Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 29, No.

3, Spring 2002 ( 2002)

Arts and Young Children

Mathematics, Music, and Movement:

Exploring Concepts and Connections

Wynne A. Shilling1,2

INTRODUCTION Children come to school with extensive intuitive

After listening to the story Sailing With the Wind by mathematical and musical knowledge shaped by their
Thomas Locker (1986) and making paper boats, a experience. They hear music on the radio, accompany
group of children placed their boats in the water play sing-along tapes while riding in the car, and memorize
trough. Almost immediately one child began to melodi- commercial TV jingles. Music, which has been a very
cally chant, natural part of all children’s lives before school, pro-
sailing away, sailing away, vides the context for exploring a variety of mathematical
sailing, sailing, sailing away,
components. For several hundred years, nursery rhymes,
over and over again (Fig. 1). Soon the other three chil- including bouncing rhymes and lullabies, have captured
dren at the water play table began singing the same
children’s attention provoking a fascination with the ca-
quiet, rhythmical chant as they gently moved their boats
about in the water. Their chanting lasted approximately dences of music and the mathematical patterns embed-
two minutes and then faded. ded within them. The linkage of music and mathematics
is one that builds on the wholeness of children’s per-
This vignette helps to illustrate a basic perception of
spective of the world and expands it to include more
early childhood education—the importance of curricular
mathematics (National Council of Teacher of Mathemat-
integration, the notion of educating the whole child
ics, 1989). Selective exposure to and experiences with
(Hendrick, 2000). The connections for children between
music feeds children’s developing mathematical con-
music and mathematics are apparent as we imagine
cepts and skills of classification, comparison, ordering,
these children playfully engaged after a read-aloud expe-
measuring, and graphing.
rience. The rhythm of the chant and the repeated sound
Over the years, I have explored music and mathe-
patterns provided an opportunity for both interaction and
matics connections with children. Together we have dis-
expression.
covered rich opportunities that build on and strengthen
I entered the teaching profession first as a music
mathematical ideas. What follows are some of the musi-
teacher. In making a transition to early childhood educa-
cal activities we have enjoyed in which mathematics is
tion, I naturally drew on my musical background. As a
embedded. In these activities children have the oppor-
musician, I know that music serves to stimulate lan-
tunity to build understanding, not only of time-based re-
guage development and social interactions. It helps chil-
lationship (patterns related the duration of musical
dren learn about themselves and about other cultures
sounds), but also of rhythmic pattern.
(Nichols & Honig, 1997). Mathematical thinking and
musical appreciation depend on the mathematical pat-
terns embedded in the music. The rhythmical compo-
EXPERIENCES WITH
nents of music with its accompanying speech afford rich
TEMPORAL RELATIONSHIPS
opportunities for exploring mathematical concepts through
experiences with beat, meter, duration of sounds, rhyth- “Of all the gifts with which individuals may be en-
mic patterns, and tempo. dowed, none emerges earlier than musical talent” (Gard-
ner, 1983, p. 99). As babies and toddlers, many children
1 have had a variety of experiences in the form of bounc-
York College of the City University of New York.
2
Correspondence should be directed to Wynne A. Shilling, York Col-
ing rhymes. Children’s chortles and hearty laughs in re-
lege of the City University of New York, 94-20 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., sponse to these bouncing rhyme experiences played out
Jamaica, NY 11451; e-mail: shilling@york.cuny.edu. on the knees and in the arms of adults serve as testimony

