Rhythmic and Vocal Creativity Builds Music
Skills
By James D. Merrill
James D. Merrill teaches general music at Milton Terrace Primary School, Ballston Spa,
New York. E-mail: jdmerrilll@aol.com.
T
he development of music skills, partic-
ularly performance skills, is often con-
sidered separate from creativity until
music skills can be used in a creative way.
Though an accumulation of music skills is
necessary for high levels of creativity, a stu-
dent’s creativity can in turn develop music
skills, and the primary grades (K–2) are the
ideal time. At this age, all students enjoy
exploring and creating with their voice and
body, as well as copying the teacher to learn
new skills. Through the joy of singing, mov-
ing, creating, listening, and thinking, the child
develops a personal and meaningful under-
standing of music. It is important for the
teacher to set up the conditions for creativity
and then let the child freely explore and
create.
Rhythmic Creativity and Music
Skills
Children love to create their own rhythm
patterns. Movement is a natural way to give
them a meaningful understanding of the
relationship of rhythm to an underlying beat.
Combining some of Rudolph von Laban’s
action words (Jordan 1989) with Phyllis
Weikart’s labeling process for movement
(Weikart 1984) can create this relationship.
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After copying various rhythmic movements
created by the teacher, children explore and
create rhythm patterns and share them with
the rest of the class. Using a movement label
such as “flick” or “glide” with each move-
ment will give the child an anchor for repeat-
ing the rhythm pattern. When the class copies
the child’s rhythm pattern repeatedly, the
underlying beat is established; sometimes the
child’s pattern is a beat. Figure 1 shows
sample rhythm patterns that can be used to
get children started in a rhythmically creative
and expressive learning process.
Through movement, children understand
the rhythmic flow, beat, and expressiveness of
music. By moving to the Laban action words,
the Laban effort elements of flow, weight,
time, and space become apparent to children
(Jordan 1989). They can feel the light quality
of weight in a floating, flicking, or tapping
movement when compared to the heavy or
strong quality of a pressing, punching, or
slapping (on legs) movement. The sustained
quality of time in gliding, sliding, or pressing
movements is easily contrasted with the quick
quality of punching or tapping movements.
Moving freely and creatively to “Morning”
from Peer Gynt Suite no. 1 by Edvard Grieg
promotes sustained locomotor movement;
students can float, fly, or dance to experience
the light and flowing quality of the music.
Another delightful way for children to feel
this is to pretend to give an imaginary friend a
ride on different parts of their body and
become one with this music (Reynolds et al.
1998, p. 18; Taggart 2002).
When young children pretend they are one
of the animals in Carnival of the Animals by
Camille Saint-Saëns, the entire body, mind,
and feeling are engaged in that expression. In
“The Swan,” they can fly or swim slowly and
then in contrast fly faster to “The Aviary,”
like a little bird, using a light quality of move-
ment. In “The Elephant,” children can use a
heavy, yet flowing or swinging quality, and
then in contrast move with a lighter dancing
quality. Free movement can be explored
through songs about wind or walking. Moving
freely to a wind song will develop creativity in
children as they move to the varying tempi,
dynamics, and weights in the wind music. In a
walking song, the students have fun creating
different ways to walk as well as adding other
interesting locomotor movements and then
sharing them with their classmates. As stu-
dents share and contrast their movements,
their creativity and their skill at moving to the
beat are reinforced. The teacher can encour-
age them to move with light or heavy steps,
long or short steps, smooth or choppy move-
ments, and so forth.
An easy and effective way to develop beat
competence is to stand and tie make-believe
strings to each knee, pulling one knee out
(only the heel comes off the floor) and drop-
ping it while pulling the other string (knee)
out. By alternating feet, the child should feel
the weight of the body shift from one foot to
the other. This movement provides a basis for
feeling and keeping the beat while listening to
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music or singing songs. Beat competency can
also be developed through creating steady
beat patterns. Students love to create steady
movements, share them with the class, and
copy others. Following Weikart’s “Say and
Do” technique, children chant the name of
the movement or the word “beat” as they
move (Weikart 1984). At first this is done
without music, then instrumental music is
added. After practicing their creative move-
ments, students can lead the class or a small
group in keeping the beat. The teacher can
easily assess the beat competence of each
student during this activity by watching the
whole class and the leaders.
A strong kinesthetic understanding of
beat compared to rhythm can be felt by
shifting body weight from one side to the
other to the slow beat of “Ding-Dong”
(figure 2), and at the same time pushing a
make-believe doorbell to the rhythm of the
