Music as an Art Prompt (A Music Activity for Kids)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Notice sound

   I have done this frequently in a classroom setting (and out in the woods during a forest camp!) and it never ceases to amaze me how many and varied sounds children are able to notice and name.
   
   You can talk about the five senses and how sometimes, if you want to focus on one of your senses (like hearing), it helps to block out a different sense (in this case, vision, by closing your eyes or using an eye pillow or blindfold).
   
   
   
   Once everyone is ready (sitting or laying down in a comfortable position, eyes covered, breathing deeply) I usually time a full minute—this can feel like a LONG time, but try and stick it out if you are working with kids 3 or older.
   
   At the end of a minute, ask your child (or students) to open their eyes and tell you what sounds they heard. I like to write them down on a chalkboard or a large piece of paper because it’s often really exciting and surprising to count how many sounds they can hear in one minute.

2. Now try some intentional music listening

   Now that you’ve warmed up your ears, try the same thing (focus on listening, get comfortable, breathe deeply), except this time, select a short piece of music or a few short sections (1-2 minutes) of a longer piece of music.
   
   
   
   Ideally, something without words works really well for the first time. I’ll give you a load of ideas at the end of this post, but I often find fantastic music for listening at the public library. You can also listen to all sorts of great music in its entirety on YouTube or through services such as Pandora or Spotify.
   
   I’m a classical music nerd, so for this activity, I used 2-minute excerpts of one of my favorite symphonies, Mahler’s 5th Symphony. I like how the very beginning of the first movement has a completely different tonal feel from the 4th movement and wanted to talk about contrast with my kids. But don’t be intimidated – you can choose literally ANYTHING!
   
   Before you start the music listening activity, set out some simple drawing or painting materials on a nearby work surface. Paper + markers, colored pencils, crayons, pastels, watercolor paints; whatever you have available! We used watercolors, but anything you have on hand will do.
   
   Now that you have your music selected and your art materials set out and ready to go, you’re ready to get listening!

3. How to Listen

   Here’s how I usually structure our listening + art-making sessions: we listen one time all the way through the segment silently. Then we listen a second time and at the end of the second time, I ask the kids what they noticed.
   
   I love that question “What did you notice?” because it’s very freeing (even for us as adults listening to music!) The aspects of music to note are infinite—instruments, tones, feelings evoked by the music, dynamics, or things that the music reminded them of – I often hear stories here about scampering mice or evil witches or flying fairies! Just as in visual art-making, the point of listening together is to connect with each other and the world through sound.
   
   Depending on ages and endurance, sometimes I listen one more time and give them a chance to say again what they noticed (such a great opportunity for them to listen again for something new or to hear something that someone else mentioned the first time); but if your child is ready to start making art, feel free to go ahead and do that now!

4. Respond with art!

   When you’re ready to move on to the art-making component, tell them you’re going to listen one final time and invite them to respond through art while playing the music again.
   
   
   
   Most children will dive right into drawing or painting to music without needing any instruction from you, but if you have a child or a group who seems more hesitant, you might ask them what colors the music made them think of, whether it seemed smooth and flowing or short and choppy, loud or soft, and demonstrate some lines or marks that follow the flow or feel of the music. If you can dive right in and create alongside your child or class, it is awfully satisfying.
   
   

5. Wrap it up!

   Depending on the interest level of your kids, you can wrap up in different ways. During this activity, my kids had lots of questions about the instruments they were hearing and wanted to watch the orchestra perform what they heard, so once they were finished with their art-making, we watched the YouTube video of the orchestra playing the sections I had selected.
   
   
   
   I have also had great success when doing this as a classroom activity in inviting the kids afterwards to share their picture and tell a little about what they were thinking about or noticing while they were listening.