179
1082-3301/02/0300-0179/0  2002 Human Sciences Press, Inc.
180
Fig. 1. Author’s Interpretation of Melodic Chant Spontaneously Sung by a Child After Hearing a Story and During a Water Play Activity
to their intuitive recognition of the variations in speed
and the distinctive difference between the regular
bounce pattern and the ending one, such as a long sus-
tained bounce, a rapid end bounce, or a “fake fall” (Fig.
2). Within the joyful context of these adult–child musi-
cal interactions rests the concrete intuitive mathematical
experience of feeling beats being subdivided, accompa-
nied by the rhythmic patterns of the language. Bam-
berger (1982) described this intuitive or “felt” approach
to processing music as a “figural” approach.
Exploring Rhythmic Subdivisions
As a way of connecting my planned activities with
children’s prior experiences, I routinely open and close
each music session with children’s requests. One year, a
4-year-old in my class consistently requested we sing
Hickory, Dickory, Dock during music periods. Neither
he nor the group ever seemed to tire of the song. This
repeated request prompted me to think about ways of
using the strong, steady beat pattern of this favorite song
to stimulate children’s mathematical thinking.
This is the Way the Farmer Rides
Chant: This is the way the farmer rides, trot, trot, trot, trot
Adult action: knee bounces up and down in rhythm with each
bounce
Chant: This is the way the lady rides, gal-lop, gal-lop, gal-
op, gal-op, gal-op
Adult action: knee bounces up on “gal” and down on “lop
Chant: This is the way the baby rides, clip-I-ti-clop-I-ti,
clip-I-ti-clop-I-ti, say
Adult action: alternate legs to bounce the child quickly at each
syllable
Chant: Whoa-a-a-a!
Adult action: lower the baby towards the ankles sustaining the
whoa for a long time and laugh
Fig. 2. A Regular Bounce Pattern and the Long Sustained Ending
Common to Many Nursery Rhymes
Shilling
I brought a clock to school with a pendulum that
swings back and forth. We began to tick-tock in a variety
of ways including:
• bending from waist, side-to-side,
• shifting our weight from one foot to another,
• moving our heads from side to side,
all the while transforming the 2-item sound pattern, with
a steady beat, into various 2-item movement patterns
with a steady beat. Next, I introduced a more complex
challenge with the song Clocks and Watches (Fig. 3).
Great big steeple clocks go bong, bong, bong, bong.
And the little mantle clocks go tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock,
tick-tock.
And the little tiny watches ticking through the night and day go
tick-y tock-y, tick-y tock-y, tick-y tock-y, TICK.
As I sang, I highlighted the speedy tick-y tock-y pattern,
inviting the children to move at different rates of speed
in response to the rhythmic subdivisions embedded in
the song. It did not take long before their initial body
movement changed as the children began to distinguish
the slow-paced delivery of Bong for the steeple clock,
from the moderate-paced tick-tock for the mantle clock
and the fast-paced tick-y tock-y of the tiny watches. In-
terestingly, their responses to the doubling and the quad-
rupling were intuitive (Fig. 4).
Children Inventing Time-Based Activities
As young children develop, their imaginations per-
mit them to cast themselves into a variety of roles and
use related gestures (Jalongo & Stamp, 1997). In a dif-
ferent kind of musical experience, I developed opportu-
nities for more fluid interpretation of patterns in musical
activities through dramatization. Using an old nursery
song, The Old Gray Cat, which had served to establish
a quiet mood, I changed the cat to a mouse connecting
the Hickory, Dickory, Dock theme and seeded a guided
fantasy. I began singing:
The old gray mouse is sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.
The old gray mouse is sleeping in the house (Fig. 5).
Exploring Mathematics Through Music and Movement 181

Fig. 3. A More Complex Musical and Mathematical Experience Utilizing Rhythmical Subdivisions Embedded in the Song

Then, as if a magic wand had spread listening dust all

around the circle, the children quietly lowered their bod-
ies to the ground and pretended to sleep. I continued:
The old gray mouse is waking, waking, waking.
The old gray mouse is waking in the house.

The children began to stretch and yawn. I continued

with another action word:
The old gray mouse is standing, standing, standing.
The old gray mouse is standing in the house.

I repeated the tune again and again, each time changing

the action by slotting in a variety of verbs—walking,
hopping, running, then getting tired, stopping, sleepy.
I finally returned to the first verse, “sleeping.” In this
sequence, I stimulated the children to move through
temporal changes from slow to fast and back to slow
again.
With kindergarten children, I was able to expand
the experience to help children then clarify their intu-
itive understandings about the mathematical patterns
they were creating. I elicited descriptions from them
about their movement patterns:
How did you move in the part where the mouse was walking?
And after you moved slowly walking, how did you move in the
part where the mouse was hopping?
And after you moved slowly for walking, quickly for hopping,
how did you move in the part where the mouse was walking
again?

