Math, Memorization and Music

Math, Memorization and Music

     

       I've always liked music and when I was very young, "Sesame Street" introduced counting to me in many ways using puppets, cartoons, adults and children but I especially remember how a song that set "1, 2, 3, 4 , 5" to music inspired me. I had already learned how to count because my mother and father taught me how to but this song was melodic and resonated with me. I found myself singing and humming it often as a young child. I even counted objects to the tune of the melody. This was my introduction to math memorization and music. The following clip is that very same segment from "Sesame Street" that mesmerized me when I was a little girl.

https://youtu.be/3l2zPVHI8AU

     My first memory of liking math is when I first heard the five times tables on a children  commercial called "School House Rock". This commercial did the five times tables by music. I was able to catch the rhythm and recall the numbers. Before I knew it, I was saying the five times tables and I was so happy about it.  I was very young and this form of memorization appealed to me. "School House Rock" would continue to create memorable music featuring math and various other subjects. This motivated me to put some of my math memorization skills to work as I got older. This was a life changing moment for me and I realized how instrumental music could be for me learning numerical facts. This was more than rote learning for me. This was a vehicle for me to use as one of my math fact support systems.  Below is the very commercial that captured my attention as a child.

https://youtu.be/7VjcUOmPS5k


      I worked as a teachers's assistant in a New York City  daycare accredited by The National Association  for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). I was invited by the director to go to Washington DC for a NAEYC teacher's convention. Once there, an act known as "Greg and Steve" were on the stage and they did a mathematical song that was rhythmic and catchy. All of the educators there knew the song and it was more like a real rock concert! The song was a math song and the words were numbers to rhythm from 1 - 20. I was new to working in daycare but "Greg and Steve" were the rock stars of children songs and they were just as intriguing to me as the day I first heard "School House Rock" do the five times tables. As time went on, I realized that the teachers in that daycare center all played this math song along with so many other songs of this duo. The education team in the classroom played games with the students by pointing to numbers on construction paper with counters attached to them. Eventually I noticed students singing the song while pointing to the numbers themselves. Sometimes they were accompanied by other students and they took turns. This was effective because I realized that the students were able to subitize numbers under 9 (students at the time were four years old). Below is a mathematical song by "Greg and Steve".

https://youtu.be/v4sWyckBaOM