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Sound/Music has soul and is vibrant ^o^ :D

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Sound/Music has soul and is vibrant ^o^ :D

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Music is a part of my life and I really admire those who can play musical instruments. I believe that music is only present through specific instruments. However, it changed when I accessed ECE 2008, particularly my wonderful moments with class in the studio and working on AT2 at the beach. I realized that music/sound is vibrant and alive, originating from nature, such as bird chirping or ocean waves, to everyday objects like pebbles or foils that I had never considered before. Even when I do not know how to play an instrument, I can still create with my peers our own rhythms with materials around us. Claimed by Wooten, "even as a baby, you're jamming with professionals" (2013), reinforcing the idea that the joy of music-making is available for everyone with various objects.

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Note. From Indigenous Ocean, by Padmacara, 2020, Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/normanjackson/49441475488/). Copyright by Flickr.

We acknowledge the Ancestors, Elders, and Bunurong People of the Kulin Nations as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land we meet. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and continue to connect and care for the lands, nature, and people. We also honor their vital contributions to languages, cultures, and history.

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Similar to music and sound, I thought that movements only happened when I danced or did exercise. Nevertheless, through ECE 2008 and my experiences with the beach, I recognized movements could be the movement of non-humans, not just human bodies. Movement conveyed words without saying. We used our bodies with mime practice to narrate a story, and even within the flow of the ocean and brushes in the wind, its movements connected our souls with nature. Highlighted by Jung (as cited in Banerjee, 2021), "Nature life is the nourishing soil of the soul. It is the body, the feeling, the instincts, which connects us with the soil". Immersing self and moving with nature, movement with me now becomes a language, a way to respond to place, and a deep bond between soul and the different elements around.

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More than acted out stories, drama can come out from everywhere, human and non-human (Dramatic arts)

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More than acted out stories, drama can come out from everywhere, human and non-human (Dramatic arts)

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Initially, I saw drama merely as role-playing and scripted performances. Nonetheless, my journey with ECE 2008 and experiences during AT2 made me realise that drama was so much more. It is storytelling through body, voice, sound, movement, and imagination. I was inspired by my teacher when she asked us to imagine a story with clouds in the blue sky and use a fabric to pretend to be a dragon. I then began to see how drama naturally emerged from observing movements at the beach: sunlit reflection as fairies and waves as drums. I even found myself negotiating roles and rules to tell my own story, demonstrating that drama is not about performance but about co-creating meaning and combining different art forms to narrate stories or messages. This aligned with the Reggio Emilia approach, which saw the environment as a "third teacher" (Edwards et al., 2011, p. 266), providing endless opportunities and motivation for creative and imaginative play.

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Through interesting experiences, I realized how deeply my activities were motivated. I learnt to view music, movement, and drama as creative languages rather than rigid art forms. The combination of three languages turns the play more vivid and joyful. Walking along the shore, I listened to the ocean's rhythms, the movement invitation from waves, or the fierce roar of the wind. Therefore, these activities I created with the aim of children will experience the same sense and wonder, and discover stories behind places in playful and child-led ways.

Additionally, located on Bunurong land, Werribee South Beach reminds me to help children have a sense of belonging to place and enhance their awareness and care for the land. Supported by Ungunmerr (n.d.), when we try to understand and deeply listen to the place, we are connecting our soul with nature and land. By engaging soundscapes, movement, and collaborative storytelling, children not only improve creativity and imagination but also begin to build awareness, respect, and develop physical skills. This rationale is strongly linked to VEYLDF Learning Outcomes 2 and 5.

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Plan:

Inspired by natural soundscapes with an understanding of sound/music, I want to turn children into explorers, discovering and creating sounds and rhythms by using loose part materials. This activity aims to support children in exploring and experiencing different sounds while fostering their essential skills and deepening their senses and connection to nature and land.

Materials: CDs, seashells, sticks, leaves, cardboard, plastic lego box.

Implementation:

1. Set up the space as an indoor activity with clear space and various loose-part materials for children to use.

2. Gather children into a circle on the setup space and introduce materials to them.

3. Grab the children's attention by patting gently on the floor with sticks and invite them to join in with open-ended questions: "What sounds can we hear? Do they sound like the sounds of the ocean?"

4. Encourage children to explore freely, experimenting with sounds, communicating, and collaborating with others.

5. Support and guide if children need help, spark their creativity and imagination for further playing: "How can we make the waves sound louder or smaller?"

6. With some sharp materials, providing supervision to avoid injuries during play.

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Plan:

The flow of brushes and waves in the wind gives me an idea of creating a Bubble Island. In this outdoor activity, children are able to jump, spin, or balance across these floating bubbles while interacting with them.

By using provided loose-part materials, children are encouraged to spark and create their own movement rules.

Material: Bubble wands, pool noodles, chalks, papers, cardboards, pom poms, and ribbon papers.

Implementation:

1. Prepare a large outdoor space where children can move freely around.

2. Blow the bubble to make the space full of bubbles and introduce the play for children: "This is Bubble Island. How can we move among islands safely?"

