Rhythm Syllables take your child to a higher level of music learning. They provide labels for what your little one knows in sound, while providing a bridge to music reading. In language, your child knows light and dark through his senses. The word “light” gives him a way to access his sensual knowing and a means to express that knowing in words. It also corresponds to the representation of that knowing in print. Similarly, your child knows rhythm through his developing “sense” of rhythm. Rhythm Syllables give him a way to access his rhythm knowing, providing a language with which to communicate rhythm, meter, the differences between meters and between rhythm patterns. It also provides the link to music reading, as it corresponds to the representation of that knowing in print.
Rhythm Syllables shine a flashlight on your little one’s rhythm knowing, as if pointing out what he knows in sound and labeling it, just as you do with the word, “light.” Rhythm Syllables are likely more difficult for you than for your child, as adults try to “figure out” the logic of the syllables intellectually, whereas children let the syllables connect to rhythm knowing, which has a logic of its own that is sensual rather than intellectual. Children need to Babble with Rhythm Syllables just as they do without the syllables. CCS Activities regularly include Rhythm Activities with and without Rhythm Syllables, as the contrast between syllables and no syllables is a necessary part of the growth process at each step. Rhythm Syllables are presented as Level 3 Activities, as introducing them earlier would inhibit rather than enhance rhythm learning. The foundation “sense of rhythm” is necessary in order for Rhythm Syllables to have meaning.
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