Kids and the Music Animation Machine

Music Animation Machine scores are understood (or at least enjoyed) by very young children: Three-year-olds have shown that they perceive the relationship between the sound and the visual display, and we've been told about a 14-month-old who requested repeated viewings of his parents' videotape (!) .

Using the Music Animation Machine with kids (for parents and teachers):

• Most people are visually oriented and are better able to pay attention to something with a visual aspect than something purely aural. This may be the reason that having a visual analog to a piece of music helps make it more real to kids. You can use Music Animation Machine scores to introduce the concept of a piece of music as a tangible object, created by somebody, not just a transitory experience. Like... "Want to see that song again? Beethoven made up that song. You can make up music too."

• Use the Music Animation Machine to introduce the concept of a musical score, providing kids' first experience of relating sound to spatial structure. Once they understand the basic concepts -- that the vertical axis=pitch and the horizontal axis=time -- kids are on their way to understanding what a conventional musical score does and how to follow one.

• Kids enjoy watching just for fun -- and the information-rich display they take in while listening fosters understanding conducive to musical development.