{"id":2778,"date":"2024-10-23T12:53:26","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T16:53:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/?p=2778"},"modified":"2024-10-25T10:50:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:50:44","slug":"eggs-vs-sticks-two-instruments-we-play-in-music-together-class-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/eggs-vs-sticks-two-instruments-we-play-in-music-together-class-and-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Eggs vs. Sticks: Two Instruments We Play in Music Together\u00ae Class\u2014and Why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Two Songs, Two Instruments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you sing \u201cRoo, roo, roo, roo. . . Sing roo, sing ho-key din-kum!\u201d (\u201cSweet Potato\u201d) in your Music Together<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> class, your teacher might hand out egg shakers and model shaking them high in the air, in front of you, side-to-side, and more. A little later, you might all be clicking rhythm sticks and tapping them on the floor as you sing, \u201cYou get a line, I\u2019ll get a pole, honey\u201d (\u201cCrawdad\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Mom-and-Baby-Sticks-300x300.png\" alt=\"Mom and baby playing rhythm sticks in Music Together class\" class=\"wp-image-2788\" style=\"width:245px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Ever wonder why we use egg shakers and rhythm sticks in Music Together class? Like everything we do, it\u2019s by design! The different methods to play these two child-friendly percussive instruments\u2014and their resulting sounds\u2014both support your child as they learn how to express themselves through music. In each case, movement (<em>cause<\/em>) elicits sound (<em>effect<\/em>), giving the child important information about their musical experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look a little deeper into what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Shake and Click: Non-impact and Impact-dependent Instruments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Egg shakers <\/strong>are a type of instrument we call <em>non-impact dependent<\/em>. When children grip egg shakers in their hands, whenever they move their arms, the instrument makes a \u201c<em>chhhh\u201d <\/em>sound. Young children respond to music with their whole bodies, so putting egg shakers in their hands helps them connect to (and sometimes control) the music they\u2019re experiencing in the moment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rhythm sticks<\/strong>, on the other hand, are <em>impact dependent <\/em>instruments, meaning they only make a sound with deliberate movements. A young child shaking their sticks in the air will make no sound at all. One stick tapped on the floor makes a crisp, clear sound, and two sticks clicked together is a completely different kinesthetic experience! The motions needed to draw out sound from the sticks require more developed muscles and coordination than egg shakers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Both impact-dependent and non-impact dependent instruments provide different and creative ways for the children to interact with musical instruments. According to Music Together Worldwide Program Developer Anne Sailer, \u201cPart of our developmentally appropriate practice in using instruments like&nbsp;eggs&nbsp;and&nbsp;sticks is the way we play WITH the instruments in a non-formal way. This developmental approach scaffolds the emergence of flexible thinking and an improvisational disposition when it comes to experimenting with ways to make music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deeper learning takes place as the child processes the rich aural, kinesthetic, and visual stimuli they experience as they are making music with those around them. Anne explains that this multi-modal learning, where the child is using multiple senses at a time, is part of how children are wired to learn and absorb new information.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"691\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Egg-Shaker-Family-1024x691.png\" alt=\"Family playing egg shakers in Music Together class\" class=\"wp-image-2787\" style=\"width:600px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Egg-Shaker-Family-1024x691.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Egg-Shaker-Family-300x203.png 300w, https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Egg-Shaker-Family-768x518.png 768w, https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Egg-Shaker-Family-1536x1037.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Egg-Shaker-Family.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Ages and Stages: The Value of Different Types of Instruments for Young Children<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our mixed-age classes bring together children of different ages, different learning styles, and who are at different stages of music and overall development. As you can imagine, an infant\u2019s experience with an egg shaker or a rhythm stick will be very different (but no less valuable) from that of a toddler or preschooler!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a child who is still developing purposeful movement, discovering that the eggs in their hands make a sound can result in a squeal of delight. For a child who has a more developed ability to make purposeful movement, exploring all the fascinating ways there are to click, rub, tap, and roll their sticks offers a powerful sense of agency and autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like all learning, exposure and experimentation over time lead to greater understanding. By giving children lots of opportunities to grasp egg shakers and click sticks together, they have more time to explore, experiment, and play with how to make and control the different sounds. How they \u201cfigure it out\u201d is literally, in their hands.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MT_Family-250.png\" alt=\"Mom with baby holding egg shaker\" class=\"wp-image-2611\" style=\"width:220px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MT_Family-250.png 250w, https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MT_Family-250-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MT_Family-250-125x125.png 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Yes, You Can!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You may not realize it, but YOU are your children\u2019s first, and most important, music teacher. Our children truly want to do what we do! As they watch <em>you<\/em> shake your eggs and click your sticks (and drums, and resonator bells, etc.), they will begin to try to play with those instruments, too, and their musical skills will continue to deepen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And remember, you don\u2019t have to be a great singer or dancer (or percussionist!) to make a difference. (Phew!) Actual music skills can be learned from many sources, when your child is ready. Right now, your child is learning the <em>disposition<\/em>, or desire, to make music by seeing you do it. So sing, dance, play those instruments, and get silly. You\u2019ll be setting your child on the path to a lifetime of musical enjoyment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two Songs, Two Instruments As you sing \u201cRoo, roo, roo, roo. . . Sing roo, sing ho-key din-kum!\u201d (\u201cSweet Potato\u201d) in your Music Together\u00ae class, your teacher might hand out egg shakers and model shaking them high in the air, in front of you, side-to-side, and more. A little later, you might all be clicking&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/eggs-vs-sticks-two-instruments-we-play-in-music-together-class-and-why\/\" title=\"Read Eggs vs. Sticks: Two Instruments We Play in Music Together\u00ae Class\u2014and Why\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[87,38,50,153,30,39],"class_list":["post-2778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-experts","category-parent-education","tag-child-development","tag-early-childhood-music","tag-music-education","tag-music-learning-supports-all-learning","tag-music-together","tag-music-learning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2801,"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions\/2801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musictogether.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}