From these descriptions, we were able to generate

such pattern statements as “slow-fast-slow,” “slow-fast-
fast,” “slow, fast, stop.” They could compare their pat-
Fig. 4. As Embedded Rhythmical Subdivisions Were Exposed, Chil- tern with those of their peers and those patterns that they
dren Responded Intuitively to Them as They Moved to Music had already created.
182
Fig. 5. Old Nursery Song Modified to Create a Guided Fantasy Around Time-Based Experiences
Highlighting Tempo Change
A large and varied selection of classroom materials
can extend young children’s mathematical thinking and
enable them to make sense of their experiences and re-
fine understanding (Schwartz & Brown, 1995). In one
of many experiments with musical activities, I discov-
ered that children enjoy using scarves. They appear to
be fascinated by the way the scarf seems to float in the
air when they move it rapidly or slowly, simultaneously
matching their own body movement to the speed of the
scarf. Teachers can capitalize on their interest in explor-
ing temporal change using scarves by providing a vari-
ety of fast and slow music with dramatic contrasts.
When selecting music to begin, look for dramatic
contrasts. Consider taping a series of music selections
about 40 seconds long, with 10-second pauses between
each selection. To sustain their interest, mix the pattern
of selections on the tape so that the pattern of slow and
fast selections is unpredictable. Begin and end the selec-
tion sequences with a slow-paced selection to provide
for natural warming up and cooling down.
RHYTHMIC PATTERNING
One of the major challenges in building mathemati-
cal competence is developing the ability to match sets
when the sets are made up of different elements. Musi-
cal experiences with the steady beat offer rich opportu-
nities to match sets—that is, matching the set within the
steady beat pattern to a set of actions.
For example, Jack be Nimble, a favorite nursery
rhyme, has a clear steady beat pattern that lends itself to
movement and variation. When using this rhyme, intro-
duce it through chanting. After repeating it a few times,
accentuate the word “over” by using a broad sweeping
arm movement. Little by little the children join in, first
Shilling
with the motions at the “over” part and later, by clapping
and moving to the steady beat pattern. Realize that some
4-year-olds still have difficulty following someone el-
se’s steady beat, and be careful to follow the child’s lead
for tempo of the chant.
This activity can be transformed from matching
movement to the beat into a counting activity with the
addition of rolled and taped pieces of colored paper con-
figured to represent “candlesticks.” Change the words of
the rhyme to:
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack jump over one candlestick
The words “over” and “one” are accented, and the chil-
dren are now invited to jump over one candlestick
placed on the floor. With each subsequent addition, one
child jumps over the candlesticks while the rest of the
group count. In this way the children are engaged in
matching actions to number—the set of jumps to the
corresponding numbers, for example:
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack jump over three candlesticks
one, two, three
Once the children have the concept of one-to-one corre-
spondence, and the concept of “three-ness,” the children
can then jump over three sticks and say “three.”
The Rhythm of a Name
A colleague, Barbara, was intrigued by an activity
in which children clap and tap out the rhythm of their
name and tried it with her kindergarten class. Here is an
account of how the activity worked with her class.
While children were seated in a circle, Barbara started
calling out the name of a child, simultaneously clapping
the syllables in his or her name, e.g., Mat-thew (clap-
Exploring Mathematics Through Music and Movement 183

