem,etc.)
MusicandMovement(onetime)
Howmanyleavesdoesyourtreehave?(graphanswers)
Whatmakesleavesfallofftrees?
Howfastdoesthewindhavetoblowtomakeyourleaves
falloff?Why?
MusicandMovement(onetime)
Howlongdoesittakeforyourleaftotouchtheground?
Why?
Which direction does your leaf go when it falls? Beside,

21
 behind,infront,around,totheeast,west,north?
Createapieceofartusingonlyleavesyoufindoutside.
Discussartworklookingforsimilarities,differences.Usea
Venn diagram to record what you discover. Organize art
workintocategories.
Useartworkormovementstobeginawritingpiece.When
the childrenbegin writing ask themabout things that you
cantseeinthepicture.Oh,yesIcanseethereisadogand
that the dog is running. But, why is the dog running? or
Whereisthedogrunningto?orHowlonghasthedog
beenrunning?

INCLOSING
A key to success in any classroom is careful observation. The
parent, caregiver, or classroom professional must be comfort
able with the music and movements so that she/he can attend
to each childs movements. Much like professionals using a
Reggio Emilia approach, the success of this approach lies in
observingandreadingtheindividualchild.Thechildrenscrea
tive and artistic impulses open their hearts and minds to ex
ploringtheirworldandlearningaboutit.

Employingthemusicandmovementideasinthisvolumewill
capture your childrens attention, their imagination, and their
enthusiasmforlearning.Usingthemusicandmovementideas
in this volume will also capture your creative spirit and glad
denyourheart.Enjoy!
MT
22
BIOGRAPHY
Mark E. Turner is an Associate Professor of Music at
Stephen F. Austin State University where he works closely
with the universitys Early Childhood Lab and Elementary
School to create and develop innovative curriculum for
classroom professionals and elementary music specialists.
HealsoconsultswithschooldistrictsinHouston,TXtode
velop musical materials and strategies to be used by early
childhoodandelementaryclassroomprofessionals.Priorto
hisappointmentatSFA,Markmademusicwithchildrenin
the public schools of in
nercity Houston as an
early childhood and ele
mentary music special
ist.Heholdsabachelors
ofmusicinmusiceduca
tion from the University
of North Texas, and a
masters and DMA in
music education from
the University of Hous
ton.

23
What is Listen, Move, Think? It is a part of the Arts as
Context Educational Series, a series specifically de-
signed for parents, caregivers, and classroom profes-
sionals who desire to provide quality arts experiences
for young children. Artful activities in this series pro-
vide an authentic context from which children develop
their knowledge of their world. The music and move-
ment suggestions contained in this volume will engage
childrens imaginations through creative movement and
will assist their cognitive, social, and emotional devel-
opment.

Easy to use music and movement activities.

25 short selections composed in diverse mu-
sical styles, meters, and modes by
Mark E. Turner.
Specifically developed for parents, caregiv-
ers, and classroom professionals who have a
passion for the arts in the lives of children.
Can be used by anyone, successfully.
Designed for individuals with limited techni-
cal understanding of music. Singing and
reading music are not required!

Provide your children with rich acculturation

experiences in musicexperiences that will
engage them physically, emotionally,
and cognitively.

2007 by Mark E. Turner

www.artsascontext.com