Tracing some support mechanisms in music for the mother tongue experience

Abstract

This paper examines the use of music as a support system in mother tongue acquisition among children. By so doing, the paper traces some of the ways in which language and music interact in order to support competence development in the former. The question here regards the depth of involvement of musical activities in the language process. This research focuses on some Luo songs and games for children. Through observation and investigation of primary and secondary sources, a number of musical activities and songs have been investigated to establish the depth of this influence upon language learning, including: role plays, lullabies, children‟s games, and programmed and creative dances. Music has been integrated in education programmes as a learning resource for early language learning and teaching. The main reason for this is that music provides the learner with an experiential opportunity to develop competence in the field of learning with induced pleasure that sustains the drive to learn. As the organization of the sound stimuli, the interplay between rhythm and pitch, music results in a meaningful object (work of art) whose purpose goes beyond just the production of sound. As a multi-media activity, it involves the use of several senses: sight, touch, hearing and speech. During musical activities, elements of language such as vocabulary, sentence structure and meaning are integrated into the activities. This way, the children learn with less stress and more pleasure. The results of this research are intended to agitate towards more concern in policy making for the use of music in the language curriculum for the learners enrolled in the early childhood programmes.