clap), one clap per syllable. She called upon a few chil-
dren and the group tried to clap out the pattern in their
name. She then called on two children (with different
numbers of claps in their patterns). After she clapped
the pattern of one child’s name, the class was encour-
aged to figure out whose name she was “saying with
no words.” The children enjoyed the activity, so later
Barbara decided to extend. The task was to “find a
name twin” in the room (a child with the name that had
the same pattern). The children loved it.
“We’re triplets!” they exclaimed. A most amazing
thing happened. One child, Dan-iel Bra-szin-ski could
not find anyone to be partners with and became dis-
tressed. A child came forth and said: “Daniel, I can be
your partner.” “No you can’t!” said Daniel. “You only
have four claps in your name.” “Yes,” replied Tanya,
“but I can add my middle name.” She clapped her name
for him—Tan-ya-Pat-Ne-vins—with a big smile on her
face.
The child’s solution—making a matching pattern
with other names—spurred further explorations with Fig. 6. Recording Children’s Name Patterns by Syllable to Classify
rhythmic patterns of names. The teacher heard Matthew 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-Syllable Name Patterns
say to Zach: “Zach Vaghn, you can be my twin. I’ll just
forget my last name.” Then Carin said to Pe-ter-Ba-ril-
la: “I’ll be Ca-rin-Lom-bar-di so I can match you!”