words. The child will need to practice each
movement separately to develop each skill
and then combine them as a challenge. Also,
the slight difference in phrase endings
develops rhythmic awareness. Singing
“Ding-Dong” in the upper range develops
the child’s resonant light voice.
Once the students know the song, they
enjoy making new nonsense words by
changing the first letter (e.g., Ping-Pong). As
different letters are used, the students can be
asked to move to the beat, the word rhythm,
or both. Ask students how they might
change the music without changing the
words. For example, the teacher can demon-
strate a change in rhythm and meter by
singing the song in triple meter. After the
children sing the song the new way, the
teacher can ask students to think of another
way to change the music (e.g., tempo, pitch,
dynamics, tone color). For example, singing
“King Kong” in a low voice at a slower
tempo with a strong feeling of weight is a lot
of fun for children.
Vocal Creativity and Music
Skills
Creating phrases is a fun way for children to
develop vocal skills and understand how their
voices work. Greeting the class each day in an
improvisatory conversation encourages chil-
dren to sing their own phrases. The teacher
sings “Hello everyone,” and the children are
encouraged to respond in their own way, using
their own words and pitches. Question phrases,
such as “How’s the weather today?” and
“What did you do today?” promote individual
responses. The class can respond together, and
then individuals can respond and perhaps
continue a singing conversation.
Children enjoy echoing phrases that the
teacher creates. First, the children echo
various voices (speaking, singing, squeaking,
etc.), pitch changes, and nonsense phrases
modeled by the teacher. Next, the children
create their own phrases using nonsense
words. They can share and copy each other’s
phrases and then make their own phrases into
short, silly (or not so silly) songs (Merrill
2002b). “Bah-doo” (figure 3), a song created
by the author, models for children a real song
made from nonsense phrases. This song is
good for developing singing skills and con-
trasting beat and rhythm. The use of the “oo”
sound helps the child to use a light voice, an
important vocal skill for young singers. The
contrasting phrase endings help to develop
listening and pitch skills. The skill of moving
to the beat with the weight shifting during the
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A section, as described above, is contrasted
with a rhythmic wiggle during the B section.
Exploring various tone colors by manipulat-
ing the lips, teeth, jaw, and tongue encourages
and develops vocal creativity in children. They
practice, share, listen to, and copy each other’s
sounds and phrases. Through this fun and
challenging activity, children build listening and
creative thinking skills, vocal skills, and vocal
understanding. Improvising, sharing, and
copying phrases to an “echo blues” offers a
lively way for a child to change the pitch,
rhythm, dynamics, or tone color. In an echo
blues, the teacher creates a twelve-bar blues. At
first, students echo the teacher’s phrases. Then,
when they are more comfortable they can
provide their own. (For complete instructions
on an echo blues, see Merrill 2002a)
Vocal freedom and flexibility developed
from the creative use of the voice enhance
singing skills and should be balanced with
individual singing on specific pitches. Most
young children need explicit guidance in how
to sing. Using tonal patterns and phrases or
parts of phrases from songs will enable the
teacher to give students the information they
need to improve their singing. Over time,
children can offer advice to other students on
how to improve their singing as well as
compliment them on what they did well.
Conclusion
Musical creativity and skill building are
complementary forces in the music classroom.
Creativity can help build musical skills in a fun
and personal way. As children create rhythmic
movements or vocal phrases, they must think
and listen. By feeling and hearing the musical
qualities and describing them, young children
develop a meaningful and practical compe-
tence in rhythmic style, including keeping a 88 (no. 4): 36–41.
beat, and vocal skills. Most important, musical ———. 2002b. Successful singing for all in the
elementary grades. Music Educators Journal 89
and personal confidence is developed through (no. 2): 50–55.
creating and sharing.
Reynolds, Alison M., Wendy H. Valerio, Beth M.
Bolton, Cynthia C. Taggart, Edwin E.
References Gordon. 1998. Music play. Chicago, IL: G.I.A.
Jordan, James M. 1989. Laban movement theory
and how it can be used with music learning
Taggart, Cynthia C. 2002. Workshop notes, 2002
theory. In Readings in music learning theory, ed.
NYS Summer Music Conference.
Darrel L. Walters and Cynthia Taggart,
316–332. Chicago, IL: G.I.A.
Weikart, Phyllis S. 1984. Teaching movement and
dance. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.
Merrill, James D. 2002a. Musical growth through a
singing apprenticeship. Music Educators Journal

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 Figure 1. Sample rhythm patterns

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 Figure 2. Ding-Dong

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 Figure 3. Bah-doo

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