Infant-directed Singing
Marie Baeta: All right. It isn't just adults that can identify music for infants – babies can, too. They are naturally drawn to singing that is directed towards them, that is made for them, and they prefer it to other music. Let's take a closer look at some of the elements that really draw babies into music. Okay. To get us started thinking about this, we are going to watch a short video of an educator singing with an infant. As you watch, I'd like you to take note of what you see happening during this interaction and any strategies that the educator used.
You can either share these in the chat, or if you’d like, there’s space in your viewer’s guide.
[Video begins]
Educator and Child: Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
Infant: [Vocalizes] Ah ...
Educator and Child: How I wonder what you are ...
Infant: [Vocalizes] Ah ...
[Laughter]
Educator: [Speaking Spanish] Again? Again?
Educator and Child: Twinkle, twinkle, little star ...
Infant: [Vocalizes] Ah ...
Educator and Child: How I wonder what you are!
Infant: [Squeals]
[Video ends]
Amelia Bachleda: I love that video – so cute. What did you notice about their interactions? I’ll take a peek here at the chat and share some of the things that I noticed as well. Right, they're using hand gestures for the child to follow along with the rhythm. They're facing each other. They're looking at the child, very expressive. Those simple gestures are so helpful. They are in sort of close range. They're really in sync with each other. You’re noticing that the child is imitating their gestures. They've got eye contact, warm expression, and just overall, the infant is really, really enjoying this interaction. It seems like they both are – this warm, focused, back-and-forth interaction. Wonderful, thank you so much for all of the – You’ve listed so many wonderful things here that these educators are doing.
Marie: Many of you mentioned the qualities that really draw babies into the singing, right? Following the baby's cues, responding to that singsongy voice, it's called "infant-directed singing.” That might sound familiar if you've heard "infant-directed speech" or "parentese.” That's when we talk to infants. We kind of elongate the vowel sounds when we talk to infants. Infants are really drawn to this type of speech, and the frequency of parentese used has been shown to help them learn language and social skills, but singing does this even better.
When adults sing to infants, we use exaggerated facial expressions. We use hand movements, like you just saw in the movie and noticed. They involve the baby in the movements, like bouncing or patting their back. These nonverbal signals, coupled with the infant-directed singing, is the special communication combination that provides the baby with this really rich social communicative information that has a rhythmic structure. It's predictable and includes really important cues for communication.
Amelia: Yeah, it's such a wonderful way to support children's learning and development. If you serve infants through home visiting or group socializations, I think this is a great time to ask parents if they recognize or use what we call parentese with their baby and let them know that this is a really great strategy to support their children's learning development. If they use parentese, the sort of singsongy type of voice, you can move on to then talk about singing and how singing is just this powerhouse for learning with young babies.
Babies love to be sung to. But why? Watch this video to learn about the features of infant-directed singing that naturally engage babies’ brains.