3. Invite and encourage children to jump into the game with open-ended questions: "How do you think that we can exist on this island and cross the sea? Should we jump, swim, or crawl?"

4. Let children set their own rules and demonstrate movement ideas or challenges with the children as we gradually step back to foster child-led play.

5. Prompt some comments during the play to make it more vibrant while encouraging children's sound and voice, and stimulating their creativity and imagination of the playing scene.

6. Observe, support, and engage with children by adding gentle narrative: "Ahhh, that's a big wave/ Boat over there, get on it".

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Plan:

Motivated by my Creative Response about the living environment under the ocean, this dramatic play is about the "shark" chases fishers/swimmers/... .

This activity encourages children to engage in dramatic, imaginative play while combining sound and movement. Further promoting children's critical thinking, self-decision, and self-created rules and changes in the game.

Materials: Yarn, cardboards, seashells, pool noodles, mats, pom poms, pebbles (as lanterns), sticks, and brushes.

Implementation:

1. Set up a large indoor space that children can move freely in while decorating it as an ocean background to spark inspiration.

2. Introduce the game and invite children to participate in the "ocean living environment".

3. Ask open-ended questions to let children demonstrate and decide the roles and the rules: "A big shark is waiting out there. Who wants to be the big shark?"

4. Combine sound and movement to make the play vivid and engaging: Shark growl, jump on the ground to catch swimmers, and so on.

5. Mirroring actions and using loose parts material to extend imaginative play.

6. Ensuring children are given opportunities to play in different roles by taking turns and rotating roles in each game’s session: “Who wants to be the next shark?”.

7. Observe and engage with children while providing safe spaces and hazards during play.

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1. What went as expected?

Children showed their engagement with the activity as they moved to dodge the bubbles.

Invented transport with papers to cross islands and bubbles.

Represent waves and the movement of the boat on the ocean with the body.

2. What did not go as expected?

They create another play with loose parts while within the island scene: Pool noodles and ribbon papers as thunder.

Tim used chalk to draw a face instead of an ocean theme.

3. What might you do different next time?

Encourage children to set safety rules, such as safety boundaries or one minute of free touching.

Provide more materials to boost creativity and decorate the space more engaging.

4. How might you use this growth in your future practice of early childhood education?

I will continue to connect movement with nature to promote children’s awareness and senses. Besides, highlighted in Reggio Emilia, “the children with autistic tendencies tend to explore intersubjectivity through motion and movement” (Edwards et al., 2011, p. 220), I found that Bubble Island could offer a powerful way for these children to engage and experience. Further developing sense of belonging and being.

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1. What went as expected?

Children used sticks, seashells, and plastic lego boxes to create their rhythms.

They collaborated and communicated to merge their beat into one.

Kardan held a seashell closer to his ear to hear the echo from the shell, strongly demonstrating his connection with nature.

2. What did not go as expected?

Tim had an idea of tapping the phone holder with the chair to create sound then changing it into different game with kind of short gun, as he said.

3. What might you do different next time?

I will provide more “high-attractive” materials for children to facilitate the play and grab their attention.

I might go with a nature walk activity before or play a video of soundscapes, as well as let children capture the sound they hear and encourage imitating with a material.

4. How might you use this growth in your future practice of early childhood education?

Children are capable and have “strong naturalistic intelligence” - displaying “keen sensory skills (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch)” (Wilson, 2018, p. 15). Therefore, I will take children to outdoor activities like nature walks to experience the dynamic soundscapes of nature, aiming to facilitate music-making and promote their well-being, connection, and care with the land.

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1. What went as expected?

Children enthusiastically engage in playing and role choosing.

Demonstrating their creativity and imagination in setting game’s rules and characters’ task.

Sound effects and movement are naturally included during the storytelling.

Communicating and cooperating to keep safe and find solutions to defeat the shark.

2. What did not go as expected?

I felt like this activity was not enough to attract children.

Limited space and materials leading to the story going to the end quickly.

3. What might you do different next time?

Include sound effects as a theme for the activity.

Provide more materials and costumes to make the game more vivid and engaging.

It might have a little pause in the middle to reflect and discuss what will happen next.

4. How might you use this growth in your future practice of early childhood education?

I would connect drama with the place and the surrounding environment to help children experience and stimulate their imagination to stories hidden beneath daily life. Just like playing Parallaxis game, I want children to step out of reality, jumping into another world and experiencing it differently (Kilby, 2017).

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My definition of temporal arts has shifted significantly throughout ECE 2008 and my Creative Response to Place. I now see them as interconnected and deeply tied to the land and culture. Working on Bunurong land evokes the idea of Watt (as cited in Hamm, 2015) that the land is "alive and thinking" (p. 57). During three activities, children are encouraged to create and respond to the land with respect and care, fostering their sense of belonging. Through dynamic soundscapes, moving with nature, and drama in life, children are connected with human and non-human elements. I also know how to use temporal arts as inclusive ways to share and communicate with multi-access needs, such as the blind or autistic. Therefore, I aim to create child-led play and place-based experiences to honor Aboriginal perspectives and nurture children's creativity, awareness, and connection.