Children’s musical development in the Montessori educational system

Abstract

The article is devoted to the musical component of the Montessori educational system. The method of the research was observation of the teachers’ work in Kharkiv Ukrainian language preschool institutions – Kharkiv Children’s Centre “The World of the Child Montessori” and “The World of the Child of Montessori” (branch). The author describes the components of children’s musical development in the Montessori educational system in the modern conditions of work of preschool educational institutions, implementation of Maria Montessori’s own special didactic materials and methods for preschoolers’ general and musical development. During the “lessons of silence”, preschoolers develop their musical skills in the process of playing the special noise instruments – noise cylinders, phonographs and Macaroni bells, getting acquainted with the works of composers of different eras and nationalities, singing children’s songs with movement. The contents of “lessons of silence” and music lessons in the mentioned institutions have been revealed. The author gives different examples of exercises that develop children’s attention, observation and their musical abilities – musical hearing, memory, and musical intonation. There are some exercises using in “lessons of silence”: “Sound inside us”, “Guess the sound”, “Catch the Bell” that allow children to analyze their feelings, hear and listen to each other, listen to the sounds of the environment. The article shows how to implement special musical instruments in the Montessori educational system – noise cubes, Macaroni bells, metalophones which promotes development of preschoolers’ musical hearing and other children’s musical abilities – emotional response, musical memory, etc.

The author concludes that it is important to integrate musical systems J. Dalcroze, C. Orff and M. Montessori into the space of Ukrainian language institutions of preschool education.