In subsequent days the activity changed. New problems
and solutions were acted on. “Teacher, Melanie and I
are really twins.” “Why do you say?” “Well, her name
is Mel-an-ie-Jones. That takes four claps. My name is
Grace-Sam-uel-son. That takes four claps too but there
is a difference. As the teacher considered extending the
discussion about the different rhythmic patterns the child
further explained: “I guess I am a 1 + 3 and Melanie is
a 3 + 1!” “Yeah, they both equal 4,” remarked Melanie.
“Yeah, smiled Grace.”
Further extensions of this activity can lead to trans-
forming the “name” sound patterns to charted and
graphed data (Fig. 6). As children listen and decide on
the syllable count, record their findings on chart paper
under the appropriate heading—1 Clap Pattern, 2 Clap
Pattern, and so on. After all the names have been listed,
use a marker to shade the areas with names on the chart.
This produces a inverted simple bar graph from which
the children can draw additional conclusions about their
findings.
Using the data collected sets the context for engag-
ing children in developing repeated rhythmic patterns
using two children’s names (Tan-ya-Ne-vins, Pe-ter-Ba-
re-la, Tan-ya-Ne-vins, Pe-ter-Ba-ril-la, etc.). They can
say the patterns, tap out the patterns, and invent ways to
write out the patterns by either copying the names or
using some symbols to represent the pattern.
CONCLUSION
Young children come to school with intuitive knowl-
edge of musical patterns and rhythms. When given op-
portunities to experiment and explore mathematical
concepts through music, they engage in the pursuit of
musical understandings such as beat, meter, duration of
sounds, rhythmic patterns, and tempo. Experiences with
all the musical aspects will engage children in the pur-
suit of mathematical concepts and skills through classifi-
cation of sounds and movement including duration and
dynamic intensity, ordering events and patterns, measur-
ing duration and dynamic intensity, graphing data, and
counting. The experiences are action based using con-
crete materials to explore, translate, and transform mean-
ings in music and mathematics and the relationships be-
tween the two.
The more easily we are able to integrate the arts
across the early childhood curriculum the greater the
benefit to young children as they explore their world for
knowledge. Embedding music activities naturally into
children’s engagements with mathematics and move-
ment provides a way for children to develop their logi-
cal/mathematical and musical/rhythmic intelligences in
ways we may not have considered before.
RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS
Bayless, K., & Ramsey, M. (1991). Music: A way of life for young
children (4th ed.). Albany, NY: Delmar.
Haines, B. & Gerber, L. (2000). Leading young children to music (6th
ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Jalongo, M. R., & Stamp, L. N. (1997). The arts in children’s lives:
Aesthetic education in early childhood. Needham Heights, MA:
Allyn and Bacon.
James, A. R. (2000). When I listen to the music. Young Children, 55,
36–38.
Jenkins, E. (1993). This is rhythm. Chicago: Sing Out Publications.
184
Rica, R. (2000). Experiences with movement and music, activities, the-
ory. Albany, NY: Delmar.
Roberts, L. (1991). Mitt magic. Mt. Rainier, MD: Gryphon House.
Suggested Children’s Literature to
Build Mathematical/Musical Connections
Repetitive Pattern
(song stories and poems in which the episodes re-
peat—the same scene and/or language is repeated)
Appleby, E . (1984). The three billy goats gruff. New York: Scholastic.
Baer, G. (1989). Thump, thump, rat-a-tat-tat. New York: Harper &
Row.
Kellogg, S. (1998). A-hunting we will go! New York: Morrow Junior
Books.
Langstaff, J. (1991). Oh, a-hunting we will go. New York: Atheneum.
Raffi. (1988). Wheels on the bus. New York: Crown Publishers.
Cumulative Pattern
(song stories and poems organized around a repeti-
tive pattern; however, a new thought is added before
repeating all that went before)
Adams, P. (1990). I know an old lady who swallowed a fly. Singapore:
Child’s Play.
Carle, E. (1993). Today is Monday. New York: Philomel.
Heller, N. (1990). Old Macdonald had a farm. New York: Orchard
Books.
Westcott, N. B (1980). I know an old lady who swallowed a fly. Bos-
ton: Little, Brown.
Interlocking Pattern
(story songs and poems where pieces of the story
line are interconnected—one part leads into the next as
in a sequence)
Aliki. (1974). Go tell Aunt Rhody. New York: Macmillan.
Dicks, I., & Hawcock, D. (1993). Them bones. New York: Bantam
Doubleday Dell
Kovalski, M. (1987). The wheels on the bus. Boston: Little Brown.
Lawson, C. (1991). Teddy bear, teddy bear. New York: Dial Books
for Young Readers.
Martin, B., Jr. (1983). Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?
New York: Henry Holt.
Perkins, A. (1969). Hand, hand, fingers, thumb. New York: Random
House, c.
Zelinsky, P. (1990). The wheels on the bus. New York: Dutton.
Zemach, M. (1976). Hush little baby. New York: Dutton.
Familiar Cultural Pattern
(story songs and poems depict hours of the day,
days of the week, months, season, alphabet numbers,
chronological order, seriated sequence—these all have
sequence patterns children become familiar with)
Carle, E. (1993). Today is Monday. New York: Philomel.
Christelow, E. (1989). Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. New
York: Clarion.
Shilling
Christelow, E. (1991). Five little monkeys sitting in a tree. New York:
Clarion.
Jones, C. (1990). This old man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Peek, M. (1981). Roll over! New York: Clarion Books.
Trapani, I. (1993). The itsy bitsy spider. New York: Whispering Coy-
ote Press.
Rhythmic Pattern or Steady Beat
(story, song-story or poem that includes opportu-
nity for chanting to a rhythmic pattern or creating addi-
tions with instruments)
Baer, G. (1989). Thump, thump, rat-a-tat-tat. New York: Harper &
Row.
Barnes-Murphy, R. (1987). One, two buckle my shoe. New York: Si-
mon & Schuster.
Brown, M. (1985). Hand rhymes. New York: Dutton.
Cole, J., & Calmenson, S. (1991). Anna Banana and jump rope
rhymes. New York: Morrow Junior Books.
Cole, J., & Calmenson, S. (1990). Miss Mary Mack and other chil-
dren’s street rhymes. New York: Morrow Junior Books.
Cole, J., & Calmenson, S. (1989). Eenstsy weentsy spider and other
finger plays and action rhymes. New York: Mulberry Books.
Hurd, T. (1985). Mama don’t allow. New York: Harper & Row.
Lawson, C. (1991). Teddy bear, teddy bear. New York: Dial Books.
Martin, B., & Archambault, J. (1989). Chicka chicka boom boom. New
York: Simon & Schuster.
Perkins, A. (1969). Hand, hand, fingers, thumb. New York: Random
House.
Rosen, M. (1989). We’re going on a bear hunt. New York: Macmillan.
Movement and Dance
(the story line lends itself to either interpretation of
strong rhythmic beat, pattern, or tempo change)
Baer. G. (1989). Thump, thump, rat-a-tat-tat. New York: Harper &
Row.
Crews, D. (1982). Carousel. New York: Greenwillow Books.
Crews, D. (1983) Parade. New York: Greenwillow Books.
Shannon, G. (1982). Dance away. New York: Greenwillow Books.
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