By Beki Wilson

“Jolly Music is a four-year music programme aimed at children from the age of 4. Through a repertoire of playground rhymes and songs, children learn to identify musical elements such as pulse, rhythm, pitch, loudness and speed. This learning is reinforced through physical actions, creative activities and musical games.” (Jolly Learning Ltd, London).

The first two years of the Jolly Music programme focus mainly on hearing and identifying musical elements such as pulse, rhythm and pitch awareness, which, just in case anyone is interested in knowing, are also elements that are hugely helpful when teaching ESL-learners. These are also musical skills that I thought I would never be able to teach children being that I consider myself to be 1) completely tone deaf and 2) musically illiterate. Yet, I did.

Music is easily one of the most effective tools available to us at home and in the classroom, benefitting and stimulating all aspects of childhood development right from birth such as: language, pronunciation, comprehension, physical skills, social and cultural awareness, memory, thinking and organization skills and of course social and emotional wellbeing. And here ́s the best bit…singing is also fun and free. Great right?

Each Handbook (4 in total) offers 36 music lessons throughout the year with each session lasting 30 minutes. Yep, 30 minutes. Per week. Every single lesson plan has explicit instructions on how and when to introduce each concept, right from singing the greetings at the beginning and ending of each class, but also step-by-step guidance on each and every new song, game or activity introduced in each session.

I taught Music and English last year with a group of 4-5 year old children. We worked our way through the Jolly Music Beginners book, and because we had 60 minute sessions, I added other elements to each lesson such as stories, TPR activities, classical music or popular songs that I have always used in my English lessons and art based projects.

For me, using Jolly Music was a revelation. I loved it, the kids loved it and the parents loved it an here are a few of the reasons why:

1- All the songs in Jolly Music are simple and fairly short to begin with. They are introduced over various days/weeks and each time the kids revise them, a new “musical” element is added. Genius.

2- The songs are really easy to learn (for adults too!) and they all follow the same type of rhythm and notes, which makes it easier for the kids to remember. So, instead of singing the more complicated songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” (which is both wordy and fast), the programme promotes simpler songs such as, See-Saw and Up and Down.

3- None of the songs used in Jolly Music are copywrite to the programme. They are all playground songs and rhymes (Hot Cross Buns, Teddy Bear, Jelly on a Plate, etc). Any song that I wasn ́t familiar with I could look up on Auntie Google or listen to on the CDs that come with the Handbook, so I also added a whole bunch of new songs to my repertoire.

4- I killed two birds with one stone: music goes hand-in-hand with language learning. We all know this and it ́s why we a whole bunch of songs and games in our English classes. In using Jolly Music, I could combine language and music teaching together, adding a new layer to the core content covered in my classes.

5- All of my students actively participated. They had a lot of fun during the lesson but they learned a heap of stuff that they were desperate to show-off. Even the shyest of my kids was willing to sit in the “Singing Chair” and sing on their own (solo work) for all they were worth.

Jolly Music also reinforces fine and gross motor skills. The songs have easy actions and games that support physical development, from swinging their arms and balancing like a See-Saw to the mirror-type movements in Copy Cat. There are also question and answer songs that introduce typical grammatical structures, like sentence construction, verbs and adjectives, whilst also working on speaking skills like intonation and pronunciation and of course all of the songs and rhymes help develop phonemic awareness (/t/ – Teddy Bear, /c/– Cuckoo, /s/ – See-Saw, /r/ – Rain is Falling Down, etc).

I learnt a whole new set of skills alongside the kids, which made me see and believe that I didn ́t need to be a music specialist to be able to teach music skills. And, I even splashed out and bought myself a cool set of rainbow musical bells, which I now actually know how to use!

Anyone out there who is more than a teensy bit curious about the programme will be pleased to know that there is a Jolly Music Beginners CPD course with teacher trainer Pedro Izuzquiza (super nice guy) in Milano and Madrid in September, or you that can browse the Jolly learning website for more information. Easy peasy.