I have found myself talking about patterns so often lately, that I think it’s becoming a pattern! Honestly, as I stop to consider how I teach young children- my own, the children in my music classes, or the clients at the clinic- the perceptions of patterns becomes the key point on which my teaching philosophy pivots.
Head start classes talk about rhythm: Patterns of steady beats, patterns of ‘the rhythm of the words,’ patterns of Ta’s and Ti-ti’s… helping the kids find the rhythm in many different ways is the focus this month. At 4 or 5 years old, A-B-A-B patters are easy, but A-B-B-A-B-B is not as easy. The amazing thing is, kids this age learn so fast, it kind of blows my mind to watch some of the children grasp the new pattern in a period of 5 minutes and just light up as they recognize that they are accomplishing something new!
Doing math homework with my own kids: Patterns in the numbers, looking for patterns of 5’s and 10’s as my kids work on adding, and multiplying to help them beat the ‘Time Test Tuesday’ Challenge, so they don’t have to count on their fingers anymore. I wish I had paid more attention to patterns in numbers as I was working through school- seeing the patterns helps to define the big picture and understand the relevance of why you need to know what you need to know.
Doing preschool academics: Patterns start at 2 and 3 years old- recognizing simple patterns on preschool homework pages.
Studying harmonies/ music theory: Patterns in intervals- half steps and whole steps make sense in the most simplistic harmonies of open 5th and the most complicated harmonies of the dissonant jazz chord progressions.
Art lessons: Patterns in shapes and colors.
Patterns that surround us- auditory, visual, sensory etc.
Our brains seek out patterns to make sense of our environment. Humans have been learning from patterns since the beginning. Cycles of the sun, moon, planets, astrology, days, weeks, months, seasons, our biological rhythms are our biological patterns….it’s how we learn and how we can continue to grow. IF we are able to find the healthy patterns and continue with them as we distinguish between our bad habits that need changing, we should be able to focus effort to change for the better. The difficulty lies in the conflict between the need for change and our quest for patterns. I think I am better at it that the generation before me, but I hope that my children are better at it than I am….and so continues another pattern.